Marijuana On The Brain

When scientists presented data from a new study at the 2nd International Cannabis and Mental Health Conference showing brain changes when patients ingested THC, anti-weed heads claimed it was physical proof cannabis has damaging effects on the brain.

The media freaked out in May when it reported on new research that provided physical evidence of the “damaging effects” of cannabis on the brain.

What happened is that scientists presented data from a new study at the 2nd International Cannabis and Mental Health Conference in London, UK. Phillip McGuire and colleagues at King’s College London gave subjects THC and cannabidiol (CBD), two of the active ingredients in cannabis, and then stuck them in MRIs to take pictures of their brains’ reaction to the drugs.

The CBD calmed down the amygdala, effectively reducing any fear patients might have experienced while looking at pictures of anxious faces. The THC affected several regions of the brain, including the inferior frontal cortex, which controls psychotic episodes.

Anyone who has smoked pot knows that hallucinations and paranoia are common side effects. So the fact that THC lit up the paranoia region in brain scans is hardly earth-shattering. The problem is in how these results were reported by the media.

Brain scans only capture a moment in time. In this case, a moment when the brain was high. To say that the scan represents evidence of damage is misleading. “It’s important to note when covering brain scan-based research that a ‘change’ in the brain isn’t necessarily a bad thing: learning, falling in love, seeing, hearing and virtually any other experience can be expected to cause changes in the brain,” says Maia Szalavitz, senior fellow at stats.org, a media watchdog group. “The tricky part is determining what brain changes mean.”

The study is the first to map the regions of the brain affected by CBD and THC and that makes it interesting. It could lead to the development of drugs targeting specific brain regions. To imply that it proves that THC damages the brain reads far more into the results than the science can support.

Comments

[Dzogchenpa]

I just found this which seems relevant:

Cannabis anxiety a thing of the past?

Writer Simon Jackson claims to have solved a problem that has plagued the world's cannabis users from time immemorial - so called 'dope anxiety'.

'Dope-anxiety' is a broad complaint common to both regular and irregular users of cannabis, and the reason most usually cited for abstaining from use. Symptoms can be anything from a slight feeling of unease to self-consciousness, strange combinations of emotions, depression, white-hands and face, feelings of faintness and more. This condition has been the anti-drugs campaigns most recent focus, with intimations by them that it is evidence of a type of psychosis that is emerging increasingly often in regular cannabis users as more powerful breeds of weed come onto the market.

Not so, says writer Simon Jackson, author of 'Cannabis & Meditation - An Explorer's Guide'.

"Taking cannabis will, in some cases, exacerbate any existing mental condition a user might have, that's true. But dope induced anxiety and real paranoia are far from being the same. For one thing, dope anxiety disappears after the user stops taking cannabis, it's very short term and isn't compounded over time."

"Dope anxiety can at times have some hallmarks of actual psychosis, but it's caused by a simple temporary chemical imbalance, not a growing mental condition. As I explain in my book, it can be overcome simply by knowing things like what the best time of day to get high is, what to eat and not eat, and what you shouldn't do before you get high. The whole idea of it being something we should have a growing concern for is media and government manipulation of the facts."

D

[chalk_nasty]

Some people become moronic jackasses when they drink alcohol, still its legal and certain people make their own decisions to not drink because they don't have fun or become something they dont like. Should be the same way for pot. If you freak out, don't smoke it. Why punish the whole class when only one child fucks up?

[Children Anxiety Disorder]

the only thing i said to that anti cannabis people is... which drugs do not have second effects??? which one??? NO ONE.. so left the pro cannabis work and trying to find out what kind of good things can we get of that plant.. HEY... IS JUST A PLANT!!!

[Affiliate Promotion]

I think you need show the good benefits and the side effects and the let the people choise... i think the adult people are not dumb or stupid and can made their own choice and teh rest of the world need learn to respect that... we got freedom... let us choose by ourselves