Heavy marijuana use shrinks brain parts: study

Yeah, right. And bottled water is good for you, and the elections are real.
Oh, yeah, Right.

"five marijuana cigarettes daily for on average 20 years"

Given those amounts I'd be shocked if there wasn't any change. I'd like to see the comparison study of people who were drunk all day for the last 20 years - there would be a hell of a lot more damage than a minimal shrinkage in areas of memory and aggression, of course that's if they had managed not to die of cirrosis.

People who smoke a lot are likely to be a little forgetful and less likely to get angry. Now can someone tell me why this is so dangerous that millions of people have had to be locked up?

Surprise! Something negative about Mary Jane comes out and all of her addicted cronies come out and try to take credibility from it!  Who woulda guessed?

Surprise! Something negative about Mary Jane comes out and all of her addicted cronies come out and try to take credibility from it!  Who woulda guessed?

You have a point. People tend to disagree with criticism of things they enjoy. However, a few thoughts should be entertained first:

-These guys smoked FIVE JOINTS A DAY, for 20 YEARS. That is a hell of a lot of pot. I have a few friends that smoke daily, but I don't know ANYONE that smokes that much. Like an above poster said, the fact that they came out after 20 years virtually unhurt is pretty impressive.

-The study said it followed people that "smoked". This most likely didn't contain people who vaporized, or to a lesser extent, ate cannabis. Both of these latter methods are FAR healthier than smoking, as they only deliver THC (and a few other cannabinoids) to the brain. Who's to say the listed side affects weren't a result of the carbon monoxide and benzene and other nasty things inhaled in the smoke? And how do we know that the sort of people that smoke these ridiculously large amounts of marijuana aren't doing other things to damage their brain?

-Cheeseburgers contain tons of saturated fat. City air contains large amounts of soot and radioactive particles. Jogging can put strain on your ankle and knee joints and wear them out prematurely. Everything has pros and cons, but only activities in which the former outweighs the latter should be undertaken. Is it worth spending billions of dollars and filling up our jails with otherwise innocent people just to prevent people from smoking a plant?

i my self used to be a marijuana smoker for a long time and used to defend any crticism comes its way....but u guyz live in such denial that u cant even admit its bad for you...i think ppl who smoke marijuana are insecure and afraid of something out there in life and doesnt wanna face it..i mean im not against smoking it once in a bloom...or if u have chroinic disease and it helpos over come it ...but to smoke it every day then u have a problem and a major one get ure self checked out...its not normal what u do to ure self and will only regret it when ure 40, then ur gonna relaize how much time u wasted smoking weed and trippin out on stupid thingz....so get ure head straight and face life sober

Non impressive. Its just proving that if you abuse Marijuana, it will lead to health deficiencies the same way as if you abuse every other thing in life. Abusing cigarettes,sleep,food,alcohol,tanning beds,soda,and any other thing will just damage your health too.

I dont think its actually the weed that shrinked those brain parts.Its the fact that these guys were too busy not to use their head (train the brain) on a normal basis.The brain is just another muscle in the body;the more you excersise it,the better it becomes but if its resting all the time (especially with the help of weed) then its going to get lazy and the normal functions of the brain will just get weaker over time.That;s just like staying at home with no exercise and eating junk food for 20 years.What happens?You cant really blame it all on the junk food coz your laziness also contributed to that.Plus 20 years is a lot of time.A person's mental and learning ability is much less at the age of 40 than at the age of 20 irrespective of what the person has done over the years.That;s just nature.  i wonder what those 20 year smokers do for a living so that they actually have the time to smoke 5 joints a day.  I also know people who smoke everyday and have good careers and are doing great. Work your mind through the day,relax at night. As long as there is balance,that's what matters.

Poor argument;Sounds like another bunch of biased anti-drug researchers just want find anything to prove something. Why dont they invest their time in the alcohol section.Alcohol does more damage to the brain like killing brain cells,it can cause poisioning and promotes violence. Weed can never overdose anybody,does NOT kill brain cells and certainly will not promote violent behaviour and is less dangerous than cigarettes.