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pipe

I've done a lot of research and it seems that theres no proof that marijuana causes any permanent brain damage at all...but I'm wondering is why the brain develops a tolerance to marijuana if its not harmful to the brain. Wouldn't it make more sense that the reason the brain adapts and makes it harder for you to get high is because its getting damaged everytime you get high? I just dont see another logical explanation...why the brain make something that doesn't negatively affect it harder to obtain? I'd like to know WHY the brain develops tolerance to marijuana...in all these 'reports' from 'experts' on the net i've read claiming that pot doesnt affect the brain, I have yet to see an explanation of tolerance. Any help would be much appreciated...

 

Psycho Donkey

I always thought the brain let it get you high easier. At least that's what I heard. I dunno, that's a good question if your right.

Also shouldn't this be in the Chemical and Psychiological forum? I think this one is for medicinal use and not the effects of marijuana. Just a tip for next time.

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i've been smoking 1-3 times a day for a long while. and I still feel a buzz after one hit. how's that for tolerance?

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Psycho Donkey

I really don't think the brain creates a tolerance to it, this may be a theory why marijuana leads to harder drugs because it doesn't get you high anymore. I find, if anything that I get higher then when I started smoking. I have been researching on the net and I haven't seen a single thing prooving that the brain induces a tolerance toward marijuana. Pipe, I would like to know where you found the information that says your brain creates a tolerance towards marijuana. I would like to know.

urban-ninja

Yo,

Marijuana does slow development of the frontal lobe (important to personality, and other things) in kids under 15. So all you youngins, go easy on the ganja till your a bit older.

 

pipe

heh...funny, i just turned 15 two weeks ago, I hope im not affected? I'm only going like once a week, that problaby wouldnt affect anythin right

urban-ninja

Your cool. Once a week is fine. It takes daily smoking to do any real unreversable damage.

Greenman

The literature is pretty divided on this issue. Some claim that the brain develops a tolerance, others believe that the brain slowly develops a reverse tollerance in long term smokers, where it actually takes them less marijuana to get the same high.

This is what happens, as far as I can tell. I am by no means a doctor, just regurgitating a bunch of stuff I heard doctors say.

THC in marijuana, the molecule, is virtually identical to another cannabinoid in the brain called anamanide, or something simular. This neurotransmitter is something that is always present in the brain, and effects pain, memory and a couple of other things I can't remember. Now, neurotransmitters plug into receptor sites throughout the brain (and the body, but we are just talking about the gray matter now) and this connection sends a chemical signal to whereever is being effected.

Now there are many more receptor sites open than there are molecules to plug into them. This is normal. When you smoke a doob, you saturate the sac in your head with a bunch of extra THC molecules that seek out and bind to these receptor sites, and this is what gives you the high. If you happen to fill all the receptor sites in the brain up with molecules, they you become sober. This is the "smoke yourself sober" that people talk about.

Now what happens is the brain will deactivate some receptors if there is constantly a surplus. This is why you cannot OD on marijuana, because your brain will close down the sites that the marijuana binds to if the levels in the brain start getting to excessive. Cocaine, on the other hand, blocks the brains ability to detect dopamine. Since the body needs dopamine to survive, it starts pumping it out trying to reset the balance. Dopamine is toxic in high quantites in the brain, and if your regulatory system is in effect shut down, it becomes a lot easier to hit that terminal level. Marijuana acts directly on the receptor sites, and the brain can deactivate the receptor sites if the concentration of THC is to high. So it is more of a self-regulating system. But to you, you still feel the same effects even if you have some sites that are closed. When you start getting a lot of receptor sites closed, this is what brings on the burned out, cashed feeling. The best thing to do is to wait for a while and let the levels return to normal and the sites to re-open before you smoke the next doob.

What does this mean, the people who smoke an ounce a night by themselves, are wasting pot.

Peace

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pipe

greenman: thanks a lot for your detailed reply...but now what I'm more afraid of is irresersible damage caused by pot...is there any evidence of this? Im fully aware of all the short term effects and am comfortable with them, but does smoking marijuana weekly have any permanent/long lasting effect on the brain? Thanks...

Greenman

You are more likely to cause irreversable brain damage to yourself by holding your breath than the marijuana. Literally.

The brain damage claim comes from a study conducted in the 70's I believe where rhesus monkeys were strapped to a gas mask and made to inhale marijuana smoke from a potent weed continuously for 15 minutes. At the end of the experiement the monkeys were killed and their brains compared to the brains of the healthy control monkeys. Sure enough there was brain damage, which the scientists at the time assumed was the cause of marijuana.

As it turns out, Oxygen Depravation caused by the method of intake was the cause of the brain damage. When the study was redone in other labs, where this was taken into consideration, these results could never be replicated.

I cannot remember the study's name. But there are several studies out there on the cognitive function of light smokers, heavy smokers, and non smokers. To sum up the results, there was no difference between the light smokers and the non smokers, and a slight decrease in heavy smokers vs. non smokers. Keep in mind thought, that these are long term cases, over 20 years. And the difference was something along the lines of remembering 11 of the 13 words instead of all 13. There was very little difference, and unless under a test, I don't think it is noticable. But it does exist.

Lastly, just because there is some cognitive loss does not mean that there is any actual brain damage. Where stoners get in trouble is when they hold a hit in for a long time. THC is absorbed by the lungs in the first 7 - 9 seconds. Holding your breath any longer just damages the lungs (by prolonging exposure to the polutants in the smoke) and the brain by oxygen starvation. Be smart when you smoke, and you'll be fine.

Peace