This Is Your Brain on Drugs
By ABIGAIL SULLIVAN MOORE
OCT. 29, 2014
The gray matter of the nucleus accumbens, the walnut-shaped pleasure center of the brain, was glowing like a flame, showing a notable increase in density. “It could mean that there’s some sort of drug learning taking place,” speculated Jodi Gilman, at her computer screen at the Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Center for Addiction Medicine. Was the brain adapting to marijuana exposure, rewiring the reward system to demand the drug?
Dr. Gilman was reviewing a composite scan of the brains of 20 pot smokers, ages 18 to 25. What she and fellow researchers at Harvard and Northwestern University found within those scans surprised them. Even in the seven participants who smoked only once or twice a week, there was evidence of structural differences in two significant regions of the brain. The more the subjects smoked, the greater the differences.
Moderate marijuana use by healthy adults seems to pose little risk, and there are potential medical benefits, including easing nausea and pain. But it has long been known that, with the brain developing into the mid-20s, young people who smoke early and often are more likely to have learning and mental health problems. Now researchers suggest existing studies are no longer sufficient. Much of what’s known is based on studies conducted years ago with much less powerful pot.
Marijuana samples seized by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency show the concentration of THC, the drug’s psychoactive compound, rising from a mean of 3.75 percent in 1995 to 13 percent in 2013. Potency seesaws depending on the strain and form. Fresh Baked, which sells recreational marijuana in Boulder, Colo., offers “Green Crack,” with a THC content of about 21 percent, and “Phnom Pen,” with about 8 percent. The level in a concentrate called “Bubble Hash” is about 70 percent; cartridges for vaporizers, much like e-cigarettes, range from 15 to 30 percent THC.
High-THC marijuana is associated with paranoia and psychosis, according to a June article in The New England Journal of Medicine. “We have seen very, very significant increases in emergency room admissions associated with marijuana use that can’t be accounted for solely on basis of changes in prevalence rates,” said Nora D. Volkow,
continued here http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/e...ain-on-drugs-marijuana-adults-teens.html?_r=0
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First a question. What does the nucleus accumbens look like in tobacco addicts.. is it enlarged as well? If so I would assume it much larger in tobacco addicts compared to grass users for similar time periods. Was tobacco use and addiction taken into account in this determination.
Hypothesis. The nucleus accumbens is the area of the brain responsible for storing sensory cues associated with successful attainment of a goal. With the successful obtainment of a goal the mesolimbic reward pathway is activated and all sensory surrounding the event is stored. The brain then constantly monitors for events that are similar or the same. When it recognizes these events it then triggers a person to let them know that a reward could be there for the taking.
With the use of an addictive drug the mesolimbic system is activated and sensory information is stored. When a person repeatedly activates the mesolimbic system in varied locations, such is very common with cannabis use, then the NA may need to develop to hold all the sensory cues. So it is forced to develop.
By ABIGAIL SULLIVAN MOORE
OCT. 29, 2014
The gray matter of the nucleus accumbens, the walnut-shaped pleasure center of the brain, was glowing like a flame, showing a notable increase in density. “It could mean that there’s some sort of drug learning taking place,” speculated Jodi Gilman, at her computer screen at the Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Center for Addiction Medicine. Was the brain adapting to marijuana exposure, rewiring the reward system to demand the drug?
Dr. Gilman was reviewing a composite scan of the brains of 20 pot smokers, ages 18 to 25. What she and fellow researchers at Harvard and Northwestern University found within those scans surprised them. Even in the seven participants who smoked only once or twice a week, there was evidence of structural differences in two significant regions of the brain. The more the subjects smoked, the greater the differences.
Moderate marijuana use by healthy adults seems to pose little risk, and there are potential medical benefits, including easing nausea and pain. But it has long been known that, with the brain developing into the mid-20s, young people who smoke early and often are more likely to have learning and mental health problems. Now researchers suggest existing studies are no longer sufficient. Much of what’s known is based on studies conducted years ago with much less powerful pot.
Marijuana samples seized by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency show the concentration of THC, the drug’s psychoactive compound, rising from a mean of 3.75 percent in 1995 to 13 percent in 2013. Potency seesaws depending on the strain and form. Fresh Baked, which sells recreational marijuana in Boulder, Colo., offers “Green Crack,” with a THC content of about 21 percent, and “Phnom Pen,” with about 8 percent. The level in a concentrate called “Bubble Hash” is about 70 percent; cartridges for vaporizers, much like e-cigarettes, range from 15 to 30 percent THC.
High-THC marijuana is associated with paranoia and psychosis, according to a June article in The New England Journal of Medicine. “We have seen very, very significant increases in emergency room admissions associated with marijuana use that can’t be accounted for solely on basis of changes in prevalence rates,” said Nora D. Volkow,
continued here http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/02/e...ain-on-drugs-marijuana-adults-teens.html?_r=0
.................................................................................................................................
First a question. What does the nucleus accumbens look like in tobacco addicts.. is it enlarged as well? If so I would assume it much larger in tobacco addicts compared to grass users for similar time periods. Was tobacco use and addiction taken into account in this determination.
Hypothesis. The nucleus accumbens is the area of the brain responsible for storing sensory cues associated with successful attainment of a goal. With the successful obtainment of a goal the mesolimbic reward pathway is activated and all sensory surrounding the event is stored. The brain then constantly monitors for events that are similar or the same. When it recognizes these events it then triggers a person to let them know that a reward could be there for the taking.
With the use of an addictive drug the mesolimbic system is activated and sensory information is stored. When a person repeatedly activates the mesolimbic system in varied locations, such is very common with cannabis use, then the NA may need to develop to hold all the sensory cues. So it is forced to develop.
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