Pubdate: Sun, 04 Dec 2005
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2005 The Arizona Republic
Contact:  http://www.arizonarepublic.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Jamie Talan, Newsday
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

POT USERS' BRAINS RESEMBLE MENTAL ILL

A teenage brain on pot looks frighteningly similar to the brains of 
adolescents with schizophrenia, according to a new study.

While it's too early to prove a connection, researchers at North 
Shore University Hospital-Long Island Jewish Health System caution 
that marijuana could be a match that ignites an underlying genetic 
vulnerability to schizophrenia.

Scientists have long debated whether drug abuse triggers 
schizophrenia, which in males usually appears in late adolescence, or 
whether the illness itself can lead to drug abuse.

"It is the story of nature vs. nurture," said Manzar Ashtari, an 
associate professor in radiology and psychiatry at Albert Einstein 
College of Medicineand a scientist at Long Island Jewish's Zucker 
Hillside Hospital.

"If there are people who are vulnerable and smoke marijuana, they may 
be putting themselves at greater risk for developing severe mental 
illness," she said.

The studies at Zucker Hillside were done only in males because 
females tend to develop schizophrenia later, in their mid-20s and 
beyond. Ashtari suspects the developing brain in late adolescence is 
at greater risk of environmental damage.

"Whatever insult is happening, it is taking place in brain regions 
still under construction," said Ashtari, who presented her findings 
Wednesday at the Radiological Society of North America's annual 
meeting in Chicago. 
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