Posted: 12/02/05 - 16:32 Post subject: Pot linked to schizophrenia
Study done about the influence of marijuana on the adolescents brain shows that a teenage brain on pot looks similar to the brains of adolescents with schizophrenia.
There is still a debate going on whether drug abuse triggers schizophrenia or whether the illness itself can lead to drug abuse.
Researchers believe that people who are vulnerable and smoke marijuana may be putting themselves at risk for developing severe mental illness.
The study results may help in finding brain mechanisms that could be involved in drug abuse and its frequent association with mental illness. Whatever damage is being done, it is taking place in brain regions still under construction.
Scan studies were performed in teenage marijuana smokers; in adolescent schizophrenia patients who didn't smoke marijuana; in schizophrenia patients who also use marijuana regularly and in healthy, nonsmoking controls. It was found that a brain region called the arcuate nucleus, a bundle of fibers that connects the front of the brain to deeper regions, is underdeveloped in both schizophrenia patients and in marijuana users.
The leading scientist of the study recommends that those who have a family history of mental disorders should not to put their selves in danger and smoke marijuana especially in the period when the brain is still growing.
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