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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: koan who wrote (784322)	5/11/2014 5:42:30 PM
From: Brumar89	2 Recommendations Recommended By FJB Tenchusatsu Respond to of 1577229

Koan thinks pot doesn't harm unborn children: WebMD Health News March 25, 2003 -- Smoking marijuana during pregnancy may cause lasting behavioral and mental defects in the child. A new study in animals suggests that children who are exposed to marijuana in the womb may suffer from a variety of long-term problems even if they aren't born with obvious birth defects. Researchers say that although marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug among women of childbearing age, little is known about the side effects of prenatal exposure to marijuana. They say previous studies have produced conflicting results because it's difficult to account for potential contaminants frequently found in marijuana and contributing effects of other drug and alcohol use. In this study, researchers examined the effects of exposure to an artificial component of marijuana called WIN in the offspring of rats who received the synthetic cannabinoid while pregnant. The mother rats received a daily injection of the drug that was comparable to a low-to-moderate marijuana dose inhaled by a human moker. Continue reading below... [iframe width="494" height="1" id="remoteAd_Iframe" src="http://as.webmd.com/html.ng/transactionID=1857188121%26tile=1906537214%26tug=%26pug=__%26site=2%26affiliate=20%26hcent=793%26scent=%26pos=5000%26xpg=3608%26sec=%26au1=%26au2=1%26uri=%2fbaby%2fnews%2f20030325%2fmarijuana-may-harm-fetus%26artid=091e9c5e8000d397%26inst=0%26leaf=%26segm=0%26cc=17%26tmg=%26bc=_cust013_f1_gen2_o_age121_age122_%26mcent=%26micro=%26pvid=139984435949841735" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"][/iframe] The results are published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers Giampaolo Mereu of the University of Cagliari in Italy, and colleagues compared how these marijuana-exposed offspring compared to others rats in terms of memory and motor activity. They found that the rats exposed to WIN in the womb were significantly more hyperactive than the other rats, but these differences diminished as the rats reached adulthood. The effects of exposure on the rats' learning abilities were more long lasting. The WIN-exposed rats consistently scored lower than others on learning tests throughout their lives. Researchers say they also found that WIN interfered with the release of a brain transmitter called glutamate, a key chemical associated with learning and memory processing. Although these findings have not yet been confirmed in humans, the authors say these effects on brain chemistry and activity are consistent with existing data showing learning problems in children exposed to marijuana while in the womb. SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, March 24, 2003. webmd.com

To: koan who wrote (784322)	5/11/2014 5:57:58 PM
From: i-node	1 Recommendation Recommended By Brumar89 Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577229

>> I am talking about adults now children. And the research was done at scripps. The implication for other cohorts are not established: "The results of this study indicate that in young, recreational marijuana users, structural abnormalities in gray matter density, volume, and shape of the nucleus accumbens and amygdala can be observed. Pending confirmation in other cohorts of marijuana users, the present findings suggest that further study of marijuana effects are needed to help inform discussion about the legalization of marijuana." commonhealth.wbur.org I think the important takeaway is that we know casual use can cause serious problems with children. Whether it does the same in adults is an unknown. There are a couple of lessons you can take from this. a) How harmful marijuana use is is unknown and not easily measurable. Clearly, the overall health damage is considerably less than that of of heavy alcohol abuse. But it is important to be open minded to the possibility that future studies will find substantial damage to both young people and adults, particularly in the case of chronic abuse. b) It is worth considering that not too long ago marijuana was believed to have NO significant effects of this type by at least 97% of neuroscientists. Today, that view has is changing and has changed. My personal view is that marijuana isn't a harmful substance, generally. But as with anything, more frequent use is likely to be dangerous to those for who value their brain chemistry. The people I know who used marijuana 35 years ago and still do today are not among the most intelligent group of people I know of. It stands to reason that a drug that makes one temporarily stupid is probably not a good idea, which is the primary reason I never took it up again after I got through my teenaged drug abuse years. You may want to look at yourself and Bentway as examples of what can happen to a person who uses marijuana over a lifetime. Not encouraging.