Is Weed, Like, Bad?

A recent study revealed that just one or two experiences with marijuana may alter the brains of teenagers. Published by researchers in the Journal of Neuroscience, the study disclosed clear differences in brain scans between teens who said they had tried cannabis a couple of times and those who had completely avoided the drug.

Using a sample size of 46 14-year-olds in the US, who said they had used marijuana once or twice, and 46 teens who hadn’t used the drug, researchers attributed the differences in their brain scans to marijuana use.

“In our sample of cannabis users, the greater volumes in the affected parts of the brain were associated with reductions in psychomotor speed and perceptual reasoning and with increased levels of anxiety two years later,” Catherine Orr, a lecturer at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, and lead author of the study told Reuters.

Considering the campaign for medicinal legalisation of the drug in many parts of the United States of America (as well as the recent legalisation of medicinal marijuana in Thailand) maybe policy makers need to commission independent studies with larger sample sizes to study the effects of the plant?

Closer home, India has played witness to a growing weed legalisation movement. The drug and its benefits are in great demand, but maybe we should halt our march for a second, and look at longer-term impact?

Just an FYI.

VICE India in no way endorses the illegal usage of bhang or other narcotics. The content above is intended for educational and informational purposes only, and is not meant to propagate the use of any illegal substance. See Terms of Use for more.