{"id":46393,"date":"2022-04-18T16:50:53","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T21:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=46393"},"modified":"2022-04-18T16:51:38","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T21:51:38","slug":"marijuanas-effects-on-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/marijuanas-effects-on-the-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana&#8217;s Effects on the Brain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p><strong>Source<\/strong>: &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/neurosciencenews.com\/cognition-psychology-cannabis-20371\/\">How Cannabis Affects Our Cognition and Psychology<\/a>,&#8221; Neuroscience News, 13 May 2022.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;&#8230; the main users are adolescents and young adults, whose\u00a0brains are still in development. They may therefore be\u00a0particularly vulnerable to the effects of cannabis use on the brain in the longer term.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;We showed that participants with the condition had significantly worse performance on memory tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) compared to the controls, who had either never or very rarely used cannabis. It also negatively affected their &#8220;executive functions&#8221;, which are mental processes including flexible thinking.\u00a0This effect seemed to be linked to the age at which people started taking the drug &#8211; the younger they were, the more impaired their executive functioning was.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Cognitive impairments have been noted in mild cannabis users as well. Such users tend to make riskier decisions than others and have more problems with planning.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;We showed that, while male cannabis users had poorer memory for visually recognizing things, female users had more problems with attention and executive functions.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;&#8230; some previous research has suggested that reward and motivation &#8211; along with the brain circuits involved in these processes &#8211; can be disrupted when we use cannabis. This may affect our performance at school or work as it can make us feel less motivated to work hard, and less rewarded when we do well.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;We have shown that it is related to higher &#8220;anhedonia&#8221; &#8211; an inability to feel pleasure &#8211; in adolescents.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Assessing 2,437 adolescents and young adults (14-24 years), the authors reported a six percentage points increased risk &#8211; from 15% to 21% &#8211; of psychotic symptoms in cannabis users without a predisposition for psychosis. But there was a 26-point increase in risk &#8211; from 25% to 51% &#8211; of psychotic symptoms in cannabis users with a predisposition for psychosis.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Cognitive and psychological effects of cannabis use are ultimately likely to depend to some extent on dosage (frequency, duration, and strength), sex, genetic vulnerabilities, and age of onset. But we need to determine whether these effects are temporary or permanent. One article summarising many studies has suggested that with mild cannabis use, the effects may weaken after periods of abstinence.\u00a0But even if that&#8217;s the case, it is clearly worth considering the effects that prolonged cannabis use can have on our minds &#8211; particularly for young people whose brains are still developing.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: &#8220;How Cannabis Affects Our Cognition and Psychology,&#8221; Neuroscience News, 13 May 2022. &#8220;&#8230; the main users are adolescents and young adults, whose\u00a0brains are still in development. They may therefore be\u00a0particularly vulnerable to the effects of cannabis use on the brain in the longer term.&#8221; &#8220;We showed that participants with the condition had significantly worse&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[372,540],"class_list":["post-46393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issues","tag-drugs","tag-marijuana"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57690,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dangers-of-recreational-marijuana\/","url_meta":{"origin":46393,"position":0},"title":"Dangers of Recreational Marijuana","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Source:\u00a0Dr. Liji Thomas, MD, \"Dangers of recreational\/medical cannabis use,\"\u00a0News Medical and Life Sciences, 26 October 2022. More people are using marijuana and starting at a younger age. \"Now that many American states have legalized cannabis, the already high rate of cannabis usage is increasing from ages as young as 16\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83761,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/marijuana-impacts-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":46393,"position":1},"title":"Marijuana Impacts Memory","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Source:\u00a0Julia Milzer, \"Largest Study Ever Done on Cannabis and Brain Function Finds Impact on Working Memory,\" University of Colorado, 28 January 2025. \"The researchers found that 63% of heavy lifetime cannabis users exhibited reduced brain activity during a working memory task, while 68% of recent users also demonstrated a similar\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42282,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/marijuana-produces-persistent-cognitive-loss\/","url_meta":{"origin":46393,"position":2},"title":"Marijuana Produces Persistent Cognitive Loss","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: \"Cannabis Use Produces Persistent Cognitive Impairments,\" Neuroscience News, 20 January 2022. \"A systematic review published today in the scientific journal\u00a0Addiction has found that cannabis use leads to acute cognitive impairments that may continue beyond the period of intoxication.\" \"The study found that cannabis intoxication leads to small to moderate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60865,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/genetic-link-between-marijuana-use-and-psychiatric-disorders\/","url_meta":{"origin":46393,"position":3},"title":"Genetic Link Between Marijuana Use and Psychiatric Disorders","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 23, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: \"Shared Genetics for Cannabis Use and Psychiatric Disorders,\" Neuroscience News, 21 May 2023. \"Researchers discovered shared genetic underpinnings for cannabis use and psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.\" \"Some genetic variants can have opposing effects - increasing risk of cannabis use while decreasing the risk of schizophrenia or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55270,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/cannabis-use-increases-pain-after-surgery\/","url_meta":{"origin":46393,"position":4},"title":"Cannabis Use Increases Pain After Surgery","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: \"Cannabis Use Increases Pain After Surgery,\" Neuroscience News, 23 October 2022. One of the arguments for legalizing marijuana is that it can be used for pain management. This study shows that the claim may not be justified. \"Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25984,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/marijuana-permanently-lowers-iq\/","url_meta":{"origin":46393,"position":5},"title":"Marijuana Permanently Lowers IQ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Source: Stephen Adams, \"Cannabis smoking 'permanently lowers IQ',\"\u00a0The Telegraph, 27 July 2012. Source: Madeline Meier, et al, \"Persistent cannabis users show neuropsychological decline from childhood to midlife,\"\u00a0Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 30 July 2012. \"Researchers found persistent users of the drug, [marijuana], who started smoking it at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Issues&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}