Your Brain on Pot: Reasons to Avoid Marijuana

From News Max.com (Dec. 6, 2016):

More than half of our states have legalized marijuana for medical use, and the list of those legalizing recreational marijuana is growing rapidly. Many experts have focused on the positive medical aspects of marijuana to ease certain physical problems, such as chronic pain from nerve damage and painful muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.

However, marijuana contains over 400 chemicals, and their impact on the brain and body is still largely unknown. Although studies have warned of the dangers of smoking pot and its effect on the brain for decades, two recent studies are even more troubling in light of the rush to legalize its recreational use.

"The proponents of legalization tried to make the medicinal benefits the focus and ignored the numerous damaging effects," neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock told Newsmax Health.

The most recent study, which was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, found that smoking marijuana lowers blood flow in every area of the brain, including those areas especially vulnerable to Alzheimer's.

Study participants included almost 1,000 marijuana smokers who had psychiatric problems that were resistant to treatment. They underwent a sophisticated imaging study called single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) that evaluates blood flow and activity patterns.

Compared to healthy non-marijuana users, researchers at Amen Clinics found abnormally low blood flow in almost every area of the brain in virtually every patient who used marijuana. The hippocampus, an area of the brain known to be impacted by Alzheimer's, was especially affected. [read more]

The article goes on to say that abusing pot makes you more psychotic. That’s not good.

Popular Science article (July 1, 2013): SCIENCE CONFIRMS THE OBVIOUS: SMOKING POT MAKES YOU LESS MOTIVATED