Does Marijuana Use Increase Alzheimer’s Risk?
Bad news for Mary Jane enthusiasts. According to a new study, pot could restrict blood flow to the brain, which in turn, may affect your memory and ability to reason.
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According to research recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, brain scans of nearly 1,000 past and present marijuana smokers – collected from nine outpatient neuropsychiatric clinics across the United States, where patients sought treatment for complex psychological or neurological problems — revealed abnormally low blood flow throughout their brains, when compared to a smaller control group of 92 people – who had never used pot.
“The differences were astonishing,” said lead researcher Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist and founder of the U.S.-based Amen Clinics. “Virtually every area of the brain we measured was lower in blood flow and activity in the marijuana smokers than in the healthy group.”
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According to Amen, the findings were particularly disturbing in the hippocampus of marijuana users. “The hippocampus is the gateway to memory, to get memories into long-term storage,” he said. “That area distinguished healthy people from pot smokers better than any other area of the brain.”
