Brain on Weed: Damage or Adaptation?

Cannabis and Brain Health: The Real Story Appears Despite The Bias

Cannabis and Brain Health: Rethinking the new JAMA Psychiatry Study

Cannabis research always seems to be something of a maze, doesn’t it? One study says it’s a miracle for healing, another warns it’s the harbinger of doom for your brain.

Enter the latest from JAMA Psychiatry, a study that attempts to link cannabis use with reduced synaptic density—a measure of how well-connected your neurons are—and, in the same breath, this paper, like a magician showing the rabbit in one hand and the top hat in the other, ties reduced synaptic density to psychosis. The dots are left dangling, inviting readers to connect them in a way that casts cannabis as the villain (for those paying attention, this is par for the course for JAMA)

It’s a clever/sly move, but also deeply problematic. This narrative misses the forest for the trees, focusing on a narrow slice of data without considering the …