Posted on 06/03/2011 6:33:47 PM PDT by AustralianConservative
Call it the pubescent pot problem.
New research shows that adults who smoked marijuana before age 15 have significant problems with attention span, impulse control, and "executive function" - the ability to plan and carry out tasks.
How about people who took up toking later in life? The same research showed they were much less likely to have such difficulties.
For the research, scientists at the Federal University of Sao Paulo in Brazil used a stardard "card sorting" task to evaluate the cognitive ability of 104 long-term cannabis users, including 49 who had started using before age 15. On average, the early tokers had smoked pot for 10.9 years, the Daily Mail reported.
What happened? The early herb enjoyers made more mistakes than those who waited to use weed, as well as the "controls" who didn't smoke marijuana.
"We found that early-onset, but not late-onset, chronic cannabis users had deficits in their cognitive functioning," study author Dr. Maria Alice Fontes said, according to the paper. "Adolescence is a period in which the brain appears to be particularly vulnerable to the neurotoxic effects of cannabis. The brain before the age of 15 is still developing and maturing, so exposure to cannabis during this period may be more harmful."
Marijuana seems to cause both chemical and structural changes in the brain, study co-author Dr. Karen Bolla, associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, told CBS News. She said rapid brain development continues until one's early twenties.
If early pot smoking really is bad for the brain, lots of Americans may be at risk for long-term cognitive difficulties.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
“Li’l Obama and the Nine Inch Spliv”
Right here with the rest of us.
It is, but it was no accident it was outlawed soon after women got the right to vote. The legality of alcohol actually makes it more dangerous in my eyes; I’m not for prohibition, but it really has to be handled differently as far as educating people at a young age.
As far as illegal drugs, keep them illegal and kill anyone who sells them to others. That is how countries that are serious about fighting drugs do it: compassion for the addict, death for the peddlers. We’ve just never been serious about them.
Exactly. I’m from a Dutch background. The “revolution” made people more dependent on drugs and Big Gov. They can smoke joints but have lost their freedom of speech to question.
not Obama, but the voting public!
Point taken.
Dude... you’re like totally harshing my mellow, man...
Jesus drank wine. Alcohol is good in moderation. Pot – not so.
Don’t worry dude – I was just having an episode on the couch. Go back to bed.
I was just joking around. Marijuana laws are just plain silly.
no, marijuana use has killed so many brain cells I genuinely believe it is why our population is so liberal, those who used drugs the least are Conservative, those who use it the most are Liberals, and those who use it sparingly are LIBERTARIANS, dead WRONG on moral issues but know how to count their checkbook
I was just joking around. Marijuana laws are just plain silly.
LOL! Sorry dude, my dad’s is a TV repairman, he’s got tools.
It is “less harmful than alcohol”? Yeah, right. Is groping less harmful than rape? The two wrongs make a right argument doesn’t persuade me, in any case.I’ve been to Amsterdam. The revolution is a lie.
Did somebody order a pizza?
I wish you were right. Some brainwashed kids and dopey adults don’t know that pot is bad for them. (“Brain scans? What brains scans?”)
Of the friends I have from back in my college days, the ones who smoked pot daily have HORRIBLE memories. Bad memories of times back then, AND bad short term memories. I am not a fan of pot because of how bad these people’s brains are now. It’s kind of sad.
Gee, where are all the FR cannabis libertarians who usually come out of the woodwork on any pot-related thread?
I’m normally getting flamed for describing my forty years experience of peeing in the bottle to prove my drug-free innocence in the military (started in Vietnam, ended with my retirement last January with one final urinalysis).
Smoking pot from one’s teen years onward is harmful? Wow, like man, whooda thunkit dude, you know I mean really!!?
Could dig a pizza now I got the munchies so bad. Can’t wait to vote again for that really cool Obama dude.
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