The above quote is the title of an article in New Scientist magazine, a London-based publication and website that reports on modern science news. However, the quote is misleading, as the article explains that the study it refers to is not related to marijuana, but HU-210 based on a study performed on rats.
HU-210 and marijuana have certain similarities such as being mentioned together in news articles, but the parallels between the two begin to drift from there. Marijuana is a naturally occurring herbal plant whereas HU-210, a synthetic type of cannabis, is man-made with a varying potency between 100 and 800 times that of natural THC, the main psychoactive substance in cannabis plants. Comparing the two is similar to drawing likeness between an orange and a vitamin C tablet.
One article, "Cannabinoids Promote Embryonic and Adult Hippocampus Neurogenesis and Produce Anxiolytic and Antidepressant-like Effects" by Wen Jiang and others, (Journal of Clinical Investigation 115(11)) explains that HU-210, when taken regularly, can increase neural growth in the hippocampus, a major component of the brain that plays a significant role in long term memory and spatial navigation. But it is important to note that the subjects of study were rats, not humans.
The study also found that chronic treatment with HU-210 had antianxiety and antidepressant-like effects, the opposite results of the use of drugs like nicotine, alcohol, and heroin.
Regarding marijuana, the Amen Clinics, which represents more than 1,000 neuropsychiatric clinicians in the United States, have claimed that regular marijuana use leads to the degeneration of the prefrontal cortex and the temporal lobe (where the hippocampus is located) as noted in SPECT scans, which are 3D photos taken through the use of nuclear technology.
A 2001 article, "Brain SPECT in Neurology and Psychiatry", by Edward Camargo in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine discusses SPECT scans in more detail. The scans show underlying cerebral blood flow. A healthier brain will have more blood flow, whereas a damaged one will have less, giving the appearance of holes in the brain.
What is the Importance of a Prefrontal Cortex?
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a part of the frontal lobes and plays a large part in decision making as well as planning and judgment, explaining much in terms of why people under the influence of drugs do not always conduct themselves in the manner that they would under the influence of sobriety.
The Role of the Temporal Lobe
The temporal lobe contains the hippocampus, which aids efforts in long term memory. Additionally, the temporal lobe plays an important role in auditory processing, speech, and vision, leading one to realize why there are temporary changes in the coherency of speech, hearing, and vision when drugs have entered the blood stream.
Further Confusion Between Marijuana and HU-210
Despite these facts about the polarizing effects of these two substances, one stimulating growth while the other causing damage, the 58 comments attached to the New Scientist 2005 article come almost entirely from readers who agree with the good of marijuana. These readers include Yolanda L, who believes that marijuana should be legal "because of how much good it does," and RantMan, whose 699 word soliloquy quotes the book of Genesis, leading him to conclude that Jesus Christ "smoked fat joints."
More information and scans regarding brain damage can be found on the Amen Clinics' BrainPlace.com where a gallery compiled from more than 40,000 patients over nearly 30 years show detail regarding damage due to substance abuse (such as the photo presented in this article) and also images displaying activity.
Substance abuse is listed among the scans along with those from patients with exposure to toxins, and issues with suicide, worry, and rigidity.
Opposition to The Amen Clinics' Methods
Dr. Harriet Hall, a family practice physician, has written A Skeptical View of SPECT Scans and Dr. Daniel Amen for the website Quackwatch.com.
Dr. Hall makes strong arguments against Dr. Amen, but she has no experience with SPECT medicine and cites limited sources to back up her claims. The Amen Clinics, on the other hand, have compiled data from roughly 40,000 sources over nearly 30 years.
Dr. Hall's response to Dr. Amen's data is that she does believe that the patterns displayed in the scans can reflect the need for specific treatment, which is true in enough cases that the American Psychological Association (APA) concluded in their 2005 Council on Children, Adolescents and Their Families that "brain imaging to study psychiatric disorders is still considered a research tool."
In summary, a study of HU-210, not marijuana, which is chemically similar, but much less THC-potent, found some positive effects on rats' brains. Not only is it incorrect to apply the findings of the HU-210 study to marijuana, but it is reckless given that there is evidence from brain scans studied over three decades, though not without critics, that marijuana use causes brain damage in humans.
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