Study Reveals the Way Marijuana Changes the Brains of Young Users

Marijuana use has become a passionate subject, with strong advocates on both sides of medical or recreational use issues. It must be very hard for a parent to know what to think, and even harder for young people to understand the path they should take.

Is marijuana as harmless as some people say? Actually, there is quite a bit of science that provides evidence of the damage that is done when a person begins smoking pot.

We have just received word on a new study that reveals changes that occur in the brains of young people who smoke the drug. What makes this study important is that the pot users in this study were only casual smokers. That means that they smoked fewer than four times each week. Usually, studies follow changes in the bodies or behaviors of heavy users.

This new study was published in The Journal of Neuroscience and states that there were abnormal changes in size and density in four different parts of the brain among the marijuana users and no changes in a similar group of non-users.

It’s encouraging to find more science that helps people learn that marijuana use is far from harmless.

In our work to help the addicted recover, we have seen the damage done by marijuana use first hand. Some people become addicted and suffer the changes in behavior and thinking that are characteristic of marijuana—apathy, lethargy, and loss of motivation. There are many more effects of weed, both short and long-term.

Other people start using marijuana, maybe with alcohol or by itself, and progress to the use of other drugs. Once it’s acceptable to smoke weed, it’s so much more acceptable to use another drug like a painkiller or cocaine.

There’s so much confusing information out there on this drug, we appreciate the work at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine to bring this information to light. You can find a news report on this study here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/15/marijuana-brain-changes/7749309/

For more information on the health risks of marijuana, read our complete report here.