cannabisnews.com: Study: Marijuana's Effects on Brain Are Reversible Study: Marijuana's Effects on Brain Are Reversible Posted by FoM on October 17, 2001 at 16:46:23 PT By Steven Reinberg Source: Reuters Intellectual impairment associated with heavy marijuana use is apparently reversible with abstinence, researchers report.And marijuana withdrawal symptoms in habitual users are similar to those seen with nicotine withdrawal, according to a second report published in the October issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. The lead author of the first report, Dr. Harrison G. Pope, Jr. of McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, told Reuters Health, "It appears that cognitive impairment from marijuana use is temporary and related to the amount of marijuana that has been recently smoked rather than permanent and related to an entire lifetime consumption."Pope and colleagues collected data on three groups of marijuana users. One group consisted of 63 users who had smoked marijuana at least 5,000 times in their lives and were daily marijuana users.In the second group, there were 45 former marijuana users who had smoked marijuana at least 5,000 times but had used it less than 12 times in the past 3 months. The third group was made up of 72 "controls" who had not smoked marijuana more than 50 times.People in the study abstained from marijuana for 28 days, during which time the researchers gave them tests that assessed general intellectual function, abstract thinking, sustained attention, verbal fluency and the ability to learn and recall verbal and visuospatial data. Tests were given at the beginning of the study and on days 1, 7 and 28.Heavy marijuana users had significantly lower scores on word recall lists at the beginning of the study and on the day 1 and day 7 tests compared with non-users. However, by day 28 there were no significant differences between the groups in any of the tests, with no significant association between cumulative lifetime marijuana use and test scores, Pope's group found."People who are regular heavy marijuana smokers will exhibit some impairment that lasts days, and possibly even a couple of weeks after they stop smoking--that's the bad news. The good news is that if they abstain from marijuana for longer than 4 weeks, then the residual effects seem to disappear," Pope said.In the second report, Dr. Alan J. Budney from the University of Vermont in Burlington and colleagues studied withdrawal effects in 12 daily marijuana smokers."Comparing our results to studies of nicotine withdrawal, it looks like the magnitude of the severity of withdrawal is similar," Budney said in an interview with Reuters Health. "So as people try to quit smoking marijuana, one can expect them to have problems with withdrawal."The researchers had the study participants smoke marijuana as usual for 5 days, then abstain for 3 days, smoke again for 5 days and abstain for another 3 days.Craving for marijuana, decreased appetite, sleep difficulty and weight loss were more common in abstaining periods. Aggression, anger, irritability, restlessness and strange dreams were also significantly increased during abstinence, Budney's team found."This highlights the issue that when you treat marijuana-dependent folk, they are going to complain about withdrawal--it is real. If you consider tobacco withdrawal real, you should consider marijuana withdrawal real," Budney stressed.Source: Archives of General Psychiatry 2001;58:909-915, 917-924.Source: ReutersAuthor: Steven ReinbergPublished: October 17, 2001Copyright: 2001 Reuters HealthCannabisNews - Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #12 posted by Ganjavartin on November 17, 2011 at 21:05:05 PT: withdrawal I find the comments on here amusing because they seem, for the most part, so absolutely partisan. Andiuk claims that one joint of 'lethal weed' (without adulterants, he believes) left him sick and 'poisoned' for two years. I'm sorry, but i find this preposterous. Others who say that ganja is absolutely NOT addictive also strike me as incredible. As someone who has smoked the herb for a couple of decades on and off (mostly on) and who regularly abstains for at least three days in a row at least once per month (sometimes -rarely- for a few weeks), I can attest from personal experience that there are -for me, anyway- mild withdrawal symptoms: irritability, insomnia, indigestion, racing thoughts, and boredom. None of these are ever very severe. It is my firm belief that the more you smoke and the longer you go without any period of abstinence, the more likely you are to have more severe withdrawal symptoms. These studies are confusing in at least one regard: they refer to people who have smoked 6-7 joints per day. What does that mean? As anyone can imagine, there is no standard size/weight joint, and the difference between a joint of 'schwag' and a joint of the finest $50/gram purple-haired kush ganja is huge! The herb i've been getting is so potent that i wouldn't smoke one joint of it by myself in a whole day, let alone 6 or 7. I can imagine smoking a 1 gram joint over the course of a day if i wanted to stay high all day, but it's so inefficient that i just use a bat hitter or bubbler and usually go through 1/4-1/2 g per day. If anybody were to smoke 7 joints of kind bud, possibly ca. 1/4 ounce, by him or herself in one day, everyday, I'd be surprised if he or she DIDN'T have some withdrawal symptoms. For me ten to twelve days is the longest i have ever dealt with the acute withdrawal, and fairly mild at that, and then there is just the lingering boredom/jonseing.I think it all comes down to how potent is the herb you smoke, how much do you smoke in a day, how long you have been smoking and how often do you take breaks (and how long they are). My recommendation for anyone who is planning to quit for some reason, try to slowly decrease the amount you smoke til you are just having a few puffs after dinner, then it will be much easier. Furthermore, i'm not convinced that everyone who smokes herb even suffers from withdrawals as mild as the ones i've described. Some people, don't ask me how they do it, can actually keep a stash and only take a few puffs once in a blue moon when they have company or a party or something (don't ask me how they do it, i've got to at least have a bedtime puff if i'm holding). I've never been a heavy tobacco user, so i can't compare the withdrawals, but even coffee withdrawal can be absolutely miserable (the symptoms go away after a few days, but the headaches, fatigue and irritability, while they last, are far worse for me than ganja withdrawal). The withdrawals from alcohol, or benzos, or opioids, or even anti-depressants are far far worse and can in fact be life-threatening. It may not be much of a comfort to those suffering from withdrawal, but face it, there are far far worse and harder drugs to kick. Be glad you aren't trying to kick heroin or meth! [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by BGreen on November 06, 2002 at 15:15:01 PT Andiuk, you're a rarity Not in the fact you're full of crap, because all of your prohibitionist buddies are lying sacks of excrement,too, but it's obvious that in the 27 years of my consumption and that of everybody else on this site, you're the only person EVER to make such ridiculous claims.It's obvious when people post such trash you've run out of the "believable" lies, so when you used the word "lethal" you proved you're a LIAR.Rot op! [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by FoM on November 06, 2002 at 14:53:54 PT Andiuk I'm sorry you had a problem and I sure hope you told your Doctor about it since it is very unusual to hear something like your experience. Good Luck to you. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by Andiuk on November 06, 2002 at 14:50:38 PT: Terrible experience after smoking lethal cannabis Hi..this is just a fridendly warning to all those who may feel interested in trying out cannabis. DO NOT!! 2 years ago I was a normal, happy person. I tried smoking a joint in amsterdam...the seller told me it was pure grass..and safe.. i took the joint and smoked it all. 10 mins later I almost collapsed due to sudden lowering of blood pressure. My heart rate shot to such a high rate I couldnt breath and to this day I dont know how I didnt have a heart attack. I returned home from my holiday feeling ever so nauseus.Over the last two years it was as though I couldnt get the drug out of my system. I was as they say.... poisoned. For the past 2 years I have suffered muscle wasting, poor co-ordination, memory loss. Finally this year I managed to flush the remaims of this crap out of my system by drinking a spicy mixture of pure fruit juice, red wine, chili peppers. I kid you not... 2 days later I had the most excruchiating head ache ever followed by shaking violently and shivering. Then came the legs pains and stomach cramps to match. 3 months later im much better but still have terrible sweating and buring itching arms and legs. I warn others...take heed when experimenting with such a deadly drug. My experience almost killed me...I was only 29 when this happened..but its left me feeling almost 80. Take care and best of luck to anyone going through these sysmptoms. Andiuk [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by bruce42 on October 18, 2001 at 12:51:10 PT hogwash I am not a chronic smoker. In fact, I smoke maybe 1 or 2 times a month. Therefore, I can't comment on long term addiction patterns. However, in the case of marijuana research I think it is important to get information from as many people as possible with a variety of smoking or ingestion habits. I think it is shameful how anti's can flaunt small scale, poorly constructed and executed studies as proof of "the killer weed."My personal experience with marijuana has been nothing but positive. I smoke with friends so from the social aspect, cannabis is very rewarding for me. It just plain good fun. Mentally, smoking clears my mind. I have a very wandering mind and sometimes it is hard for me to focus my thoughts. When I smoke, I can focus very clearly, and my thoughts seem to flow more rapidly. In the week after I smoke, I am calm and relaxed and much happier. Smoking pot also benefits me physically. It relaxes my muscles and relieves muscle aches. It also seems to boost my energy level (of course this may be the result of just feeling good and being happy, but I'm not complaining). And smoking pot doesn't seem to decrease my lung capacity. As far as sleep is concerned, I sleep very deeply and wake feeling very refreshed, my dreams are more vivid and I can recall greater dream detail. My dreams haven't gotten "weirder", just better.In contrast, when I drink alcohol, it makes me groggy, upsets my stomach, gives me a headache, clouds my thoughts, and when I wake up after a night of drinking I feel like ass. All in all, weed has been very positive for me. I'm happier, drink less when I smoke, sleep well, and feel physically good.I would like to see our valuable research dollars go to funding studies and programs that really help us understand what weed is all about- not some ill-conceived krunk about weed addiction. As everyone is pointing out, our brains are adaptive and complex and seem to favor a stable environment. Tobacco contains nicotine- a chemical proven to be chemically addictive, as in, it alters brain chemistry to the point where the brain has trouble coping when the nicotine goes away. I have yet to read a legitimate study that actually quantifies "weed addiction" in such a way. We can measure brain activity and neurotransmiter levels. All these guys did was interrupt the normal schedule of a few people and blame the resulting crankiness on weed. Hogwash. From their study I could conclude that jet lag is caused by weed. Let's just igonre the fact that time zones and sleep patterns were suddenly changed. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by BOFH420 on October 18, 2001 at 11:00:10 PT: Well I'm a chronic smoker And I've for sure smoked more than 5,000 times and the few times I spend a day or three sober I am cranky as hell, snapping at anyone for everything, Forgetting adjectives (freaking adjectives always forgetting those when I'm stoned too), and the dreams always so crazy, after about a week or two I normalized off the few times I've actually sobered up in the last few years. I've always just chalked it up with the fact that I'm normally drunk on an euphoriate, with my eyes half shut, and then when I'm not I feel really depressed, even though it's a normal happiness level for your average human, I've seen the same symptoms exhibited by people who miss their girlfriend though, So it is probably more to do with just brain chemistry switches and personality swings [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on October 18, 2001 at 05:13:17 PT Proibition's Effects on Brain Are Reversible Does this mean that the way THC helps the brain withstand a concussion are also reversible? And herb withdrawal is nothing like cigarette withdrawal. Ask Peter McWilliams. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by aocp on October 17, 2001 at 19:35:07 PT i hope i read this right... "Comparing our results to studies of nicotine withdrawal, it looks like the magnitude of the severity of withdrawal is similar," Budney said in an interview with Reuters Health. "So as people try to quit smoking marijuana, one can expect them to have problems with withdrawal."you are not a smoker/quitter of either, BOY and i am a seasoned vet at both. You don't have a clue as to the "link" between the two, so i'd rather you try a bit harder at research, errrrhhh at all.Craving for marijuana,"Man, i could go for a jay ... all i'm doin' is helpin' the antis with their fake, lying studies...!" = cravingdecreased appetite,=no munchies ;psleep difficulty and weight loss were more common in abstaining periods.This could mean almost anything.Aggression, anger, irritability, restlessnessBeing in this study would irritate me and they just had to play the violence card, huh?and strange dreams were also significantly increased during abstinence, Budney's team found.Aren't dreams supposed to be strange? Isn't that really the point? To let your mind just play for a few hours by itself? Call me crazy, but..."This highlights the issue that when you treat marijuana-dependent folk, they are going to complain about withdrawal--it is real. If you consider tobacco withdrawal real, you should consider marijuana withdrawal real," Budney stressed.And i should consider you to be a hack. How much did you make for this "story" my little nark? Your kind of sheep is slowly becoming the endangered species. We can only hope you'll do some real work someday. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by freedom fighter on October 17, 2001 at 18:40:28 PT Studies after studies All that wasteful resources while millions sit in prisons, families broken and crushed.I stopped smoking the cannabis and did not have any of those effects they claimed except for one, I am pissed that others think they can tell me what substance to put in my mouth. ff [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Tim Stone on October 17, 2001 at 17:51:27 PT More NIDA trash The first study about abatement of short-term memory loss makes sense and is in agreement with the real life experiences of me and squillions of other people who smoked for a period in their lives, perhaps heavily, then just moved on to other things.I'm referring to the second "study" as NIDA trash. There was an NIDA trash study a few years back done by some Italian researchers who gave horse doses of a synthetic cannabinoid derivative to rats for two weeks, then injected the rats with a cannabinoid antagonist that in a very short period stripped all the cannabinoids from the rat brain receptor sites. The rats were then observed to shake and - I you not kid - moon walk. The researchers "concluded" that "withdrawal" from cannabis was similar to actual, real withdrawal from heroin. The above article is embarrassingly short on info about what the pot = nicotine withdrawal study was actually about. To start with, a sample of only twelve people is very suspect in any case. Hazarding a guess on the scant info, this study was about a stable brain chemical lifestyle vs. an unstable, perturbed brain chemical lifestyle. Give coffee to a coffee lover for five days, then have him abstain for three days, then let him drink for five days, then abstain for three, and you will have a cranky coffee lover who exhibits the same symptoms as nicotine withdrawal. You could probably get the same results with a group of soap opera devotees. The brain can eventually reach a steady state of either cannabis (or pretty much anything) present or absent. What the brain has a hard time with is having (in the context of a controlled scientific study, with all the personal intrusions involved in that, for which the subject is paid) cannabis ( or any usual recreational drug) present, then absent for a while, then present for a while. The results you get are less from any "withdrawal" than they are from the brain chemistry being whip-sawed back and forth. If anyone has had a job where you may have to work 9 - 5 one day, swing shift another, and graveyard shift two others, all in the same week, you may understand the essential problem. The brain gets screwed up simply because it never gets enough time to settle comfortably into one routine, before being rudely jerked into another. These "scientists" have no shame...or legitimate professionalism it would seem. They go where the funding is, and since the NIDA is the world-class drug research sugar daddy, the "scientists" dance with them that brung/funded 'em. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by mcwillk on October 17, 2001 at 17:49:31 PT More prohibitionist bull So much for marijuana making you stupid; I'm an engineering student coming back after a year off, during which I smoked EVERY day. My grades are running about 10-20% higher than before. Most of the engineers I know are big fans of the weed cause it doesn't make you stupid like alcahol does. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by E_Johnson on October 17, 2001 at 17:31:53 PT Something wrong with this study Throughout five years of engineering school, I smoked pot every day, I worked 20 hours per week, and I maintained a 4.5 grade point average taking subjects like Advanced Quantum Mechanics, Thermal Power Systems, Systems Analysis and Control Theory and more advanced math than you can shake a Mobius strip at.Before my freshman physics final, I went behind the gym and toked away my exam anxiety, and I finished the exam in half the allotted time and got a perfect score. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment