Maybe Your Dad Was Right All Along About Your Friends From High School

Recently, researchers finally admitted that they may agree with with your dad. A group of researchers now report a possible link between chronic marijuana use and smaller, shrinking brains. The study examines subjects with smaller frontal lobes who are heavy weed smokers. As detailed in this L.A. Times article, research findings came out in the journal PNAS reported that regular pot smokers have smaller orbital frontal cortex region of the brain compared to people who have never smoked marijuana.

Chronic Pot Smoking and the Frontal Lobe of the Brain: Motivation, Reward, Attention Span

The frontal cortex area of the brain is generally associated with executive functions such as motivation, decision-making, and reward. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Texas’ Center for Brain Health and the Mind Research Network in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Marijuana researchers have long known that chronic exposure to marijuana shrinks the brains of mice. However, the article suggests that the evidence of brain shrinking in humans has been less clear.

But, Researchers Can’t Be Sure if Marijuana Is a Cause or Effect

Which came first: the shrinking brains, or the chronic marijuana usage? Is a smaller orbital frontal cortex a cause or a result of chronic marijuana use? That is a question that the writers of this study acknowledge that they cannot answer. It is possible that a deficit in the frontal cortex may predispose people to substance abuse. The L.A. Times article mentions a 2012 study which concluded that 12 year old test subjects with a smaller orbital frontal cortex were a more likely group to begin using marijuana by the time they were 16.

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