Pubdate: Wed, 16 Apr 2014
Source: Times-Tribune, The (Scranton PA)
Copyright: 2014 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.thetimes-tribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4440
Author: Malcolm Ritter, Associated Press

POT SHOWS BRAIN EFFECTS

Long-Term Casual Smokers May Have Changes

NEW YORK (AP) - A small study of casual marijuana smokers has turned 
up evidence of changes in the brain, a possible sign of trouble 
ahead, researchers say

he young adults who volunteered for the study were not dependent on 
pot, nor did they show any marijuana-related problems.

"What we think we are seeing here is a very early indication of what 
becomes a problem later on with prolonged use" - things like lack of 
focus and impaired judgment, said Dr. Hans Breiter, a study author.

Longer-term studies will be needed to see if such brain changes cause 
any symptoms over time, said Dr. Breiter, of the Northwestern 
University Feinberg School of Medicine and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Previous studies have shown mixed results in looking for brain 
changes from marijuana use, perhaps because of differences in the 
techniques used, he and others noted in today's issue of the Journal 
of Neurosciences.

The study is among the first to focus on possible brain effects in 
recreational pot smokers, said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the 
National Institute on Drug Abuse. The federal agency helped pay for 
the work. She called the work important but preliminary.

Dr. Volkow said larger studies are needed to explore whether casual 
to moderate marijuana use really does cause anatomical brain changes, 
and if so, whether that leads to impairment.

Murat Yucel of Monash University in Australia, who has studied the 
brains of marijuana users but didn't participate in the new study, 
said in an email that the new results suggest "the effects of 
marijuana can occur much earlier than previously thought." Some of 
the effect may depend on a person's age when marijuana use starts, he 
said. ONLINE: www.jneurosci.org
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