CONTACT The brain on pot - Dr. Christian Thurstone

An Oct. 29 report in the New York Times caught our attention. It is written by Abigail Sullivan Moore, co-author of The iConnected Parent: Staying Close to Your Kids in College (and Beyond) While Letting Them Grow Up.

The bottom line: “Concerns over (marijuana’s) increasing potency, and rising usage among the young, is giving new urgency to research … Evidence of long-term effects is also building.”

Sullivan cites the study conducted by researchers at Harvard and Northwestern universities that found among all marijuana users examined concerning abnormalities in areas of the brain that are “at the core of motivation, the core of pleasure and pain and every decision that you make,” as explained by Dr. Hans Breiter, a co-author of the study and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern. Breiter also discussed similar changes in the amygdala, which is fundamental in processing emotions, memories and fear responses.

We also invite you to learn more about the medical literature describing links between marijuana use and psychosis.

About Christine Tatum

Christine Tatum is a veteran journalist whose communications and market intel firm, Media Salad, Inc., helps companies and nonprofit organizations win business and stay ahead of their competitors. Her professional stops include the Chicago Tribune, The Denver Post, the (Arlington Heights, Ill.) Daily Herald and the (Greensboro, N.C.) News & Record. Her work also has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, and New York Times.

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