Alcohol Effects On Brain More Adverse Than Cannabinoids – Study

A new study has found that marijuana may not be as damaging to the brain as previously thought.

The researchers came to this conclusion after examining the brains of 1,000 participants of varying ages. They found that more damage was done to the brain by long-term alcohol use than marijuana.

The test was carried out by focusing on the grey and white matter, the two main types of tissue that make up the brain and central nervous system.

The study found that alcohol use was significantly associated with a decrease in grey matter size and white matter integrity; a situation that did not show itself in cannabinoids use which did not seem to have long-term adverse effect on the brain.

This contradicts the mainstream belief, backed up by old research, that marijuana and other cannabinoids are more harmful to the brain. The study, carried out from the University of Colorado Boulder and the CU Change Lab, questions the long-held belief that cannabinoids are just as harmful.

The scientists, however, asserted that much is still unknown about marijuana and associated products.

“Particularly with marijuana use, there is still so much that we don’t know about how it impacts the brain,” said Rachel Thayer, a graduate student in clinical psychology at CU Boulder and the lead author of the study.

“Research is still very limited in terms of whether marijuana use is harmful, or beneficial, to the brain.”

Kent Hutchison, a professor of behavioural neuroscience at CU Boulder and co-author of the paper said: “When you look at these studies going back years, you see that one study will report that marijuana use is related to a reduction in the volume of the hippocampus. The next study then comes around, and they say that marijuana use is related to changes in the cerebellum or the whatever.

“The point is that there’s no consistency across all of these studies in terms of the actual brain structures.

“With alcohol, we’ve known it’s bad for the brain for decades,” said Hutchison. “But for cannabis, we know so little.

“While marijuana may also have some negative consequences, it definitely is nowhere near the negative consequences of alcohol.”