Does everything happen Marijuana's long-term impacts on the brain?

We were two science geeks who were virgins in high school. We didn't drink, smoke, or do any drugs of any sort. We thought that all of that was not good. We weren't crazy hardcore Christians or Muslims or anything like that. We just listened to what we were told, and everything we seemed to be told about drugs was terrible. It was as if we took one toke of Marijuana that we would end up in a vacant house in some faraway city selling ourselves for our next hit of heroin.

But we realized as we slowly advanced through school and learned more about science, biology, chemistry, and how the body works that this was a gross exaggeration. Drugs change the chemistry equilibrium within your body and cause you to feel different. This is true. But it's true of many things; it's true for Marijuana, it's valid for alcohol, and it's even true for prescription pain killers. We held a previously irrational understanding of drugs, and as any student of the sciences can attest, rationality is the essential thing in this world.

Marijuana and other drugs that we use almost every day can be safe if used properly. Marijuana had been used for millennia among Middle Eastern and African Traders as a way to relax after an incredibly arduous trip across the desert. It's only been illegal for a minority of our nation's history, solely for the past century roughly. It does terrible things, but it also does very positive things! Thus it's essential to understand from an honest and scientific perspective what Marijuana indeed does.

Effects of marijuana on the lung and its immune defenses - Marijuana on the Brain

Here, UCLA Pulmonology Professor and MD Dr. Tashkin looks into the effects of long term marijuana smoke on our lung’s immune cells and conditions including bronchitis and COPD. Apparently smoking something for a long period of time can give you a few lung problems, go figure. And yes, there are some positive correlations between long-term marijuana smoke and COPD (a common problem in anybody exposed to inhaled irritants, really small air passages get damaged) other variables still need to be controlled to create a better correlation. Regardless, these results aren’t surprising. They are still pretty important and it’s good to take measures to try and mitigate these effects, obvious examples might include a healthy diet.

How Marijuana affects our Memory - Marijuana on the Brain

Here’s an actual exciting study comparing a group of frequent marijuana smokers to nonsmokers during a 26-hour sober period. To put it simply, the researchers wanted to see whether memory is altered in a marijuana smoker’s brain by analyzing the blood flow. There are some differences, mainly in episodic memory, which is related to specific events and experiences. Marijuana smokers had to be shown a word list three times more often to recall the exact words. This is mainly attributed to changes in hippocampal blood flow (the hippocampus is one of the most crucial memory-forming regions in our brain). But what I found interesting was that blood flow to memory-relevant regions of the cerebellum was INCREASED. What does that mean?

 

The cerebellum has a considerable role in our fine motor abilities, and its memory component helps us learn how to perform specific skills, such as playing an instrument. We’ve heard of musicians often toking up to enhance their playing abilities, and sure enough, blood flow does increase to the part of your brain that helps you perform with those fine motor skills from memory.

This doesn’t necessarily explain why musicians enjoy cannabis, but it is one interesting perspective. So saying that Marijuana impairs your short-term memory needs some elaborating since it’s not that simple. Arguably it has both a positive and negative effect; cannabis users’ recall ability might be impaired, but other memory components, such as emotional memories and skillsets, are often enhanced.

On a macro level, it seems to be altering which memory processes are prioritized, as evident by the different blood flows.