Conventional “wisdom” on pot says that it is bad for your brain. Prohibitionists time and again argue that marijuana kills brains cells, damages the memory, and makes smokers stupid. There is no question that while under the immediate effects of marijuana, mental reaction times are slowed, but this does not mean that one is stupid by any means.

However, what if smoking pot actually made you smarter and improved your memory? Studies have shown that certain cannabinoids have the ability to create new brain cells in the hippocampus, a region in the brain linked to short term memory, long term memory and spatial navigation. This is the only part of the brain to exhibit neurogenesis, or new brain cell growth, and certain cannabinoids increase the rate of production.

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In a League of Its Own

What is most impressive about this is that Marijuana is the only “drug of abuse” not to suppress the creation of new brain cells. Sadly, we still lump marijuana in with drugs like cocaine, heroin, and alcohol which have all been shown to have deleterious effects on the brain. Some of the drugs which marijuana is compared to actually kill brain cells, and the comparison is an obvious attempt to demonize the drug which is really not a close comparison to any other illicit drug.

What is worse, is that people on the other side of the aisle have spun the discovery to work with their argument, saying that the growth of this region causes negative effects, which has never been proven in a study. Really there is not enough data to draw strong conclusions about the long term effects of smoking cannabis on the brain, but the results are varied at best. It is sad to see these people push their agenda using misinformation tactics, which really draws their integrity and intentions into question.

A Mixed Bag

Further studies have gone onto show that other areas of the brain might also show growth as a result of marijuana use. It is a mixed bag though, because some of the areas of smoker’s brains have smaller volumes than nonsmokers, and some have larger volumes. This implies that we should not be jumping to conclusions, especially since butane has been proven to kill brain cells, while marijuana has been to create new brain cells and promote their health by protecting them from damage.

Clearly further studies are needed on the matter. Marijuana is more complex than other drugs, since it is a veritable mixed drink of cannabinoids which is different with every strain. Limiting the research of the drug does more potential harm to the users than smoking, because it does not allow breeders, like greenhouseseeds.nl, enough information to properly select which cannabinoids they should be selecting for their strains.