Study: BOOZE Damages the Brain, POT Does Not

[Segami]

Alcohol damaged teens' brain tissue; marijuana did not.




Some new science demonstrates that marijuana may not have the harmful effects critics claim. In fact, while pot had no measured impact in a new study, the very legal and very lucratively-marketed substance alcohol actually has a worse health impact on young users.


Specifically, a new study of substance-using teenagers' brains shows that the regular use of alcohol had a harmful effect on the boozing group, while the toking-up group's brains suffered little alteration.


From Medical Daily, emphasis ours:

The researchers, from the University of California, San Diego and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, performed the study on 92 16- to 20-year-olds. The scientists scanned their brains both before and after an 18-month period. Over the course of the 18 months, half of the teens, who already had an extensive track record with alcohol and marijuana, continued their vices as they had before. The other half continued to abstain or drink a minimal amount, like they too had done before the study.


In addition to the brain scans, the study also required a detailed toxicology report and substance use assessment. The teens also were interviewed every six months. Researchers did not check the teens' cognitive ability, but simply took brain scans.


The researchers found that, after the year and a half was over, kids who had drank five or more alcoholic beverages twice a week had lost white brain matter. That means that they could have impaired memory, attention, and decision-making into adulthood. The teens that smoked marijuana on a regular basis had no such reduction.



http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/13623/20121221/teen-marijuana-cause-brain-damage-alcohol.htm#qi80Evlcd2TmFFby.99

While other studies have had less clear results, this study is important for a few reasons.

First, it shows that early alcohol abuse can be dangerous because it damages the tissues that influence judgement and self-control. "If teens decrease their tissue health and cognitive ability to inhibit themselves, they might become more likely to engage in risky behavior like excessive substance use," the Huffington Post quotes study co-author Joanna Jacobus, postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego, as saying.





cont'

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/study-booze-damages-brain-pot-does-not?akid=9844.4337.KsVrAF&rd=1&src=newsletter765210&t=4

[cthulu2016]

1. Sounds about right

[Initech]

2. "Oh Lisa. You and your stories. Bart is a vampire. Beer kills brain cells."

"Now let's go back to that building..... thingy.... where our beds and TV....is." - Homer Simpson

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. That's a lirty die. n/t

[Le Taz Hot]

7. 'Scuze me?

Did you forget the sarcasm thingy or are you trying to be serious here?

[rrneck]

4. I'll drink to that. nt

[JDPriestly]

5. A truth that many people so not want to accept.

[wildbilln864]

6. been knowing this for years now! k&r. nt

[Le Taz Hot]

8. Well, let's see.

Been ingesting the ganja for about 40 years now with very little alcohol. Still kickin' pretty good (except for asthma which I've had since I was 5). My (ex) best friend of 30 years has been ingesting alcohol heavily for the last 40 years. She's literally dying and has very little brain function left. I know it's anecdotal but it's kind of hard to ignore.

[woo me with science]

9. Don't try to tell Joe Friday that: