Marijuana’s Long Term Effects On The Brain Finally Revealed!

With a drug war against cannabis still raging in more users than not, the concern of how long-lasting marijuana use impacts the human brain is a critical question in its legalization. Although alcohol stays legal despite various evidence of the dangers of long-lasting usage, the fight to make marijuana readily available both with regard to its medical properties (specifically in selectively eliminating cancer cells) and non-medical uses has frequently depended upon the different claims made about marijuana’s results on the recreational user.

Fortunately, the argument can lastly leave from the world of viewpoint into clinical evidence as scientists from the University of Texas simply released their research into the long-lasting impacts of marijuana use on the brain in PNAS (Procedures of the National Academy of Sciences).

The scientist helped dispel the dying misconception that marijuana usage lowers IQ, and actually offers more evidence to marijuana’s potential role in battling Alzheimer’s. The research study exposed that earlier onset of regular cannabis use causes higher structural and functional connectivity in the brain. The most substantial boosts in connection appear as a specific starts utilizing cannabis, with outcomes showing that the intensity of use is straight associated to greater connectivity.

Although these results will have to be verified with a bigger sample (this was based upon roughly 100 individuals), the initial results do appear promising. More research will need to be done in order to see if these differences are caused by, or merely connected with, long term marijuana usage. They also found decreased gray matter in the OFC (orbitofrontalcortex) in long-term users (which is a brain region connected with addiction). It is unclear whether this area is just smaller sized in routine users (describing their routine use) or if the usage really contributed to structural brain changes. These outcomes will also need to be contrasted with other research showing that cannabinoids in fact promote brain cell development (neurogensis) even in adults.