Regular marijuana use muddles your brain more than you think: Study

Tech Times ^ | 11 Nov 14 | Rhodi Lee

[elhombrelibre]

Researchers from the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas have found evidence that the effects of chronic marijuana use may depend on when a person started smoking pot and for how long.

For the study, which was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Nov. 10, Francesca Filbey from the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas, and colleagues involved 48 adult marijuana users who started to use weed when they were between 14 and 30 years old.

The participants smoked pot thrice a day on average; most admitted that they had been using weed for 10 years. Some participants reported they had been using marijuana for 30 years.

The researchers had the participants take an IQ test and undergo MRI scans. They then compared the results with those of 62 individuals who were nonusers and found that in cognitive tests, marijuana users had lower IQ compared with those who did not smoke pot.

[Billthedrill]

Whoa - getting loaded on anything three times a day is probably going to affect you. Can’t say I ever did that, but I smoked it for years and can’t say I’ve ever noticed any long-lasting side effects. Other than the purple spiders.

[olepap]

Amen, brother Laz! If it weren’t for God, AA, and my wife I would be laying dead drunk in an irrigation ditch somewhere.

[seowulf]

Prolonged use of any intoxicant will have harmful side effects. Whether it is the currently mostly legal alcohol, or the currently mostly banned pot, or some prescription item.

I did an experiment once where I took an IQ test, then drank three glasses of Merlot and took a very similar IQ test again.

My IQ results dropped by 7.4% My mathematical skills were most affected. Verbal skills were hardly affected at all (at least on the test).

[bassmaner]

I never understand why these types of studies are upsetting.

Probably because they're often used by drug warrior types to justify all the arresting, prosecuting, and jailing that goes along with the so-called War on Drugs, which puts marijuana in the same category as heroin or cocaine.

[jsanders2001]

> Pot heads swear this isn’t true.

They should be in here any moment now talking about how it solved their medical problems (addiction) and inspired new creativity...: )

[Signalman]

I hope all that grass I smoked back in the ‘60s hasn’t given me drain bramage.

[Marie]

The US government can’t hire the best programmers and hackers because they all do pot. Just last spring there was an appeal by the FBI to drop the rule for hiring pot-heads because this rule eliminated the smartest people.

I watched it on CSPAN.

Here’s one small article on the topic. http://wrrv.com/the-fbi-cant-find-hackers-who-arent-stoners/

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

The previous study was done over twenty years and did before and after tests.
I'm not normally one to did grammarical mistakes. But in this context I couldn't pass it up. Sorry....

[jmacusa]

Take a good gander at what booze can do.

[ansel12]

So the best ones according to you are the drug users?

Just as in the military they may have a problem always filling their jobs with the numbers and standards that they desire, but what makes you think that they don’t already have the best, and that the ones rejected are part of the lower levels?

[alexander_busek]

Just because there is a statistical correlation among study participants, does not prove there is a direct cause. There was a study last month that “proved” men who have had at least 20 sex partners have a lower chance of prostate cancer. That correlation does NOT prove that sleeping with 20 women will directly reduce cancer risks but the papers skewed headlines to get more readers. There are also many studies that show schizophrenics are 2-3 times more likely to smoke cigarettes and their brain scans are different. It does NOT prove cigarettes causes schizophrenia or any brain changes. There has not been a SINGLE before-after brain scan study showing any long-term difference in pot users. There has not been a SINGLE study of twin humans or animals showing ANY difference at all. Even when subjected to amounts of pot only possible in a lab. The only thing we have are MRI scans showing brains NOW and this does not prove any CHANGE. IMO, we see the IQ differences in studies because the only people who would admit to using pot for a study are the low paid, low-IQ types. Professionals are often prosecuted for using this plant and do not wish to have a record anywhere admitting to use.

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy-PING.

Regards,

[HiTech RedNeck]

Are you sure that is their sole toke?

[Chuzzlewit]

my wife smokes this stuff every damn night.. this is a gal who was an amazingly driven songwriter, she had a record deal, the whole nine yards..

she is less driven, does very little writing now, and is never able to finish a darn song.

as for me, I don’t smoke the stuff, and I write music every night.. I am still extremely driven to do this, even at this age of 62... I can’t sell the stuff, but what the heck.. it’s either building songs, or building things out of wood in my garage. The point is, I want to do something that I find fun and fulfilling in my spare time. And the fun comes from the accomplishment... the building of something.

I have seen first-hand with other members of my family back in Detroit and my wife, how that drug robs you of motivation... that old “I think I’ll just chill tonight” syndrome.. I have discussed this with her many times, to no avail. The rest of our life is just fine and she works quite hard during the day at her job. It’s just a drag that someone with so much talent, has no motivation and spends nights on her iPad.

-— sigh -— different strokes I guess.

[Slyfox]

My brother was tested to be a genius in the ninth grade. He began to smoke pot in the tenth grade and he is now 60 and still smoking.

What is sad is that he had the brains and the grades and the people skills to become a physician if he wanted.

Instead, he skipped college and has worked menial jobs all his life - just enough to keep his pot in check.

He never married, has no kids, but he does have a thriving pot business.

[elhombrelibre]

Not the ones I’ve known. I’ve seen highly social people start to use pot and become quite withdrawn. I’m also surprised how many people treat pot as if it couldn’t possibly have some side effects for some people that are not beneficial.

[Marie]

(Sorry. It was CNN, not CSPAN.)

*I* did not say that. FBI said that.

And they aren’t finding people to fill the slots at the current standards. They are still trying to recruit. Always trying to recruit. The talent is out there, but most of them are not qualified because they smoke pot.

http://www.ibtimes.com/fbi-director-says-agencys-pot-policy-needs-reform-attract-cyber-security-professionals-1588245

I’m only point out that, if regular pot use is really as terrible for brains as this study suggests, why is it that pot-users have the highest IQs? The people with the highest IQs are more likely to be drug users.

(I’m not saying that drugs makes people smart or that drugs do not impair cognitive ability. But the meme that pot use=stupid just isn’t true.)

So, here we have a study that says that pot use permanently hurts brains. And here’s another study that says the exact opposite.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/2001/10.11/marijuana.html

(and no. I don’t do pot. Never have. But I have a problem with over-hyped BS gov’t propaganda. I despise the anti-drug hype just as much as I hate the Global Warming alarmist BS.)

[elhombrelibre]

Have you noticed that those who are pro-pot, however, are like Obama voters. They’re so loyal to pot that they cannot possibly believe it could be in any way harmful.

[Eva]

It should have been, included before and after, but the separate clauses do not necessarily demand the America tense. If it was formal writing, rather than a simple post, the clause would have had a separate subject and more specific verbs.

Your reasoning is indeed flawed. By the way, my IQ is higher than 98% of the population, in case you are wondering.

[onedoug]

Very dangerous, especially for young formative minds.

[Eva]

Pot seems to decrease the rational thinking abilities, so it only makes sense that the tokers fail to understand the dangers.