The once shy and mellow marijuana plant has been thrust center stage of America’s political arena in the ever-polarizing legalization debate. Everyone and their grandmother is in possession of an opinion; however, the cold hard scientific research with regards to marijuana’s health implications is lacking in comparison to other commonly known recreational drugs. Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are looking to change that reality.
In a recent study published in Neuropsychopharmacology, scientists found that, at least in rats, adolescent exposure to THC (tetrahydocannbinol) negatively affects future generations of rats who have never themselves been exposed to the compound.
The research team, lead by Yasmin Hurd, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, found that the progeny of rats exposed to THC exhibited a variety of negative behavioral and physiological phenotypes. These include an abnormally high drive to self-administer heroin via lever-pressing and neurological damage, specifically in the glutamatergic pathway.
THC, the main psychoactive component in marijuana, is a cannabinoid, which is a set of chemical compounds that bind to specific receptors in the central nervous system by mimicking a naturally occurring neurotransmitter known as anandamide. Like opiates, cannabinoids interact with receptors associated with certain pain and pleasure pathways in the brain. Cannabis is a fast acting drug and begins to flood the brain just seconds after the first inhalation.
The glutamatergic system is an incredibly important excitatory pathway involved with synaptic plasticity. Synapses are the junctions between neurons and plasticity refers to the ability of those junctions to form and degrade over time depending on usage. Damage to this pathway, as witnessed in the progeny of parental generation rats who were exposed to THC is generally linked with problems in habit formation and motivation. In the specific case of this study, affected rats possessed a vulnerability for addiction.
In the study, researchers exposed adolescent rats to 1.5 mg/kg of THC, which is about the equivalent dosage found in one joint for humans. Once these rats reached reproductive maturity, they were mated. Scientists then studied the behavior and pathology of the offspring. If replicated in future studies, the differences enumerated above could be potentially eye-opening for marijuana users and lawmakers alike.
The results of this study are mildly reminiscent of the 1980s “crack baby” scare when media outlets exploited preliminary studies discussing potentially severe emotional, mental and physiological effects that prenatal cocaine use had on the fetus. Growing fear of a burdensome generation of a “biological underclass” created a largely unfounded emotional turmoil throughout the United States. However, further research into the area uncovered the much more fortunate reality and found that the hype was overstated. Many children whose parents self-administered cocaine turned out developmentally normal in most cases although prenatal cocaine exposure is still associated with premature birth and a variety of birth defects.
On the other hand, fetal alcohol syndrome is a well documented condition that results from alcohol consumption by the mother during pregnancy. Such children tend to be born with a variety of mental disabilities and deficits ranging from attention disorders to impulse control, poor memory function and addiction vulnerabilities. They also tend to exhibit abnormal facial feature development including smaller lips and eye openings. In either case, it seems rational to consider the future livelihoods of one’s own children before consuming recreational substances, regardless of how great or small the possibility of imparting harm may be.
Hurd expresses an undertone of concern with respect to the generally blaisé attitude towards recreational pot-smoking that pervades current American culture. The current literature is just not robust enough to draw concrete conclusions although more and more studies leaning towards the negative effects of recreational use are starting to spring up.
It is commonly known that cannabis poses special harm to the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems in the body. Marijuana smoke is a lung irritant and frequent inhalers exhibit many of the same problems that plague tobacco smokers such as increases in pulmonary infections, coughing and phlegm production. Smoking pot also increases heart rate up to one hundred percent for several hours after the first inhalation. Such drastic physiological effects can increase the risk of heart attack up to five fold, especially in older persons.
Prescribed marijuana for pain management has gained traction in many states although the assumption that it is without side effects is a myth. However, most proponents of such usage argue that in comparison to the side effects of many other medications, the benefits outweigh the costs. In the end, it seems obvious to assume that anything that enters the body will affect the body. All living creatures are programmed to utilize the resources it is presented with regardless of whether or not they may be potent. More information about marijuana can be found on the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s website.
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