A few people have asked for sauce on the "weed causes brain damage" issue. Like, srsly? This is so totally well-known that, like water flowing downhill, it oughtn't to need sauce. But nonetheless here you go:
Lasting impacts of prenatal cannabis exposure and the role of endogenous cannabinoids in the developing brain
... Human epidemiological and animal studies have found that prenatal cannabis exposure influences brain development and can have long-lasting impacts on cognitive functions. ...
Persistent cannabis use as an independent risk factor for violent behaviors in patients with schizophrenia
... The authors reported findings covering an 18-month period from a randomized, double-blind clinical trial of antipsychotic medications for schizophrenia treatment. Among the 1460 patients enrolled in the trial, 965 were followed longitudinally. Although persistent cannabis use predicted subsequent violence, violence did not predict cannabis use. The relationship was therefore unidirectional and persisted when controlling for stimulants and alcohol use. Finally, a significant body of evidence suggests a link between persistent cannabis use and violence among people with mental illnesses. Studies to further investigate the mechanisms underlying this association should be conducted. ...
How Marijuana Exposure Affects Developing Babies’ Brains
... Children of marijuana users were more impulsive and hyperactive, and exhibited behavioral issues, lower IQ scores, and memory problems when compared to children of non-users. These mental health problems persisted through their teenage years, where they were significantly more likely to have attention problems and depression. Marijuana-exposed children were also almost twice as likely to display delinquent behavior, such as drug use, by the age of 14 and were more than twice as likely to regularly use marijuana and tobacco as adults. The very consistent results between mice and human studies (summarized in the infographic from The Scientist below) highlights an increasing understanding of the impacts of marijuana use on development. ...
What are marijuana's long-term effects on the brain?
... Several studies, including two large longitudinal studies, suggest that marijuana use can cause functional impairment in cognitive abilities but that the degree and/or duration of the impairment depends on the age when a person began using and how much and how long he or she used. ... A large longitudinal study in New Zealand found that persistent marijuana use disorder with frequent use starting in adolescence was associated with a loss of an average of 6 or up to 8 IQ points measured in mid-adulthood. Those who used marijuana heavily as teenagers and quit using as adults did not recover the lost IQ points.
Associations Between Prenatal Cannabis Exposure and Childhood Outcomes
... This study suggests that prenatal cannabis exposure and its correlated factors are associated with greater risk for psychopathology during middle childhood. Cannabis use during pregnancy should be discouraged. ...
US Epidemiology of Cannabis Use and Associated Problems
... A recent meta-analysis indicates that infants born to women who used marijuana prenatally were more likely than others to be anemic, have low birth weight, and require neonatal intensive care (Gunn et al, 2016). Prenatal marijuana exposure is also linked to subsequent impaired executive functioning in school (Wu et al, 2011), consistent with prospective research showing associations between prenatal cannabis exposure, restricted fetal growth, and greater childhood frontal cortical thickness (El Marroun et al, 2016). ...
Is there a link between marijuana use and psychiatric disorders?
...cannabis use is associated with an increased risk for an earlier onset of psychotic disorders (such as schizophrenia) in people with other risk factors, such as family history. Cannabis intoxication can also induce a temporary psychotic episode in some individuals, especially at high doses. Experiencing such an episode may be linked with a risk for later developing a psychotic disorder. A person’s genetics may play a role in this relationship. ...
Maternal cannabis use in pregnancy and child neurodevelopmental outcomes
... Using the provincial birth registry containing information on cannabis use during pregnancy, we perform a retrospective analysis of all live births in Ontario, Canada, between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2012. We link pregnancy and birth data to provincial health administrative databases to ascertain child neurodevelopmental outcomes. We use matching techniques to control for confounding and Cox proportional hazards regression models to examine associations between prenatal cannabis use and child neurodevelopment. We find an association between maternal cannabis use in pregnancy and the incidence of autism spectrum disorder in the offspring. The incidence of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis was 4.00 per 1,000 person-years among children with exposure compared to 2.42 among unexposed children, and the fully adjusted hazard ratio was 1.51 (95% confidence interval: 1.17–1.96) in the matched cohort. The incidence of intellectual disability and learning disorders was higher among offspring of mothers who use cannabis in pregnancy, although less statistically robust. ...
A few people have asked for sauce on the "weed causes brain damage" issue. Like, srsly? This is so totally well-known that, like water flowing downhill, it oughtn't to need sauce. But nonetheless here you go:
Lasting impacts of prenatal cannabis exposure and the role of endogenous cannabinoids in the developing brain
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3252200/
Persistent cannabis use as an independent risk factor for violent behaviors in patients with schizophrenia
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41537-020-0104-x
How Marijuana Exposure Affects Developing Babies’ Brains
https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2019/marijuana-exposure-affects-developing-babies-brains/
What are marijuana's long-term effects on the brain?
https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/what-are-marijuanas-long-term-effects-brain
Associations Between Prenatal Cannabis Exposure and Childhood Outcomes
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2770964
US Epidemiology of Cannabis Use and Associated Problems
https://www.nature.com/articles/npp2017198
Is there a link between marijuana use and psychiatric disorders?
https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/there-link-between-marijuana-use-psychiatric-disorders
Maternal cannabis use in pregnancy and child neurodevelopmental outcomes
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-1002-5
AWESOME! THANK YOU!!