Smoking marijuana damages brain structure

Young people addicted to cannabis, who smoke continuously for 3 years, will have difficulty remembering and have an abnormal brain structure compared to those who do not use them.

These findings, published by Schizophrenia Bulletin, reinforce marijuana's ability to destroy the brain. Previous studies have shown that dementia occurs in people who are addicted to cannabis, but scientists still argue about whether the right smoking is the main cause of problems for The brain is or is it just because people with memory problems tend to use them.

The latest study was conducted on nearly 100 teenagers between the ages of 16 and 17, divided into four groups: those who had ever used marijuana, those who had never used it, and had never had schizophrenia. use, and schizophrenia patients use marijuana. Participants are guaranteed never to use any medicine other than marijuana.

Marijuana smoking can alter the structure of the brain.(Photo: TW)

Scientists conducted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and compared these brain models. The results showed that the memory areas in the brains of healthy people who had ever smoked marijuana and those of schizophrenic patients who used this stuff were atrophic smaller than those of normal healthy people. like people with schizophrenia do not use marijuana.

And those changes seem to have a very clear effect; When all participants took a memory test, the number of healthy people who had never used marijuana reached 37 times higher than those who used it, and those who were schizophrenic did not use marijuana. Also score 4 times higher than you like them to use them.

Research results also show that marijuana use is also a nuisance for people with neurological problems.

Dr John Csernansky, Dean of the Department of Psychiatric and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University in Chicago, said: "Abuse of popular street drugs, like marijuana, can be very dangerous for people. children are or have suffered from neurological disorders ". "This study shows for the first time that marijuana use can alter brain structure, and is linked to schizophrenia , " he said.

Although the results of the study do not find evidence of marijuana use that can directly cause schizophrenia, it still contributes to further investigation - expanding research and scissors. long-term research - to clarify whether marijuana use is a major cause of brain structural changes or that people with mental problems tend to like them.