Cannabis and the Brain, Good or Bad ?

Cannabis and the brain: Recent studies shed new light

Recent research sheds new light on the effects of cannabis on the brain. It reveals a complex pattern of potential harms and benefits that varies with age and disease.

They reveal, for instance, that exposure to marijuana before birth and during teen years can affect the developing brain in several ways. Some of these ways disrupt communication between different parts of the brain, while others interfere with learning and memory and disrupt levels of chemical messengers and metabolic compounds.

However, exposure to a compound present in marijuana can improve memory in? Alzheimer's Disease and even reduce some of its symptoms.

Marijuana use on the rise

Among the hundreds of compounds in the marijuana, or cannabis, plant have more than? a 100+ compounds called cannabinoids, that can alter the release of messenger chemicals in the brain and nervous system.

In the United States, a nationwide survey revealed that 22.2 million people aged 12 and older said that they had used cannabis in the past month. More and more people are now using cannabis not only as a recreational drug but also medicinally, such as to help alleviate the pain and symptoms of? everything from Multiple Sclerosis, epilepsy and many other long-term conditions. The increase in cannabis use — together with the relaxation of legislation by many states — is not, however, matched by an increase in conclusive evidence on its long-term benefits and harms.

Studies shed new light

I found six mice and rat studies that unveiled some much-needed new light on the long-term effects of cannabis use over the lifespan. Specifically, they found that:

• Exposing unborn rats to delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is a psychoactive compound of cannabis, reduced their resilience to stress?in later life.
• Such exposure also led to faulty development of brain circuits for memory and learning, which the scientists observed when the animals reached adolescence.
• Adolescent rats that used cannabinoids showed enhanced activity in brain circuits that regulate the formation of habits.
• Cannabinoid use by adolescent rats also showed physical alterations in the development of brain regions involved in self-control, making decisions, and planning.
• In adult mice, the long-term use of cannabinoids led to changes in connectivity and metabolism in regions of the brain involved in memory and learning.
• Mice with Alzheimer’s disease showed memory improvements and lost fewer brain cells when scientists treated them with THC. This could lead to a therapy for the human disease.

So, in summary, when young children take any drug, it acts differently than in adults. That being stated, "You wouldn't give your 12 year old a scotch, WOULD YA ?" so use common sense when options for cannabis become available for use and weigh in on; "WHAT ARE YOU WANTING TO TAKE CANNABIS FOR !