Smoking daily marijuana affects brain receptors

The daily use of marijuana I could have a harmful effect on the brain , according to a new report presented before the Nuclear Medicine Society of the United States.

The study reveals, through brain scans, that the chronic use of the drug decreases the number of receivers involved in important mental and bodily functions, such as concentration , the movement coordination , the pleasure , the Pain tolerance , the memory and the appetite .

When an individual smokes marijuana, the psychoactive chemicals in the drug bind to certain receptors in the brain and they reach the body, which influences a series of mental states and actions.

Researchers analyzed 30 people who consumed marijuana daily with individuals who did not smoke it, for 4 weeks. Through a molecular scanner, the researchers managed to see changes in the brain of the volunteers. They found that certain brain receptors of smokers had decreased by 20%, compared to the brains of non-smoking participants, or who had had some type of minor exposure throughout their lives.

"With this study, we are able to demonstrate for the first time that people who abuse the cannabis has abnormalities in some receptors of the brain "mentioned the author of the study, Dr. Jussi Hirvonen , in the newsletter of the Society of Nuclear Medicine.

In another experiment, it was re-analyzed at 14 chronic marijuana smokers after a month of abstinence of the drug, and he found a remarkable increase in the activity of the receivers in the areas that had been deficient in the previous study. Which suggests that the adverse effects of marijuana can be reversible.

Source: Yahoo Health News.