cannabisnews.com: What Marijuana Really Does To Your Brain function share_this(num) { tit=encodeURIComponent('What Marijuana Really Does To Your Brain'); url=encodeURIComponent('http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/28/thread28595.shtml'); site = new Array(5); site[0]='http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+url+'&title='+tit; site[1]='http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit.php?url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[2]='http://digg.com/submit?topic=political_opinion&media=video&url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[3]='http://reddit.com/submit?url='+url+'&title='+tit; site[4]='http://del.icio.us/post?v=4&noui&jump=close&url='+url+'&title='+tit; window.open(site[num],'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=620,height=500'); return false; } What Marijuana Really Does To Your Brain Posted by CN Staff on June 05, 2015 at 09:38:56 PT By Laura Donovan Source: Salon.com USA -- The Journal of Neuroscience report is bolstered by a 2003 study conducted by the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, which came up with similar results regarding the effect of marijuana on the brain. Though the 2003 research found that chronic marijuana users may experience a reduction in the ability to remember and learn, other cognitive abilities were not impacted, and “from a neurocognitive standpoint, the small magnitude of these effect sizes suggests that if cannabis compounds are found to have therapeutic value, they may have an acceptable margin of safety under the more limited conditions of exposure that would likely obtain in a medical setting,” the study found. Last year, Northwestern University published a study that found marijuana can cause brain abnormalities, but the research was swiftly questioned by UC-Berkeley professor and computational biologist Lori Pachter.“The paper is terrible on a number of levels,” Pachter told The Huffington Post of the study last year. “It reeks of dishonesty … Maybe users have strange brains because they smoked pot. But maybe they smoke pot because they have strange brains. There is an important difference here.”Harvard researchers also found that marijuana had no long-term effect on people who stopped using the substance, although study author Harrison Pope said it’s probably unwise to “try landing a 747, driving a bus or train, or taking a calculus test a week after heavy marijuana use.”The Health Benefits of MarijuanaDr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, wrote in 2013 that he regretted previously holding an anti-marijuana stance. After traveling around the world and meeting with farmers, experts, medicinal users, and medical leaders, Dr. Gupta’s opinion on the substance shifted significantly.“It doesn’t have a high potential for abuse, and there are very legitimate medical applications,” Dr. Gupta wrote. “In fact, sometimes marijuana is the only thing that works. Take the case of Charlotte Figi, who I met in Colorado. She started having seizures soon after birth. By age 3, she was having 300 a week, despite being on seven different medications. Medical marijuana has calmed her brain, limiting her seizures to 2 or 3 per month.”That said, Dr. Gupta wouldn’t recommend marijuana to children or young adults as their brains are still developing.Earlier this year, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. Surgeon General, acknowledged the health benefits of medicinal marijuana in some situations.“We have some preliminary data showing that, for certain medical conditions and symptoms, that marijuana can be helpful,” Dr. Vivek said on CBS News. “We have to use that data to drive policy-making.”Marijuana can also be good for those suffering from mental illness. Last year, a study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology found that it could help treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and a few months ago, University of Buffalo Institute on Addictions researchers found that THC, the active compound in marijuana, could reduce the effects of depression.“Using compounds derived from cannabis – marijuana – to restore normal endocannabinoid function could potentially help stabilize moods and ease depression,” Dr. Samir Haj-Dahmane, the study’s lead researcher, said in a press release.Last week, Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman talked about his experience using marijuana to treat pain following a car accident seven years ago.“Marijuana has many useful uses,” Freeman told The Daily Beast. “I have fibromyalgia pain in this arm, and the only thing that offers any relief is marijuana. They’re talking about kids who have grand mal seizures, and they’ve discovered that marijuana eases that down to where these children can have a life. That right there, to me, says, ‘Legalize it across the board!’ Now, the thrust is understanding that alcohol has no real medicinal use.”This article originally appeared on ATTN:Attn: Those opposed to marijuana sometimes argue that the substance fries your brain, but new research published earlier this year in the Journal of Neuroscience found that marijuana does not kill brain cells. In fact, marijuana can actually have a positive impact on a person’s mental health, as ATTN: has noted before.Source: Salon.com (US Web) Author: Laura DonovanPublished: June 4, 2015Copyright: 2015 Salon Website: http://www.salon.com/ Contact: salon salonmagazine.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/SEmNS1YgCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #5 posted by runruff on June 07, 2015 at 08:10:52 PT We have a name for them. We call them bottom feeders. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by The GCW on June 07, 2015 at 06:03:14 PT To the Brain Average House Price Rose by $40,000 in a Year in Denver After City Legalized Marijuana and Thousands of People Moved Therehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3112172/Legalization-marijuana-boosts-house-prices-ten-cent-thousands-flock-Denver.html-0-Another thing experienced by the brain when people use cannabis in one location where it is illegal, while it is legal in another location:The BRAIN says let's get the heck out of this hole and move somewhere reasonable.The BRAIN's survival mechanism protects them...THE BRAIN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF CANNABIS CAN DETECT IGNOID PROHIBITIONISTS WHO WORK TO CAGE THEM.-0-The lowly cannabis prohibitionist is worth less than a big mosquito. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by The GCW on June 06, 2015 at 16:09:02 PT The missing study We need. And where is the study: What Marijuana Prohibition Really Does To THEIR Brain.What happens to the human brain when a person takes the step which leads to caging their fellow humans for using what God created and said is good on page 1?It can't be good for the brain and it must totally screw up the soul and I won't even mention their future implications after they leave this life.-0-Plea FROM GOD, through a CHRIST to people considering becoming a cannabis prohibitionist; DON'T DO IT. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by runruff on June 05, 2015 at 20:33:23 PT Einstein said it best; "Genius has it's limits, this is not so with stupidity." [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on June 05, 2015 at 11:55:32 PT developing brains So, cannabis has been proven 9 ways to Sunday to be protective and healing to neurological tissues in many different diseases. And yet we're told that it somehow harms neurological tissues in "developing brains". I'm not buying it. It's totally non-toxic to the entire body except teenage brains. BS! If only the ruling elite were as concerned about autism, ADD, we're in the midst of an epidemic, 1 in 4 young men have a neurological disorder like autism, ADD, or others, that's insane. Cancer rates have doubled, tripled, and more since WWII. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment