"More Evidence Pot May Damage the Teen Brain" - Dennis Thompson
Smoking just a couple of joints may cause significant changes in a teenager's brain structure, a new study has found. Brain scans show that some adolescents who've tried marijuana just a couple of times exhibit significant increases in the volume of their gray matter. These changes were associated with increased risk of anxiety, and decreased ability on thinking and memory tests. Yasmin Hurd, PhD, director of the Addiction Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said one would expect some things to return to normal if a teen tried marijuana a couple times and then steps. "I would be very surprised if just a few exposures to marijuana would cause irreparable damage,” added Dr. Hurd. “On the other hand, even temporary changed in brain structure might make a person more predisposed to emotional or cognitive problems later in life.”
— Yasmin Hurd, PhD, Professor, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Systems Therapeutics, Chair, Ward-Coleman Translational Neuroscience, Director, The Addiction Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Additional coverage: U.S. News & World Report
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