pothead and boozehounds have been duking it out for eld , and scientists have finally settled the age - old public debate of whether marijuana or inebriant use is worse .
Drum roll , please .
drear boozers . It turns out , marijuana may not be as prejudicial to the brain as previously thought .
Researchers examined the brains of more than 1,000 player of variegate age by looking at neurological imaging data from MRI scans . Specifically , they used the data to canvass the types of tissue that make up the brain : gray and white affair . grey-headed matter includes cell bodies that , among other thing , enable functionality , while white matter set aside everything to transmit . A release of either would mean the brain is n’t working properly .
The squad find that marijuana and cannabinoid Cartesian product did not have long - term issue .
Alcohol , on the other hand , was significantly link with a decrease in gray matter size and white matter integrity , especially in adults with decades of exposure . The findings are published in the journalAddiction .
Yes , hard liquor brain is a thing . The negatively charged impacts of alcoholic beverage on the brain have been known for years , and it was adopt cannabinoids were prejudicial to foresightful - term wit wellness as well because of their immediate psychotropic effects .
" With alcohol , we ’ve known it ’s tough for the brain for decades , " articulate carbon monoxide - author of the study Kent Hutchison in astatement . " But for marijuana , we know so short . ”
A lot of past research hit the books the negative effect of marijuana came up with differingresultssaid Hutchison , who is a professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of Colorado ( CU ) Boulder .
" The point is that there ’s no consistency across all of these subject area in terms of the factual brain structures , ” he say .
Do n’t go running to the nearest dispensary just yet . Researchers say this does n’t mean pot isbetterfor you or that the study prove any wellness benefit of toking up . It just means the shock of lighting up might be less than what was previously believed .
" Particularly with marijuana enjoyment , there is still so much that we do n’t know about how it impacts the brain , " say Rachel Thayer , a graduate student in clinical psychological science at CU Boulder and the lead author of the study . " Research is still very limited in terminal figure of whether marijuana role is harmful , or good , to the brain . "
The investigator say the study could help to comfortably inform likely alternative annoyance treatments in the face of the ongoingopioid epidemic .
