Reefer Madness Might Not Be So Mad

Marijuana's popularity has sky rocketed since the 1970's, with recent studies showing that teenagers these days prefer marijuana over cigarettes. Medicinal marijuana is now legal in 28 states and soon to be more, while it is legal for recreational usage in eight states. The legalization of marijuana has been a hot topic of debate in the past few years, with the main argument being that it has adverse effects on the brain. 

Dr. John Csernansky from Northwestern discussed his study in class about the brain structure similarities between individuals that smoked marijuana regularly in adolescence and people who have schizophrenia. He emphasized the similarities that existed in the hippocampus of both people who smoked marijuana regularly and people with schizophrenia, implying that continual regular usage of marijuana can lead to schizophrenia-like symptoms when older. 

Due to the controversial nature of marijuana research, there are many studies that outline both positive and negative effects of smoking pot, making it hard to discern between what is right and what is wrong.  In a recent study published by Time magazine, researchers discovered that people who smoke marijuana regularly on average had lower BMI's, had less diabetes, and were generally healthier than the rest of the population. The study, published in The American Journal of Medicine, followed over 4,600 men and women. The authors controlled for other variables such as age, sex, income, alcohol usage, and cigarette smoking, which are known to have an effect on diabetes. It was discovered that people that smoked weed regularly had a higher carbohydrate metabolism than non users and that their fasting insulin levels were lower. Smokers also had higher levels of lipoprotein, the good cholesterol, which can prevent heart disease. 

References:

http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/21/marijuana-the-next-diabetes-drug/?iid=sr-link10