Heavy marijuana use doesn't damage the brain.

Not that I don't believe you, but don't you think they would have noticed that as a long-term effect in this study?
 
Pinwheel, sorry to say it, but that's bullshit. I don't care what your professor says. Three things cause severe brain damage: alcohol, N20, and various other inhalants. I could care less about what anyone says about weed. I theoretically smoke 4-5 times a day taking rather advanced college classes and it's not effected me a bit. When you boil down to it, the most pointless AND dangerous (medicinally, psychadelics don't count...they're not addicting) is alcohol. Not Heroin, not crack, not MDMA...fuckin alcohol. And after that it's probably cigarettes and ephedra. But hey, guess what, they're all legal for some dumb ass reason.
 
pinwheel said:
I smoke pot, but my psychopharmacologist did show me a brain scan of a chronic pot smoker for 10 years as opposed to a normal brain scan.
The frontal lobe activity was severely diminished.
Just some food for thought.

What functions take place in the frontal lobe?
 
n2o doesn't cause brain damage, unless you dont supply oxygen to your brain for long enough..
 
"However, there might be a different set of circumstances to a 12-year-old whose nervous system is still developing."

by far one of the most important points in the whole article. i whole-heartedly believe that smoking pot before the age of at least 18 will be far more likely in some way or another to irreparably damage your nervous system.

still, this article kicks ass! just as i'm reaching the 4 years daily mark, this news comes as some peace of mind. now we just need some regenerative lung tissue implants/drugs and we'll be set :D


edit: my joined date used to be 1999? what happened?
 
"I predict it will become the aspirin of the 21st century, as more people recognize this."

I liked the article, nothing new but...
This statement is a bit farfetched... As a treatment for real debilitating illnesses, it's truly a miracle drug, but you can't say it lacks side effects (like aspirin) ...being high all day is not fun (for me and a lot of people...stoners abstain!!:b)
 
Actually, aspirin does nothing for me ... Smoking some pot would probably help me a lot more!
*commercial voiceover* For minor aches and pains, 3 out of 4 doctors recommend marijuana :D

Also, I agree with Spinsta's comment, although I'm not sure 18 would be the lowest safety limit. But there has been ample evidence (or at least it seems common sense to me) that one should avoid using drugs until the brain has 'matured' so to speak; at least to the point of full development .. I would say 16 is an OK age, of course, one can never be cautious. But there just seems to be NO evidence that marijuana can possibly be harmful to any adult, except for the pronouncement of pre-existing psychotic conditions in the rare individual.
 
DJLA, I suspect the difference you're seeing is that these sort of studies look at actual damage. They look for loss of function or significant impairment in a controled setting. Your stoner friends have done little or no actual damage from a medical perspective. They just can't get their shit together sometimes :)
 
Does marijuana make people flaky or are flaky people attracted to marijuana (because of the culture, hippies and whatnot)?

I know many long time (as in decades) daily users of marijuana who hold jobs, have children, own their own houses, etc. They seem to be about the same as other adults, except maybe with a little bit more sense of humor.
 
Where would a person or how would a person go about offering themselves as a test subject?
 
Does marijuana make people flaky or are flaky people attracted to marijuana (because of the culture, hippies and whatnot)?

interesting question - I've been thinking about that quite a bit lately, and the funny thing is that I was just as clumsy/absent-minded long before I started smoking pot. In fact, physical clumsiness may have even been worse before, mainly because pot makes me less fidgety.

and I loved the Dead, Floyd, King Crimson, and a host of other strange music before finding smoke. Then they sounded a lot cooler. =D
 
It may be illegal in america, and in my own country, but Europe is slowly leaving all that behind. In 20 years the weight of medical evidence coming out of britians new cannabis reseacrh industry will be undeniable to even the stauchest prohibitionist.

Wait, these boys are gonna look pretty silly soon now that science is being allowed to speak.
 
Thought id add my 2c. Just so you all know, reduced activity in any region of the brain does not mean permenant brain damage. The frontal lobe has nothing to do with motivation either. Nor does one brain scan image mean jack. Brains vary hugely from person to person, and as such any proof of an effect on the brain _must_ be taken from multiple people and averaged.

Now before you closet supporters of prohobition mentality get uppity: marijuana has been shown to be an extremely powerful anti-oxidant and neru-protective agent. Thats why theres not much permenant damage, cannibas has profound anti-aging and damage properties - which as research from the UK is showing, may cause cannibis to because the wonder drug of the 21st century.

Sure ask a person while they are stoned what 44 x 44 is, they might be slow. Ask them the next morning, or when they are 70, and they may even give a better answer on average than the non-smoker (particularly if they are a moderate user or ex-user, rather than a heavy user)
 
i don't think 'flaky' people are attracted to marijuana anymore than they are attracted to any number of other intoxicants.

on a technical note, britain isn't decriminalising marijuana yet. it's being declassified to a class c drug & new guidelines as to arrest procedures are being implemented (in fact, it was only a few weeks ago that some of the new regulations came into place). hopefully in the not too distant future it will be decriminalised!

i believe i'm as normal as i can be, and i'm a daily smoker. up until 2 weeks ago i smoked from about 9am through till 10pm, every day, without exception. i've been doing so since i was 13, with a year and a half off from 15 - 16 & 1/2.

i haven't noticed any significant cognitive disorders or detrimental effects; i can't remember everything i'm told, but most people can't. motivation is entirely dependent on what you need to be motivated to do - i don't have any problems getting up to DJ, but studying medieval heresy & the evolution of pomeranian crusading expansionism can be a struggle sometimes :).
 
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