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The most persistent and grave negative side effect of smoking marijuana has been its link to psychosis for some young users. However, the link has continued to be very vague and varies wildly between studies. Because of this, lots and lots of studies continue to come out, hoping to bridge the gap more confidently.
A new one may have found what separates those at high risk and those not.
The answer comes from density of brain synapses.
A protein called SV2A tends to live around synaptic vesicles in the brain, so it can be used to defer how many synapses exist. Those more at risk of a psychotic break have less density of SV2A than those less at risk. To add onto this theory, the researchers have found that smoking marijuana reduces SV2A in the brain, and a previous study showed that there was less SV2A in the brains of people with cannabis use disorder.
“Cannabis appears to disrupt the brain’s natural process of refining and pruning synapses, which is essential for healthy brain development,” said Romina Mizrahi from McGill University.
So, if a young person has overall less density of the synapses in the brain, they should probably stay away from cannabis until they’re older.
That is, of course if this all turns out to be correct. There certainly seems to be a link, but the study itself was small (only 49 participants) and much more research needs to be done before anything conclusive can be stated.
So don’t go out and get your synaptic density reviewed just yet!
Check out the original article at Science Alert, and the study itself at JAMA Psychiatry.
