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Regular pot smokers have shrunken brains, study says
MSN ^ | 11/11/14 | Melissa Healy

Posted on 11/11/2014 1:45:49 AM PST by Libloather

Experimental mice have been telling us this for years, but pot-smoking humans didn't want to believe it could happen to them: Compared with a person who never smoked marijuana, someone who uses marijuana regularly has, on average, less gray matter in his orbital frontal cortex, a region that is a key node in the brain's reward, motivation, decision-making and addictive behaviors network.

More ambiguously, in regular pot smokers, that region is better connected than it is in non-users:The flow of signal traffic is speedier to other parts of that motivation and decision-making network, including across the superhighway of "white matter" that connects the brain's hemispheres.

The researchers who conducted the study speculate that the orbital frontal cortex's greater level of "connectedness" — which is especially pronounced in people who started smoking pot early in life — may be the brain's way of compensating for the region's underperforming gray matter. Whether these "complex neuroadaptive processes" reverse themselves when marijuana use stops is an important unanswered question, they added.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: brain; braindamage; cannabis; dope; marijuana; pot; potheads; smokers; study; warfordrugs; wod
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To: T-Bone Texan

You point out that you don’t leave your property when stoned. I presume that means you stay home because you somehow feel impaired.

Are your children home with you when you are impaired like this (everyday)? If yes, then you’re not trying hard enough to be a good parent.


41 posted on 11/11/2014 6:26:28 AM PST by bramps (Go West America!)
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To: bramps

He’s just rationalizing his addiction. It’s a sad thing to see and I hope he can get into long term rehab or something.


42 posted on 11/11/2014 6:32:43 AM PST by Monty22002
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To: bramps

He’s also pretty stupid, if what he’s saying is true, CPS could and should find him and help the kids.


43 posted on 11/11/2014 6:33:39 AM PST by Monty22002
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To: Libloather

These would be the small brains that, beginning in the 60’s, took over America’s music, news, entertainment, artistic and cultural institutions.


44 posted on 11/11/2014 8:07:23 AM PST by Yollopoliuhqui
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To: palmer

You must be too young to remember “LSD causes birth defects” or “marijuana causes birth defects” , etc., etc.


45 posted on 11/11/2014 8:27:49 AM PST by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Pollster1

California is proof the data is correct.


46 posted on 11/11/2014 9:15:49 AM PST by Vaduz
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To: T-Bone Texan

and I bet you are just smoking the crystals off the bud and reselling the rest.


47 posted on 11/11/2014 6:44:57 PM PST by dila813
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