Pubdate: Thu, 15 Feb 2018
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2018 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Josh Magness
Page: D1

BOOZE MORE LIKELY TO DAMAGE BRAIN THAN POT: STUDY

It's a common stereotype that people who smoke weed are a bit
foggy-headed and missing a few brain cells.

But a new study from researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder
found that alcohol is much more damaging to your brain than marijuana.
In fact, the study - which was published in the journal Addiction -
suggests that weed use doesn't seem to alter the structure of a
person's brain at all.

Kent Hutchison, a co-author of the study, told Medical News Today that
he wanted to examine what effect pot has on a person's brain because
there isn't a conclusive answer to the question.

"When you look at these studies going back years, you see that one
study will report that marijuana use is related to a reduction in the
volume of the hippocampus," he said. "The next study then comes
around, and they say that marijuana use is related to changes in the
cerebellum.

"The point is that there's no consistency across all of these studies
in terms of the actual brain structures."

For the study, researchers wanted to see the relationship between
alcohol and marijuana use and the volume of gray and white matter in a
person's brain. Both grey and white matter are important for a healthy
and functioning brain.

The study involved 853 people ages 18 to 55 and 439 teenagers. They
had "a range of alcohol and cannabis use," the researchers wrote.

It was found that among those who drank alcohol, adults - and to a
lesser extent, teens - had a reduction in grey-matter volume. The
study found that white matter was affected in adults, but not
teenagers, who drank. These effects were especially seen in adults
with a history of drinking for years, according to Medical News Today.

But among marijuana users (defined as those who had smoked in the past
30 days), there was no relationship between getting high and the
structure of a person's brain.

That led Hutchinson to make a bold proclamation. "While marijuana may
also have some negative consequences," he told Medical News Today, "it
definitely is nowhere near the negative consequences of alcohol."

Of course, some studies have suggested weed can be harmful to a
person's psychological well-being - and especially for those with
developing brains. According to the American Psychiatric Association,
those who consume marijuana as adolescents have higher school dropout
rates, greater unemployment and lower life satisfaction.

Another study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive 
Neuroscience and Neuroimaging found that a high intake of marijuana is 
associated with psychosis, depression and schizophrenia.

A survey conducted by Yahoo News and Marist Poll in April found that
52 per cent of Americans have tried marijuana at least once. Of those,
44 per cent say they still use pot.
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