They say that it causes brain damage, this that and the next. Does it really just boil down to ‘lungs only supposed to breathe air’
In: Biology
There is a measurable correlation between having low IQ/scoring poorly on cognitive tests and smoking marijuana. However, this seems to be correlation and *not* causation. In studies of twins where one uses marijuana but the other doesn’t, the user and non-user almost always score virtually the same on cognitive tests and tests of executive function. ([Source](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376871619304892))
However, that evidence all comes from tests on adults. **There is strong evidence that marijuana *does* cause brain damage in people under 25.** Marijuana use by people with still-developing brains decreases cognitive ability across a wide range of measures — memory, test performance, executive function, attention, learning ability, etc. It also creates physical changes in the brain like decreased gray matter. ([Source 1](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3930618/), [Source 2](https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00859/full)) Some of these changes seem to reverse after several years of not using weed, others appear to be permanent.
I love weed. It’s terrific and should be legal. I would still *strongly* urge anyone under 25 not to touch the stuff. (For what it’s worth, I believe that’s the correct position to take for most drugs, including alcohol.)
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