As cannabis continues to become more popular, researchers are looking into the various effects it could have on the human body. Specifically, they have started looking into how it affects the brain and neurons. Recently, in this past August, researchers performed a study that looked at cannabis’s effect on the white matter of the brain. They found that using cannabis didn’t affect the white matter, or nerve fibers, of the human brain. This potentially means that there is little worry to go along with the fear of its effect on the brain.

Study

For the study, the researchers from the universities of Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Melbourne recruited 39 daily cannabis consumers. Additionally, they recruited 28 participants who didn’t use the drug. All of the participants in the study were between 18 and 25. This was so that their brain structures could still be vulnerable to marijuana’s effects. Most of the cannabis-using participants met criteria for cannabis use disorder. However, the researchers didn’t describe this criteria in the article.

To minimize the factors on their brain matter, the researchers also screened the participants for these other factors, like cigarettes, alcohol, and psychoactive substances. They then scanned the participants’ brains with an MRI.

Results

The researchers found that the scans of the neural connections of the cannabis-using participants were very similar to the non-using control group. However, they did find that those participants who used cannabis at a younger age tended to have lower levels of density of their neurons. This means that they had fewer neurons in their brains, which reportedly results in lower intelligence. However, these levels were still close enough to the control group’s measurements to be considered acceptable.

Discussion

This study shows that cannabis use does not have an effect on the white matter of the human adult brains. This means, at least in this regard, it is safe to use. However, it also demonstrates the proof of a previous study that described how cannabis use thins the density of adolescent brains.

That said, because of these feared effects on those under the age of 18, many cannabis sellers agree that they should prevent minors access to it. However, even those adults that used cannabis while they were young were found to contain acceptable levels of neural density.

As such, researchers need to examine cannabis more to get a more definitive view of the effects on the human brain.

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