Cannabis may shrink brain, scientists report

I know great people who smoke and I know stupid annoying people who smoke. I think smoking MJ is stupid, but it's not my decision and according to what is known about it moderation is the key.

This study is interesting but it won't stop those that smoke. They'll do it anyway because they think they're impervious to whatever damage smoking can and will do.

Bull Crap. They can find some jerk to say anything. I don't smoke it but I know people that have for years and this is propaganda.

I don't think anyone who smokes will ever believe that there is damage to the brain no matter who says it. It's beneficial for them not to believe it because they can live in a delusion and still smoke.

OR

they are absolutely right and know what they are stating that there's no damage.

But as far as I can tell we're too early to figure who is really right. Once the generation that uses it more frequently gets older and the damage (if any) is noticeable then there will be strong evidence that will still be ignored.

It's like those that smoke are in some sort of religion. No matter what you state they'll always believe.

All science aside, that is a beautiful plant. And you know it.

I completely agree, middle_east, it is a beautiful plant. I love the smell of it. I don't have to smoke it. But I hope that if it gets legalized, that they market a freshener that smells like some nice purple kush.

waaaait Wait wait wait.

5 joints a day!? Or more??
I've never had a puff in my life, but if you're wasting your life smoking 5 a day, you're not getting any stimu-fucking-lation to your brain. Of course it shrinks!

Ok so... smoking pot affects short term memory... we all know that... and its a fact... I smoke, and yes, my short term memory is effected. But that doesn't mean i dont get any stimu-fucking-lation to my brain. Accually, i am more versed on alot of current events(and much more) then people I know who don't smoke. People fail to realise that mary J has been used for THOUSANDS of years by humans( and eaten by animals for who knows how long ). Get off Pots back, leagalize it already, wanna fight a bad drug? fight alcohol(I drink too)

oh yeah, no, it was a defence of the pot itself actually. To me who don't know the effects first-hand, it sounds like abuse, like alcoholism, to smoke 5 or more a day. Why would you need to smoke 5 a day, every day?

The amount of marijuana consumed in this study, is staggering. A normal user, who uses for medical or even recreational use, is not smoking 5 joints a day. it seems like they had to increase the dosage so much so they could get the results they wanted.

Jammer "But as far as I can tell we're too early to figure who is really right. Once the generation that uses it more frequently gets older and the damage (if any) is noticeable then there will be strong evidence that will still be ignored."

It has been around forever. People have used it forever. Don't you think this brain shrinkage would have been apparent long before now? Hell there would be people without a brain left over from the sixties if that were true. You don't need to increase the dosage to get the desired effect either. That is for a addictive drug that builds up a tolerance. That is not the case for marijuana. It is not addictive and if you ingest it you are going to get high. Plus it doesn't damage your liver.

I just want to point out the 60s, we have a lot of people still alive that smoked in that era. It was the folks who danced with LSD and Cocaine that didn't survive.

Plus, cannabis has been proven to shrink lung cancer tumors in a 10-year study. Wonder drug? In moderation, yes ...

j_jammer: What if the good feeling is a side-effect of the health-benefits? :)

Either way, I'm still going to smoke it. That's life.

Total Bullshit , this amounts to nothing more then more "Reefer Madness"

How about alcohol? How about prescriptions drugs? How about any illegal drug?
What separates the human animal from the other animals? Having the ability to think on how to conquer other animals and drugs.......

what a person does on their own free time is theirs to spend in which ever way they like, including something that simply grows from underground..

This is just more disinformation to be used in dishonest fashion by those who want to keep the herb illegal. They would be the law enforcement, medical, and criminal elements.

Marijuana actually stimulates and grows brain cells not at all like alcohol which does the reverse.

Who smokes five fatties a day? I have rolled and lit up more than five myself but they were passed around a circle. Can't imagine smoking them by myself. After thirty years of close relations with Indica and Sativa I can attest to the health giving aspects physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological.

I still think that cannabis is not the pressing matter in drug culture.
I think the more important things the government should be researching is how to prevent the harder drugs from spreading.
But as usual this is probably more tricky than it sounds so by sticking to researching cannabis they can make you think its more dangerous than it really is, which is really what they are doing with this amazing 5 joint a day statistic.
Now i smoke the buddhah but never have known anyone to smoke that much on their own on a daily basis for a year.

Lol! All the stoners feel like they're being attacked by this article.

I would say if you abuse any substance, be it pot, alcohol, Pepsi, or water, you're going to have trouble later in life.

5 Joints a day! Is that necessary. I wouldn't be able to tie my shoes after smoking 5 joints. No wonder the participants lost gray matter.

5 joints a day is just an overwhelming amount. I know alot of people who smoke alot of marijuana, and some of them are signifigantly less intelligent, remeber less and are more moody.

Some are more intelligent and insightful than the people I know who have never smoked in their life.

It depends on the person, it depends on the product, it depends on if the person cares about themselves, their world and their friends and family.

that is why, I think, marijuana is so tricky. results vary. Although I am not a marijuana fanatic, I get annoyed with those who abuse it to the point of making the whole culture around it seem like a threat...

as long as people put it after what is really important, there isn't a problem.

but there are some people out there who put it first...and they are the ones who ruin it for everyone else...because they're stupid and were probably unintelligent before starting to smoke anyways...

whew finally a cure for my oversized brain

come on!
I mean I'm sure if you had five cups of coffee a day
or 5 shots of vodka everyday or 5 cigarettes every day their would be adverse effects equivalent to that of 5 joints a day. The article has a typical cultural bias to the illegal drug that is relatively harmless.

Alright, I guess I'll go grab my bottle of oxycontin and become a medically-sanctioned junkie.

I guess where they got that phrase "Pea Brain"

you could take basically any substance imaginable, and if you used enough of it you could find negative effects. i can't imagine anyone using that much marijuana. if you drank 15 pepsi's every day you could probably find links to cancer, obesity, diabetes, and a multitude of other negative effects. does that mean we should outlaw pepsi?

stoners of current, stop freaking out! this study was based on 31 individuals. if you are worried about being stupid, save up and get a vaporizer. this gets rid of most of the harmful chemicals synthesized by burning the plant material.

medical patients might smoke that much, for the pain. they don't care if their brain shrinks because chances are they have some horrible illness and brain shrinkage is the least of their worries.

also, they did not say whether they screened for other drug use. Are these people solely pot-smokers or are there a myriad of drugs involved?

I smoke, alot because of fibromyalgia and a dislike of opiate medication, i've been in college three years and made only one B in that time. Marijuana, like alcohol or any other drug, affects each user in a unique way. If it makes you dumb and you don't like that, don't smoke.

This study means nothing to a occasional or recreational smoker- and just like anything else - when you abuse something (5 joints a day!) there will be consequences.

The typical cannibis user certainly isn't smoking five joints a day.

I'm a pothead getting offended because people think that 5 joints is some huge amount...what size joint? between how many people? what grade of weed? was it really a joint every time or bong/blunt/whatever? I'm smoking my one-hitter right now and i smoke more than 5 of them a day... sooo what amounts to a joint, exactly? I don't know and i'm not sure if that study does either.

a joint is probably anywhere from .5 of a gram to 1.5 grams.... just my best guess. but probably not of really high grade stuff, who could smoke that much. i have smoked this much by myself in a day but not too many days in a row, because you just get really bored with it. it becomes un-fun.

Peter Tosh say: Legalize it, and we did. Now I smoke two joints, before I smoke two joints and then I smoke two joints again. But I don't hear songs about the FDA poisoning human beings, the govenmental control over health care nor the stench of "bum-dumping" from hospitals, when you have no way to pay for your hospital stay. Where's my bong!

the girl

I agree with you 100%. I know plenty of smokers and hardly any smoke more than one (joint) a day. To smoke 5 a day for 10 years, of course that will cause some type of damage. The average user, or even slight heavy user does not smoke that often. Thats not to say that some don't smoke 5 or more, but the average certainly does not. Smoke marijauna is like most vices, in moderation it can be controlled and enjoyed to its fullest.

My joints are about 2 to 3 grams each (everything really is bigger in Texas). I smoke because it relaxes me, helps my mind be more open to noticing things that are beneficial for my design ideas and shirt designs, and it also helps me tolerate ignorant people (there are tons where I live).

The fact that people who normally make the most retarded comments on Current are against it, makes me want to smoke even more. Haha. I won't mention any names, but just look at those who were against it, and pick out the most annoying & retarded comments and you'll know who I'm talking about. Haha.

And I agree w/Spoonieday. You don't want to kill the effects of the ganj, and smoking it that much daily, you would'nt be able to even enjoy the high. This study's goal was obviously, "let's use numbers that will finally make an impact on the studies about the effects of marijuana since all the other studies proved nothing".