{"id":57690,"date":"2023-01-06T10:05:16","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T16:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=57690"},"modified":"2023-01-06T10:05:16","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T16:05:16","slug":"dangers-of-recreational-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dangers-of-recreational-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Dangers of Recreational Marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Source:\u00a0<\/strong>Dr. Liji Thomas, MD, “Dangers of recreational\/medical cannabis use<\/a>,”\u00a0News Medical and Life Sciences<\/em>, 26 October 2022.<\/p>\n

More people are using marijuana and starting at a younger age.<\/p>\n

“Now that many American states have legalized cannabis, the already high rate of cannabis usage is increasing from ages as young as 16 years.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Current studies on marijuana’s effects are flawed.<\/p>\n

Medical use of cannabis is “taking place in the context of limited evidence that cannabis is safe. Furthermore, studies are limited by a reliance on a single source of cannabis from federal stocks, recall bias, small sample sizes, and poor external validity. An earlier Cochrane review in 2017 reports that most studies were of low to moderate quality.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Marijuana has limited use in pain management and comes with significant side effects.<\/p>\n

“… the global impression of any change in pain management was very low among patients, with adverse effects of cannabis use accounting for multiple withdrawals from studies on medical cannabis.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Marijuana is linked to psychiatric disorders.<\/p>\n

Medical cannabis “appeared to impact the nervous system, with a higher risk of psychiatric disorders. Long-term risks have been poorly assessed. Furthermore, some authors have concluded that the cost-benefit ratio of medical cannabis is unfavorable.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Marijuana negatively impacts memory, attention, and decision-making abilities.<\/p>\n

“Cannabis users tend to show defects in executive function, with poorer memory and attention than non-users. This appears to be dose-dependent and affects cognition, reward, and motivation.”<\/p>\n

“Young adults with cannabis use disorder (CUD) could have cognitive impairments due to disorders of the emotional domain. This reduces normal cognitive control and decision-making capacity in emotionally strenuous situations.”<\/p>\n

“Studies of brain electrical activity suggest that cannabis users have increased cortical activation at rest, perhaps because the normal inhibition of unnecessary processes that create background noise and reduce brain efficiency is impaired by cannabis.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The negative effects of marijuana on the brain show up soon and lasts for a long time.<\/p>\n

“Acute cannabis use affects working, verbal and visual memory, as well as episodic memory and attention, with higher impulsivity. In fact, small changes are detectable within a week of heavy cannabis use.\u00a0Tests of memory and learning consistently produce poorer results among cannabis users. Chronic use of cannabis tends to impair memory …”<\/p>\n

“Chronic cannabis use may permanently alter cognition by changing brain processing in pathways like the prefrontal-limbic system network.\u00a0Abstinence for over one month was not associated with a better response to emotional stimuli in chronic users with dependence.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Marijuana impairs physical reaction times, especially in situations that demand long-term attention (such as driving).<\/p>\n

“Chronic use of cannabis tends to … [induce] significant brain dysfunction that affects visual-motor pathways. If chronic users who abstained for an average of 15 hours are compared with chronic tobacco users, the former were shown to have worse learning and recall memory, with more interference and greater forgetfulness. Reaction times were also longer among chronic cannabis users, particularly when sustained attention was required.”<\/p>\n

“The association of poor working memory, a brain function that develops mostly in adolescence, occurs more significantly in frequent adolescent cannabis users as compared to adults. … [This] may indicate a risk factor for cannabis use since it did not show any difference between single- and repeated-use cases.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Marijuana is associated with increased throat cancer<\/p>\n

“Patients with throat cancer are more likely to use cannabis … Cannabis smoking produces toxins that can produce cancer of the head and neck, as well as immunosuppressants and mutagens.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 years.” Current studies on marijuana’s…<\/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-57690","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":2376,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/marijuana-and-mental-illness\/","url_meta":{"origin":57690,"position":0},"title":"Marijuana and Mental Illness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 3, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Source:\u00a0Alex Berenson, \"Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence,\" Imprimis, vol. 48, no. 1, Jan 2019 \"They've told you marijuana has many different medical uses. In reality marijuana and THC, its active ingredient, have been shown to work only in a few narrow conditions. They are most commonly prescribed for pain relief.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Issues"","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":57690,"position":1},"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 "Issues"","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":57690,"position":2},"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 "Issues"","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":57690,"position":3},"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 "Issues"","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":57690,"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 "Issues"","block_context":{"text":"Issues","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54151,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/not-what-they-told-you-marijuana\/","url_meta":{"origin":57690,"position":5},"title":"Not What They Told You – Marijuana","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Jeremiah 5:21-31 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It sounds noble \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We need to legalize medical marijuana! \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But instead of controlled studies where the effectiveness of a derivative drug is analyzed for its benefits versus its harm, the door is thrown wide open. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is an oil extract from marijuana\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57690","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=57690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}