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 ...
...need another reason why rats push legalization?. ...keep them folks stupid.
I’m not grasping this. Can someone explain it to me?
I’m sure early alcohol use does the same (and I’m not defending weed, just pointing out the obvious).
In case you were wondering what a grain of salt looks like.
Dude? What?
It makes them democrats with a liberal agenda.
I think he said “easy mountain views lead to drain volumes”
What’s really funny though is that when you click on the link, the story runs with a banner ad at the top to join the ranks of Obama’s supporters. LOL! Too coincidental.
Yeah, and furthermore.... Um, well, I forgot what I was going to say.
That was my thought, exactly, I think.
Wow! I just made the cut!
Hold on got to get some chips!!!! Do what,
Legalize it...it will save this country billions and is less harmful than alcohol by a long shot.
This is just another lame attempt by the media at explaining why Obama is so inept.
Well...
Dad caught me behind the barn with a cigarette at age 12. He made me smoke a cigar and grandpa supplied the shot of brandy. (I liked them both.)
Where do I land on this den of inequity?
Have you ever tried to talk to someone smoking pot...major brain problems
Yeah, but alcohol is legal.
Not talk, but I’ve tormented people high on pot.
Everbody know that smoking pot before the age of 18 is a really bad idea.
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