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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides


Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study
#8475438 - 06/02/08 03:50 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Reuter's
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Long-term heavy use of marijuana may cause two important brain structures to shrink, Australian researchers said on Monday.
Brain scans showed the hippocampus and amygdala were smaller in men who were heavy marijuana users compared to nonusers, the researchers said. The men had smoked at least five marijuana cigarettes daily for on average 20 years.
The hippocampus regulates memory and emotion, while the amygdala plays a critical role in fear and aggression.
The study, published in the American Medical Association's journal Archives of General Psychiatry, also found the heavy cannabis users earned lower scores than the nonusers in a verbal learning task -- trying to recall a list of 15 words.
The marijuana users were more likely to exhibit mild signs of psychotic disorders, but not enough to be formally diagnosed with any such disorder, the researchers said.
"These findings challenge the widespread perception of cannabis as having limited or no harmful effects on (the) brain and behavior," said Murat Yucel of ORYGEN Research Centre and the University of Melbourne, who led the study.
"Like with most things, some people will experience greater problems associated with cannabis use than others," Yucel said in an e-mail. "Our findings suggest that everyone is vulnerable to potential changes in the brain, some memory problems and psychiatric symptoms if they use heavily enough and for long enough."
Among the 15 heavy marijuana users in the study, the hippocampus volume was 12 percent less and the amygdala volume was 7 percent less than in 16 men who were not marijuana users, the researchers said.
15 users? Oh yeah, that's a conclusive study.
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Irieforester
Head to toe inH2O




Registered: 03/10/08
Posts: 515
Loc: That state seperating fro...
Last seen: 11 years, 8 months
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: Le_Canard]
#8475444 - 06/02/08 03:52 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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5 joints a day for 20 years is pretty damn heavy, no matter who you are
-------------------- I am still and forever learning Apollyphelion said: You can learn A LOT from shitting in the right set and setting!
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DrOli
Biochemist

Registered: 08/27/07
Posts: 216
Last seen: 13 years, 5 months
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: Irieforester]
#8475457 - 06/02/08 03:57 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Same as alcohol, so what.
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Sage.Phish
Guerrilla Farmer



Registered: 02/17/08
Posts: 598
Loc: City 17
Last seen: 9 years, 8 days
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: DrOli]
#8475496 - 06/02/08 04:10 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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i think alcohol actually shrinks the brain more. i remember watching health vids on it, and you could see your brain as a rasin in a the CAT scan.
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: Sage.Phish]
#8475535 - 06/02/08 04:17 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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This headline is almost certainly bullshit.
What it should be: "people who use marijuana have some smaller brain structures: study"
Big difference. I've met alot of nutballs that use drugs, and I don't think its the drugs. Still, this would be interesting to see how it works w/ more people. I don't really know how well stats excludes random error on a small scale, but its supposed to.
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OrgoneConclusion
Blue Fish Group



Registered: 04/01/07
Posts: 45,441
Loc: Under the C
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: Le_Canard]
#8475658 - 06/02/08 04:45 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Funny how there is never a study on the effect on the brain for 20 years in prison for being a gardener.
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Edited by OrgoneConclusion (06/02/08 06:09 PM)
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bait_
AllSpice

Registered: 04/24/07
Posts: 2,292
Loc: This Cannot Be Happening
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: OrgoneConclusion]
#8475953 - 06/02/08 06:00 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Good. My brain is too big for my head anyways.
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sleepy
zZzZzZzZz


Registered: 01/17/05
Posts: 3,888
Loc:
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: Le_Canard]
#8476097 - 06/02/08 06:26 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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where'd they get 5 joints a day for 20 years?
Edited by sleepy (06/02/08 06:29 PM)
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hockeyplyr1057
Music Lover



Registered: 03/20/07
Posts: 573
Last seen: 9 years, 5 months
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: sleepy]
#8476145 - 06/02/08 06:37 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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5 joints a day for 20 years is just askin for it.
same goes with alcohol use like that
-------------------- All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. -Gandalf
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John Nada
Toujours Frais


Registered: 03/03/03
Posts: 97,746
Loc: Hotwings; race car
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: Le_Canard]
#8476318 - 06/02/08 07:24 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Yeah, they need some more folks than 15. And did this test start 20 yrs ago?
Or did they just screen surveys for men who said they had smoked an average of 5 joints over the past 20 years? Cause that wouldn't be very scientific
And if they did start the test 20 yrs ago, then who's to say that these guys didn't have smaller hippocampuses and amygdalas before they started smoking? Maybe people with smaller hippocampuses and amygdalas are more prone to smoke anyway.
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clover606
Stranger

Registered: 08/13/07
Posts: 656
Last seen: 10 years, 7 months
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: John Nada]
#8476586 - 06/02/08 08:21 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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i think youre on to something paradis, since the amygdalas controls fear, maybe a smaller one would mean less succeptable to fear tactics like claiming cannabis shrinks your brain.
-------------------- grassman said: I remember being in DARE when i was much younger and some of the stories they would tell you are not only ridiculous, but completely untrue. One story was that a woman was on LSD and thought her infant was a turkey so she baked it in the oven. Now I look back and think thats hilarious, but at the time I guess it scared me.
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boxcarguy07
Uno



Registered: 04/25/07
Posts: 3,942
Loc: SC
Last seen: 11 years, 10 months
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: clover606]
#8476768 - 06/02/08 08:50 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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In all fairness, the OP did not post the rest of the article:
Quote:
The researchers acknowledged that the study did not prove it was the marijuana and not some other factor that triggered these brain differences. But Yucel said the findings certainly suggested marijuana was the cause.
"STONED" FOR 20 YEARS
While about half of the marijuana users reported experiencing some form of paranoia and social withdrawal, only one of the nonusers reported such symptoms, Yucel said.
The heavy marijuana users, average age 40, said they had used other illicit drugs less than 10 times, the researchers said.
A U.S. group supporting legal sales and regulation of marijuana took issue with the findings, particularly because they were based on men who were such heavy, long-term users.
"These were people who were essentially stoned all day every day for 20 years," Marijuana Policy Project spokesman Bruce Mirken said by e-mail. "This study says nothing about moderate or occasional users, who are the vast majority -- and the (study) even acknowledges this."
"The documented damage caused by comparably heavy use of alcohol or tobacco is just off-the-charts more serious, and you don't need high-tech scans to find it," Mirken added.
Yucel said the researchers have begun new research on the effects of both short-term and long-term and moderate and heavy use of marijuana.
Still, a very misleading title, and what a crap "study"
--------------------
Music doesn't stop at the ears when it begins at the heart.
"Sit in reverie and watch the changing color of the waves that break upon the idle seashore of the mind." -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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alphabeatu
Sire


Registered: 11/07/07
Posts: 2,750
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: Le_Canard]
#8476902 - 06/02/08 09:13 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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pigs love this kiid of false propaganda,then go out and bust weed smokers whilst they themselves import manufacture and sell ice here
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=573530
and this is our orchard of righteous men in blue upholding the law(their way)
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i need names and addresses of narc members pm for details
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Ram Dass
Challenger



Registered: 02/08/08
Posts: 693
Loc: 2000 Feet Under the Sea
Last seen: 10 years, 30 days
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: alphabeatu]
#8476970 - 06/02/08 09:24 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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smaller brain means less chance for stroke, doesnt it?
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two_rivers
mmm..



Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 1,014
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: Ram Dass]
#8477142 - 06/02/08 09:51 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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even if this study actually proved something... which it doesn't because there are waaaay too many variables.. who's to say that these effects are "bad"?
decreased memory: maybe it allows the person to focus more on the present moment.
decreased emotion: this is something i strive to do, maybe i should increase my marijuana intake.
and i'd imagine that shrinkage of the amygdala, would also reduce fear and aggression.... so i don't understand the problem here either...
and as for these users displaying some traits of psychotic disorders... whoopityDOO! anybody who is "sane" by modern society's standards has a psychotic disorder as far as i'm concerned.
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    Save Shroomerites Anonymous!
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gumkeegan
I can relate to my toes



Registered: 02/08/08
Posts: 107
Loc: prescott, az
Last seen: 15 years, 2 months
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: two_rivers]
#8477704 - 06/02/08 11:44 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
two_rivers said: ...anybody who is "sane" by modern society's standards has a psychotic disorder as far as i'm concerned.
Yes, but anybody who judges his own sanity through the unavoidably-warped plexiglass of his perceptions of the "society's standards" is also utterly insane.
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Sactown_Shroomer
Fool on the Hill

Registered: 11/30/05
Posts: 62
Loc: Sacramento, CA
Last seen: 1 year, 6 months
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: two_rivers]
#8478062 - 06/03/08 01:40 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Is it possilbe for any person to correctly define sanity?
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two_rivers
mmm..



Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 1,014
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: Sactown_Shroomer]
#8478180 - 06/03/08 02:45 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Yes, but anybody who judges his own sanity through the unavoidably-warped plexiglass of his perceptions of the "society's standards" is also utterly insane.
..it was meant to be a joke.
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    Save Shroomerites Anonymous!
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tyler_0_durden
Stranger


Registered: 10/28/07
Posts: 1,861
Last seen: 12 years, 5 months
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: two_rivers]
#8480299 - 06/03/08 05:07 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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12% less after 5 joints a day for 20 years? That's not very bad brain damage at all.
And they said for the heavy users that they still did not show enough signs for a psychotic disorder.
Marijuana doesn't harm you a lot, is what this study is saying...not marijuana is bad for you. Because clearly, if someone binged with alcohol that much they wouldn't even have a brain after 20 years...LOL.
-------------------- "As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter." --Max Planck
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ArtVandaley
Stranger

Registered: 05/08/08
Posts: 626
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Re: Heavy Marijuana Use Shrinks Brain Parts: Study [Re: tyler_0_durden]
#8481539 - 06/03/08 10:07 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Study my ass, waste of 20 years worth of paper, ink, and time-but definatley not the weed! Mabe these very smart people funding and researching these studies should spend more time on important issues like cancer,stroke,aids etc... leave what was here before us alone why is it that anything natural like mushrooms,MJ,kava,qat and so on all a problem but what ever is man made and taxed of course is all o.k? not like ciggies and booze hurt anyone..
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