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A recent study indicates that early marijuana use might affect brain development.
(The Associated Press)
The use of marijuana may affect brain development, a new study said.
Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas who examined brain scans of more than 40 adults found that those who started using marijuana at the age of 16 and younger had alterations in an area of the brain that's responsible for judgment, reasoning and complex thinking. Those who started using marijuana after 16 had accelerated brain development.
"Our findings suggest that the timing of cannabis use can result in very disparate patterns of effects," principal investigator Francesca Filbey said in a statement.
The scans were taken of people who self-reported their marijuana use. Aged 21 to 50, they said they started using marijuana during adolescence and continued through adulthood, using cannabis at least one time a week.
The area where researchers noticed abnormal development was in the prefrontal cortex. But they did not know whether the change was caused by marijuana.
"We cannot determine if these differences existed before the onset of use of if they are the consequence of use," Filbey said in an email. "We did account for differences in current age and alcohol use and did not find them to influence the results."
She said more research is required to establish a causal relationship.
The study was published in the journal Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The results were in line with other research that shows that cannabis use during adolescence can have long-term consequences.
-- Lynne Terry