Report Heavy marijuana use may cause poor memory and abnormal brain structure, study says

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tom_mai78101

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Teenagers who smoked marijuana daily for three years performed poorly on memory tasks and showed abnormal changes in brain structure, according to a Northwestern Medicine study.

Researchers in Chicago observed the brains of teenagers who were heavy users of marijuana. In those individuals, memory-related structures in the brain appeared to shrink and collapse inward, possibly indicating a decrease in neurons.

These abnormalities were recorded two years after the teens stopped using marijuana, possibly indicating long-term effects, and look similar to schizophrenia-related brain abnormalities.

The brains were shaped more abnormally for individuals who began marijuana use at a younger age, according to the reports, which suggest that memory regions of the brain are more susceptible to the drug at earlier ages.

The research was published in the December issue of Schizophrenia Bulletin.

news.feinberg.northwestern.edu

Early Marijuana Use Results in Abnormal Brain Structure, Poor Memory - News Center

Teens who were heavy marijuana users - smoking it daily for about three years - had abnormal changes in their brain structures related to working memory and performed poorly on memory tasks, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.
news.feinberg.northwestern.edu news.feinberg.northwestern.edu
 
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Definition of "heavy":

jerodras said:
From the paper: "quantity and biological markers of cannabis use were not collected". The authors report the control/CUD group used on average of 4 out of 5 days. It's also worth pointing out that the control marijuana using group was smallish, N=10. The outcome measure is shape of subcortical structures, which I know professionally to be difficult to do. In addition, this was performed on a 1.5T machine which is, in research terms, low field meaning a noisier image. These are not real criticisms just things that pop out at me, someone who does this for a living, as warranting further studies. The statistics are sound and likely the best information we have at the moment to answer this specific question (wrt schiz, I believe there are other papers out there for normal MJ users).
Click to expand...
 
Was there a control group of peers that weren't cannabis users? I wonder not to argue the data, but to better consider it.

Edit: Oh, guess so.
 
well, what I find most alarming about this is that the comments on that site just won't accept that heavy use in children could have negative effects. "now the government owns PBS"? yeah right.
 
This isn't surprising at all. I don't know why everyone wants to believe that marijuana is some perfectly safe, non-drug thing with no addiction potential and is an automatic cure for everything. It's not, it has some medicinal properties just like heroin and cocaine, even meth in some cases, and negative effects when used in excess.
 
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    So honestly even if I leave I think it would last a couple of months until it's obvious that I am not exactly replaceable and then I would be in an even better position.
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    But as of right now I have two other job offers that are reasonably close to what my hourly equivalency would be, and I would probably have more time for my other projects. The gap would be pretty easy to fill up if I had time to do my side jobs. I use to do some catering and private events, personal lessons, consultations, ect, and I charge like 120 an hour for those. But they aren't consistent enough for a full time job, too small of a town. And I'm not allowed to move for another year until my probation is over
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    I guess I could get it transferred, but that seems like a hassle.
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    Plus I have a storage room full of broken consoles I need to fix. I need to build a little reflow oven so I can manufacture some mod chips still, but it'll get there.
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  • Varine Varine:
    I would like to get out of cooking in general at some point in the next ten years, but for the time being I can make decent money and pump that into savings. I've been taking some engineering classes online, but those aren't exactly career oriented at the moment, but I think getting into electronic or computer engineering of some sort would be ideal. I'm just going to keep taking some classes here and there until there's one that I am really into.
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    There is money in fixing and reselling consoles. Problem is people know that so they are doing it
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    If you can find a source of broken consoles though you can make money fixing them - sometimes some big money
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    I was buying them on Ebay, but it's pretty competitive, so more recently I've just been telling the thrift stores to call me and I will come take all their electronics they can't sell. I've volunteered there before and people use them like a dump sometimes, and so they just have a massive amount of broken shit they throw away
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    The local GoodWill was pretty into it, surprisingly the animal shelter store was not. The lady I talked to there seemed to think I was trying to steal stuff or something, she wasn't very nice about it. Like I'm just trying to stop you having to throw a bunch of electronics away, if you can sell it great. I'd probably pay you for the broken shit too if you wanted
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    Then I make posts on Facebook yard sale pages sometimes saying I want your old electronics, but Facebook being Facebook people on there are also wary about why I want it, then want a bunch of money like it's going to be very worth it
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    Sooner than later I'm going to get my archives business going a little more. I need some office space that is kind of hard to get at the moment, but without it, I have to be like "Yeah so go ahead and just leave your family heirlooms and hundred year old photographs here at my shitty apartment and give me a thousand dollars, and next month I'll give you a thumb drive. I promise I'll take care of them!"
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    I can do some things with them at their home, but when people have thousands of slides and very delicate newspaper clippings and things, not really practical. I
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    I would be there for days, even with my camera set up slides can take a long time, and if they want perfect captures I really need to use my scanners that are professionally made for that. My camera rig works well for what it is, but for enlargements and things it's not as good.
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    I've only had a couple clients with that so far, though. I don't have a website or anything yet though.
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    Console repair can be worthwhile, but it's also not a thing I can do at scale in my house. I just don't have room for the equipment. I need an office that I can segregate out for archival and then electronic restoration.
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    But in order for that to be real, I need more time, and for more time I need to work less, and to work less I need a different job, and for a different job I need more money to fall back on so that I can make enough to just pay like, rent and utilities and use my savings to find these projects
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    Another couple years. I just need to take it slow and it'll get there.
  • jonas jonas:
    any chance to get that stolen money back?
  • jonas jonas:
    Maybe you can do console repair just as a side thing, especially if there's so much competition business might be slow. Or do you need a lot of special equipment for that?
  • jonas jonas:
    I recently bought a used sauna and the preowner told me some component is broken, I took a look and it was just a burnt fuse, really cheap to fix. I was real proud of my self since I usually have two left hands for this kinda stuff :p
  • tom_mai78101 tom_mai78101:
    I am still playing Shapez 2. What an awful thing to happen, Varine, and hopefully everything has been sorted out soon. Always use multi-factor authentication whenever you have the opportunity to do so.

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