Weed gives me brain cells!

[Ultima22689]

I heard about this a long time ago and i've been pondering on it.

http://www.jci.org/articles/view/25509/version/1

Cannabis according to this study and others like it promotes neurogenesis, does anyone else find that incredibly interesting? To think that every time I light up I might be inducing neurogenesis puts a smile on his face. This along with all of the studies saying cannabis even may help stop cancer and even reverse it amazes me but then i'm incredibly frustrated as to why it's illegal.

[Ninteen45]

People need cancer to have faith.

People need Alzhiemer'z to have faith.

People must not question.

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.

[Tanker]

I heard about this a long time ago and i've been pondering on it.

http://www.jci.org/articles/view/25509/version/1

Cannabis according to this study and others like it promotes neurogenesis, does anyone else find that incredibly interesting? To think that every time I light up I might be inducing neurogenesis puts a smile on his face. This along with all of the studies saying cannabis even may help stop cancer and even reverse it amazes me but then i'm incredibly frustrated as to why it's illegal.

It's not illegal....if you have a tax stamp. To get the tax stamp all you have to do is show them the weed... wait a minute.

[Renegnicat]

Probably because it makes you all weird for thirty minutes, which makes old ladies uncomfortable.  

[Ultima22689]

So is anyone going to give a serious thought to this? Couldn't something that causes neurogenesis potentially repair brains?

[LoneMateria]

does a post about weed really merit serious thought?

[iNow]

So is anyone going to give a serious thought to this? Couldn't something that causes neurogenesis potentially repair brains?

Well, it should be noted that neurogenesis on it's own is not necessarily a good thing.  It could result in more synaptic connections, but faulty ones.  It could result in the building of pathways that are twisted and contorted, and which actually cause detriment to the signal processing abilities of the brain.  Learning is about growth of new neural connections AND the pruning of old ones and the trimming of those which are not needed.  In sum, more is not necessarily better, and, in fact, often is worse.

Finally, this concept of "repairing brains" is a bit misguided.  You are treating the process of neurogenesis as some sort of panacea.  That misses the interconnectivity of the system... specifically, the importance of the hippocampus, and how weed severely impacts it's performance (i.e. memory).


Anyway, I used to know a lot more about weed and its influence on the brain back when I was in college, but it seems I've forgotten most of it.

[skurry]

I can say that I will occasionally, albeit very very rarely, smoke weed. When I do, I do sense a bit of awakening of the mind. I become a little bit more aware of who I am, where I am, and what I am doing (in life). I never smoke to get stoned, but to merely get that sense. I have attributed it to something like neurogenesis. I recently read that marijuana helps fight off Alzheimers, so neurogenesis would make sense.

[Ultima22689]

So is anyone going to give a serious thought to this? Couldn't something that causes neurogenesis potentially repair brains?

Well, it should be noted that neurogenesis on it's own is not necessarily a good thing.  It could result in more synaptic connections, but faulty ones.  It could result in the building of pathways that are twisted and contorted, and which actually cause detriment to the signal processing abilities of the brain.  Learning is about growth of new neural connections AND the pruning of old ones and the trimming of those which are not needed.  In sum, more is not necessarily better, and, in fact, often is worse.

Finally, this concept of "repairing brains" is a bit misguided.  You are treating the process of neurogenesis as some sort of panacea.  That misses the interconnectivity of the system... specifically, the importance of the hippocampus, and how weed severely impacts it's performance (i.e. memory).


Anyway, I used to know a lot more about weed and its influence on the brain back when I was in college, but it seems I've forgotten most of it.

Absolutely but that's why I think it should be studied much further.

As Skurry said, that's the feeling I get from smoking marijauna, the more I smoke the more intense the feeling gets, it's as if I'm at a higher plane of thinking or something.

I suppose this is somewhat offtopic but what about magic mushrooms? The few times I've been fortunate to take some well I can't really describe the level of clarity I had. Algebraic equations which usually made me cringe at their difficulty became simple. I played a game of Street Fighter at the college which had some of the best players in the country and I could defeat them effortlessly. The ideas that I was thinking up were insane, it was weird it was if the rate of I thought I was thinking at had increased over 50 times beyond normal. I tried googling the exact biological effect this was and why it turned my brain into a super Saiyajin but I couldn't find anything because no one researches the stuff. I wish I could find something on this stuff.

[Renegnicat]

The street fighter thing probably happened because when you're at the top level in fighting games, success depends on your ability to successfully predict your opponent's next action. If you were on shrooms, you probably weren't thinking in a way that could be successfully predicted.

[Ultima22689]

The street fighter thing probably happened because when you're at the top level in fighting games, success depends on your ability to successfully predict your opponent's next action. If you were on shrooms, you probably weren't thinking in a way that could be successfully predicted.

That makes sense. There was another time where I was playing Super Smash Brothers Melee and the above holds very true to that game. It was the same. No one could lay a finger on me and but I sure did end up beating the crap out of them. We started with 99 lives, 4 players, in the end I still had 99 lives.

[SSY]

Skurry and Ultima, just so you know, the effects of neurogenesis take a while, it is not as if by the time you get to the end of your spliff you will have more brain cells. Also, from what i know, Alzheimer's is characterised by the formation of clumps consisting of white tissue in the brain, a lack of nerve cells is not really the problem. As iNow said, there is a lot more to it than, more brain cells ( maybe ) = Better brain.

As for all the fighting game stuff/algebraic equations etc. . . . . . . . . . .

[Ultima22689]

Skurry and Ultima, just so you know, the effects of neurogenesis take a while, it is not as if by the time you get to the end of your spliff you will have more brain cells. Also, from what i know, Alzheimer's is characterised by the formation of clumps consisting of white tissue in the brain, a lack of nerve cells is not really the problem. As iNow said, there is a lot more to it than, more brain cells ( maybe ) = Better brain.

As for all the fighting game stuff/algebraic equations etc. . . . . . . . . . .

Oh, No doubt, i've been smoking for a couple of years now but there is an immediate clarity from smoking a spliff. Only the shrooms do all of that stuff. If you don't believe me go buy a quarter yourself and find out. Sure it sounds kind of silly that it could so such a thing but that's why heavy research needs to be done on this stuff. If we just write it off instead of exploring these effects then we could be missing out on something really amazing.

[Renegnicat]

SHROOMS:[/i] The Next Wonder Drug.  

[iNow]

Sure it sounds kind of silly that it could so such a thing but that's why heavy research needs to be done on this stuff. If we just write it off instead of exploring these effects then we could be missing out on something really amazing.

Just because you are unfamiliar with the research does not mean it hasn't been done.    


http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en ... tnG=Search
http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en ... tnG=Search


EDIT:  See also my next post.