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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Link found between Pot and Democratic Underground |
| 2005-11-30 |
| CHICAGO (Reuters) - Adolescents who regularly smoke marijuana risk damaging a key brain pathway associated with language development and some predisposed to schizophrenia may contract the illness early, researchers said on Wednesday. Brain scans revealed microscopic abnormalities in a region of the brain that governs higher aspects of language and listening functions in adolescents who are heavy marijuana smokers. Similar damage to the bundle of fibers, called the arcuate fasciculus, that connect the Broca's area in the left frontal lobe and the Wernicke's area in the left temporal lobe was found in the brains of marijuana smokers and schizophrenics studied. "These findings suggest that in addition to interfering with normal brain development, heavy marijuana use in adolescents may also lead to an earlier onset of schizophrenia in individuals who are genetically predisposed to the disorder," said psychiatry professor Sanjiv Kumra of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. The researchers scanned the brains of 114 subjects, 26 of whom were selected because they were diagnosed schizophrenics. Of the schizophrenic group, 15 smoked marijuana. Another 15 subjects were nonschizophrenic adolescent male marijuana smokers who were matched against nonsmokers. It was those smokers whose scans showed abnormalities in the language and listening pathway. The brain's language pathway continues to develop during adolescence and is susceptible to neurotoxins introduced through marijuana use, the researchers said. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #13 Way to harsh my mello man... |
| Posted by: Danking70 2005-11-30 22:36 |
| #12 Since I have all you attention, please don't overlook pot's use against nausea and to some extent pain relief. From experience, it kicks ass over the prescribed anti-nausea drugs. I'm talking illness induced nausea, not that from reading the news. Pot may help that too, but that is a different issue. Hopefully, none of you will ever be in the position where it is necessary. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2005-11-30 21:49 |
| #11 I glad I arnt no injeneer - just a darned good tecknition.... an' I don't smoke pot! Utherwise, I mite be misttook fer un o' them durty traindrivers! |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2005-11-30 20:14 |
| #10 Uhhh, yawwwww. IR2. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-11-30 19:46 |
| #9 As is I |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-11-30 19:39 |
| #8 I are an injineer Frank. |
| Posted by: Spailing Angeck7534 2005-11-30 18:21 |
| #7 I knew a bunch of guys who smoked a lot of pot, and had some language/communication difficulties. I just figured, hey! they're engineers! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-11-30 18:04 |
| #6 Wow, man. Hea-vy! Say, are those macaroons?... |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-11-30 17:04 |
| #5 Did you say something? |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2005-11-30 16:51 |
| #4 Ummmmmmmm...like, what? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-11-30 16:16 |
| #3 Makes hair grow on your palms too. |
| Posted by: Opinionist 2005-11-30 16:09 |
| #2 Whoa, this is, like, heavy, man. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2005-11-30 16:08 |
| #1 Oh Thank God! I'm no longer an adolescent. You had me worried there for a second. |
| Posted by: danking_70 2005-11-30 15:47 |