Even small doses of cannabis can alter your brain's volume, study states
| Jan 15, 2019, 15:39 IST
As marijuana usage is being legalised across states in the US, a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience has now suggested that using even small doses of cannabis can alter brain volume in teenagers. This study found that the increase of grey matter in certain parts of an adolescent's brain might have something to do with low-level marijuana usage by the teenager.
“Consuming just one or two joints seems to change grey matter volumes in these young adolescents,” said Hugh Garavan, a professor at the University of Vermont (UVM) in the US. For the study, 46 children who had reported marijuana use before the age of 14, were evaluated. It was found that the grey matter volume in their brains at the cannabinoid receptors was more as compared to children who had never used cannabis.
“The implication is that this is potentially a consequence of cannabis use,” Garavan said. “You are changing your brain with just one or two joints. Most people would likely assume that one or two joints would have no impact on the brain,” he said. However, what this increase in grey matter volume will mean for them later in life is still unknown. Garavan further said that at the adolescent stage, teenagers' brains go through a pruning process where brain matter volume actually gets thinner rather than thicker. “One possibility is they have actually disrupted that pruning process,” he concluded.
“Consuming just one or two joints seems to change grey matter volumes in these young adolescents,” said Hugh Garavan, a professor at the University of Vermont (UVM) in the US. For the study, 46 children who had reported marijuana use before the age of 14, were evaluated. It was found that the grey matter volume in their brains at the cannabinoid receptors was more as compared to children who had never used cannabis.
“The implication is that this is potentially a consequence of cannabis use,” Garavan said. “You are changing your brain with just one or two joints. Most people would likely assume that one or two joints would have no impact on the brain,” he said. However, what this increase in grey matter volume will mean for them later in life is still unknown. Garavan further said that at the adolescent stage, teenagers' brains go through a pruning process where brain matter volume actually gets thinner rather than thicker. “One possibility is they have actually disrupted that pruning process,” he concluded.