All posts tagged: Brain

Photo from South Dakota 1936 during the drought that hit North America during the 1930s. Credit: United Stated Department of Agriculture/Wikipedia

A different kind of famine?

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With the Canadian government planning to legalize recreational marijuana effective July 1, 2018, Bill C-45 that is working its way through parliament includes a provision that could have disturbing ramifications for young people. Though the bill sets a minimum age of 18 for a person to legally buy marijuana, the curious provision allows young people between the ages of 12 to 18, to possess under five grams of marijuana without being criminally charged. This is the equivalent of a 12-year-old walking the streets with shot of whiskey in his or her pocket without any consequences. The biggest problem is the message the government is sending young teens through such a provision. It leaves the impression that marijuana is a safe drug, which is the mantra activists use to push governments to legalize Cannabis in the first place. There have been many voices responding to the Canadian government’s decision to legalize including the prestigious Canadian Medical Association Journal that condemned the decision in a recent editorial. As governments around the world legalize recreational marijuana, concerned medical researchers are releasing a staggering …

Michelangelo's Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel Photo: Bill Read/Flickr/Creative Commons

Are we hard-wired to believe in God?

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According to the Book of Genesis, God created humans in His likeness and image (Genesis 1:26). We were created to manifest in human form the characteristics of God. Along with this humans were created to connect with God allowing us to communicate and fellowship with our Heavenly Father. This is how God intended our relationship to function at the beginning. It took a while, but modern researchers are finally admitting what people have known for centuries — humans are hard-wired to believe in God. Not all scientists are convinced this is the case as it does cause some troubling concerns for those embedded in the evolutionary side of the debate. But nevertheless an increasing number are concluding that humans are built to believe in God. Charisma recently reported on a round table discussion shown on the National Geographic Channel addressing this very issue. On the program, Shaheen Lakhan, who holds multiple doctorates, states: “Psychologists and anthropologists deemed that children left to their own devices would have some conception of God. Some attribute this to our …

Marijuana’s mind games

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[by Dean Smith] Dutch University Professor Olivier Marie and Ulf Zolitz of IZA recently released a study on the impact of marijuana usage at Holland’s Maastricht University. They discovered that students with easy access to marijuana had lower grades than those that didn’t. Holland legalized marijuana in 1976. Since people are only allowed to possess small quantities of the drug, this led to the rise of Cannabis cafes, where people could buy and partake. Holland has a 5 ounce possession limit compared to Colorado which allows over five times that amount. In 2011, Maastricht University introduced a curious law on campus where it only allowed Dutch, Belgian and German nationals to buy cannabis at the campus’ 13 cafes that sell the drug. It put the provision in place due to growing concerns about drug tourism.

Record number of youth addicted to Marijuana due to a significant increase in its potency

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Newly released stats by Public Health England show that there are 13,500 youth under the age of 18 in that country being treated for Marijuana addiction. This includes 200 under the age of 12. This represents a 50% increase in addiction among this age group over the past seven years. Experts are attributing this rise to the arrival of a new “super-strength” Marijuana which is several times stronger than older varieties.

Laughter helps you remember

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Recent research reveals that one of the best ways to stop memory loss is laughter. In fact, laughing may go one step further and actually improve a person’s memory. According to a report by ABC News, a group of scientists from California’s Loma Linda University tested 40 people on the effects of laughter. They were divided into two groups. They asked one group of 20 to watch a funny film that lasted about 20 minutes and told the second to calmly wait until the other group was done. When the movie was over, the two groups were  given memory tests. Saliva samples were also taken from each person, and they were tested for the stress hormone cortisol, as stress can have a negative impact on memory.

Study shows even casual marijuana use affects the brain

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“The interaction of marijuana with brain development could be a significant problem.” Dr Han Breiter, Professor of Psychiatry and co-study author A team of researchers has warned that even casual marijuana use can damage the brain. Previous studies have shown that significant marijuana usage by teens can have a profound impact on the person’s brain even leading to serious mental illnesses such as  schizophrenia. Now researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Harvard University have found even casual marijuana usage by teens, as little as once a week, can affect their brain. The results of the study were published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Thick-headed Christians?

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If someone calls you thick-headed because of your Christian beliefs, agree with them. It’s not only Biblical as Jesus tells us to agree quickly with our adversary (Mathew 5:25) , but it’s also true. And, it’s not a bad thing. Myrna Weissman — a professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at Columbia University in the U.S. — said her research shows people of faith have a thicker cortex compared to those who are not. 

Regular marijuana usage causes brain abnormalities and memory loss in teens

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According to research out of the U.S., teens who smoke marijuana daily can have brain abnormalities similar to people with schizophrenia. With the push towards legalization of marijuana, researchers from Illinois’ Northwest University wanted a clearer picture of the drug’s impact on a person’s brain.  The results were published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin. This is an important study as marijuana is proving a popular drug among teens. Surveys show 40% of English teens have used marijuana.  In the U.S., it is the most popular drug among young adults.

Repeated studies are revealing the profound impact Marijuana has on the human brain. Photo Marijuana field in India Richard McMullen/Flickr

Study shows Marijuana usage by teens may increase risk of schizophrenia and psychiatric problems

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Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine concluded regular use of Marijuana by teens could lead to psychiatric problems and increased risk of schizophrenia. According to an article in the National Post, researchers came to this conclusion after studying the effects of marijuana on lab mice. After subjecting young lab mice to low doses of marijuana for a 20 day period, they discovered their test mice had significant damage to their “cortical oscillations” which impaired brain functions. The researchers said, “The striking finding is that, even though the mice were exposed to very low drug doses, and only for a brief period during adolescence, their brain abnormalities persisted into adulthood.” The concern is during human adolescence, the front part of the brain is still developing and that marijuana usage would similarly affect brain development of teens. “Previous research has shown that children who started using marijuana before the age of 16 are at greater risk of permanent cognitive deficits, and have a significantly higher incidence of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.” said the researchers. …