This article at the Washington Post is of interest: The surprising ways cannabis may affect the ageing brain.
I thought it read as relatively balanced, and showed that there are still some very significant gaps in understanding. It also reconfirmed the thing that seems universally agreed - use at a young age (like, teenagers) is very problematic.
The comments is full of aggressive complaints about the article, however. As I have noted many times before, health-cautionary articles on it use frequently get attacked this way in the US.
2 comments:
What the article omits is that hundreds of studies have demonstrated neuroprotective potential. The neuroprotective possibilities go back at least 30 years. The biochemistry makes sense because CBD is an anti-inflammatory and boosts inhibitory neurotransmission which can be beneficial in an aging brain. THC impairs cognition because it dysregulates striatal dopamine tone but can be protective because it inhibits calcium channels and calcium overload can kill neurons. Both THC and CBD have demonstrated antioxidant activity higher than vitamins C and E. It also omitted that 2 recent large studies found older individuals who used it judiciously had preserved cognition.
The problem is most people smoke too often and don't appreciate that cannabinoids are lipid soluble and will build up in the brain. The irony is that lipid peroxidation is a serious issue so cells can be protected but cognition impaired.
There is a research program of using cannabinoids as a dementia treatment. That won't work. After diagnosis very little works.
If the studies on young folk are not prospective questions remain. Retrospective studies have big problems. However the huge shift in the THC/CBD ratio makes modern strains much more dangerous for people under 25 and doesn't help anyone else either. It has long been recognised that THC drives psychosis through striatal dopamine increase and CBD can have an opposing effect. Hence with the modern strains the risk is amplified not only by the THC increase but the CBD decrease.
One of the most remarkable findings is that childhood trauma can result in decreased endocannabinoid tone which will elevate anxiety. Given the striking relationship between childhood trauma and mental illness the question of self-medication needs to be addressed. The problem for schizophrenics is the opposite, they can have elevated anandamide which some bods think is a compensatory response during psychosis because after florid psychosis it normalises. That also points to much greater risk for those predisposed towards schizophrenia.
I can provide more information on this off the top of my head than the WP even though I haven't studied it in over a decade. These days I'm supposed to be investigating longevity strategies but am currently in an interregnum because the team still has not advised me of funding. That article was light on detail and might be appropriate for a general audience but is lacking in nuance and insight.
Hi John. Yeah, but I didn't really read it as intending to be a comprehensive review of the effects - as it does refer to two or three recent studies mainly, and was publicising their results (as well as the surprising one about increased brain volume for those who started use well into adulthood.)
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