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Here's the Real Story Behind That 'Marijuana-Changes-Your-Brain' Study

Discussion in 'Political Debate & Discussion' started by poncho, Apr 23, 2014.

  1. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    'Chances are you saw the headlines on Wednesday: "Casual marijuana use linked to brain changes," "Marijuana re-shapes brains of users, study claims" or "Casual marijuana use may damage your brain." Oh my god, marijuana is bad for my brain!

    Not so fast.

    "I think I saw one headline that was 'Marijuana reshapes the brain' and I groaned — that's not what we did," said Dr. Jodi Gilman, 31, author of the now-famous Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital study on marijuana's effects, in an interview with PolicyMic.

    Research is full of nuance, and nuance sometimes gets lost in the conversation. The collective freakout over this study had to do with its findings: Certain regions of the brain of people who smoke marijuana are structurally different than people who don't. That got interpreted, at least in headlines and ledes, as marijuana changes your brain.

    "The conclusions were modest in the paper — we never say marijuana causes these changes," Gilman said, who's a neuroscientist with a Ph.D. from Brown University. "The media may have given that impression in headlines, but the study doesn't show causation."

    http://www.policymic.com/articles/87875/here-s-the-real-story-behind-that-marijuana-changes-your-brain-study
     
  2. OldRegular

    OldRegular Well-Known Member

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    So are you implying that smoking pot is not harmful, given that it is 4-5 times more powerful than 30-40 years ago?

     
  3. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    Is whiskey more harmful than beer?

    C'mon OR you and I both know the "keep it illegal" crowd doesn't give a hoot whether MJ is harmful or not. I mean they claim to be in favor of liberty and limited government in one breath then in the next champion the very control freak policies that make it bigger and more intrusive.

    It's not about MJ being harmful. If it were they'd be calling for prohibition of alcohol and safer prescription drugs that don't kill 100,000 American's every year. MJ doesn't kill 100,000 American's every year but prescription drugs do.

    Where'a all the empathy for these people and their families? Nowhere to be found amongst the big government authoritarians masquerading as conservatives around here.
     
    #3 poncho, Apr 23, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 23, 2014
  4. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
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    There is strong evidence here that smoking pot will make one more succeptable to believing all kinds of CTs. :)
     
  5. thisnumbersdisconnected

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    The OP is disingenuous, to say the least. Yeah, the headline Dr. Gilman saw would be inaccurate, but her comment doesn't discount the evidence of causal usage causing ever-increasing incremental damage to the brain.
    The article details the methodology of the study, the catalogued usage by the smokers, and the brain scans done to reach the conclusions reached. The OP does nothing to refute the dangers the study identifies among virtually every smoker of weed, regardless of level and frequency of use.

    Then there is this today:
    Yeah, sure, marijuana is safe. Tell me another fairy tale while I lobby my state and federal representatives to make sure it remains illegal.
     
  6. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
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    There is also a study out now that marijuana use damages the heart (as has been pointed out) and another that the damage done to lungs by smoking marijuana to is worse than smoking cigarrettes.

    I'm sure those will be pooh-poohed by potheads as well.
     
    #6 carpro, Apr 24, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 24, 2014
  7. Earth Wind and Fire

    Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known Member
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    First thing I'd do is open up a Popeyes!:thumbs:
     
  8. Inspector Javert

    Inspector Javert Active Member

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    Perfectionist fallacy....

    Since not EVERY harmful thing is illegal
    Therefore NO harmful things should be illegal.

    If those are your concerns Poncho.....a thinking person, would instead of calling for the legalisation of a harmful thing, instead concern themselves with banning other harmful (or potentially harmful) things:

    LIKE ALCOHOL:

    Wait a minute....I think that was even tried once!!

    So, they DID acquiesce to your demands for prohibition even!!!
    Who'da thunk other minds might have considered, and even put into practice your novel ideas before.
     
    #8 Inspector Javert, Apr 25, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 25, 2014
  9. prophet

    prophet Active Member
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    Anyone ever heard of Liberty?
     
  10. Inspector Javert

    Inspector Javert Active Member

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    Yes, I've also heard of wanton depravity and anarchy.
     
  11. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    Pot use certainly explains Info-Wars. :laugh:
     
  12. thisnumbersdisconnected

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    [​IMG] Paranoia.

    Most reliable symptom of pot use. :thumbsup: :laugh:
     
  13. Inspector Javert

    Inspector Javert Active Member

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    I didn't know about paranoia...but I'm not surprised.
    Isn't lethargy another one?
     
  14. thisnumbersdisconnected

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    Yup. Also "Amotivational Syndrome," which is exactly what it sounds like.
     
  15. Gina B

    Gina B Active Member

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    Why does it matter? So what if it does? Alcohol is worse, yet it stays legal. None of these studies should mean anything to anyone unless and until they ban alcohol, because if they actually CARED, they'd be working this hard to make alcohol illegal.

    Instead they have places set up for people to DRIVE to so you can go drink alcohol and then DRIVE AWAY from those places. Dedicated to driving there to drink alcohol and then drive away.

    LOGICAL, EH?!

    But they're monkey jumping all over the concept of marijuana while the drunks are making roadkill of our friends and family. Can they please just not? It's ridiculously offensive for anyone to pretend they actually care about humans when they still support alcohol.
     
  16. Inspector Javert

    Inspector Javert Active Member

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  17. thisnumbersdisconnected

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    Waste of effort, IJ, but nice try. :thumbsup:

    I'm a professional in the field, and she won't listen to me. Her loss.
     
  18. Gina B

    Gina B Active Member

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    Inspector Javert, how did it fail? Just like marijuana, illegal use and production still happened.

    No, I don't think every bad thing should be illegal. I just think that when it comes to mind altering substances, alcohol should take precedence when it comes to government interference, if the government feels they must interfere with something. It seems so blatantly obvious that alcohol has caused so many more deaths, tragedies, ruin, and destruction to lives and families than marijuana.

    I don't believe marijuana is inherently bad for you, anymore than alcohol is, unless it is abused. It is good for medicine. If someone wants to go around smoking it a lot just for fun, that's their own stupidity, just like people go around drinking a lot just for fun. Do tests on what that does, and you'll also be able to show it's bad for the body. Both are good for medicine. That's about it.
    But nobody who used marijuana, and marijuana alone, ever caused me harm. People who used alcohol, and alcohol alone, have caused me harm.
    Do enough studies and you'll be able to "prove" most anything causes changes to the body that one can call harmful. Depends on what you want to prove. Everything cause some amount of harm (and often benefit) to the body. Look what the poor egg has gone through over the years. LOL! It's good. It's bad. It's good. It's bad. Stick it on your face, it's good. Eat only the whites. Eat yolks only twice a week. Wait, they're okay again! Now they're poisonous...now they're not.

    I also find it interesting that it seems there are only studies on people who go around smoking it for fun. I'm not seeing them put out studies on people who use it for medicine. People who steam, or ingest, for the duration of illness. People who smoke it for the duration of illness. People who use it to replace one medication, and whether it ended up having benefits and less side effects than the medication they were taking/were going to take instead. Nobody's broadcasting the seizure help information.
    Inadequate, biased information coming from a source that allows people to DRIVE to bars for the sole purpose of drinking alcohol, then drive all over and harm others, isn't someone I trust to make laws concerning my safety. I just don't...
     
  19. poncho

    poncho Well-Known Member

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    I wasn't aware that hypocrisy was a profession.
     
    #19 poncho, Apr 26, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 26, 2014
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