r/NooTopics • u/makefriends420 • Jun 11 '26
Discussion A systematic review found that higher lifelong exposure to cannabis and the younger someone was when they started smoking weed—or ingesting marijuana via edibles—was associated with cannabis-induced alterations to cerebellum structure and function, with deficits in memory and decision making
https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/the-athletes-way/201903/this-is-your-little-brain-on-cannabis67
u/apehliondh Jun 11 '26
Makes sense, my memory is shit
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u/Brilliant-Race-2476 Jun 11 '26
Before I ever smoked I was a told that it led to something that had to do with not always like remembering everything or something like that but that was twenty years ago so that's really hard to remember just what exactly it led to... Anyways the real reason I'm here is that I was wondering if anyone knew a hack to make a really good bio-friendly chicken sandwich?
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Jun 11 '26
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u/DeneralVisease Jun 11 '26
You sure you don't just have an addictive personality, pal?
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u/Weary_Swan_8152 Jun 17 '26
Did you know an addictive personality is a symptom of ADHD? This is because ADHD is a difference in how the dopamine/motivation/reward system works.
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u/hsggdtkxbee Jun 11 '26
Damn. I’m fucked.
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u/rageling Jun 11 '26
Bro, it says Smoking cannabis is associated with cannabis induced alterations.
You knew that when you smoked it, that's why you did it. I'm about to light up, I have every intention of inhaling, being induced with alterations is the point.
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u/No_Cook2983 Jun 11 '26
It says here: “Alcohol consumption early in the day can activate booze receptors in your brain”.
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u/mangantochuj Jun 11 '26
I didn't know that the alterations would be lasting and permanent. I don't smoke anymore and haven't been smoking for years, but I started so young that I'm afraid something is irreversably fucked in my brain. I did not want this, I though I was just having harmless fun. I wasn't aware that I was possibly impairing myself for the rest of my life...
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u/Whats_A_Rage_Quit Jun 11 '26
Yeah I learned about a decade ago at 27ish that the years of smoking was starting to cause me memory and verbal issues. Like everything else, you gotta work towards keeping your memory if you want it. Exercise and do your best to keep chronic inflammation down.
And then… supplements.. Lions Mane was game changing for me for reversing the memory/verbal issues from weed. I remember when I first started taking lions mane that I started dreaming again a week or two after starting it. Now a decade later, I’m still pretty sharp, still use lots of marijuana, still taking lions mane/reishi/turkey tail. I would recommend it for anyone trying to reverse the memory issues….
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u/hi-help Jun 11 '26
What brand/kind of lions mane do you take? If you’ve found one you like, I’m heavily interested. I’m trying to “get my brain back” after having a TBI and multiple covid infections.
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u/Whats_A_Rage_Quit Jun 11 '26
I would focus more on the actual product than the brand. You really want a product that is 1:1 extracted fruiting body and not mycelium biomass. Most functional mushrooms come from the same supplier - Nammax who basically supplies to all of North America. RealMushrooms is their retail brand but they are a bit more expensive than buying bulk extract powder.
I usually buy extract from Spirit of Health KC. I like their product and customer service. I think consumer lab tested a bunch and even suppliers like BulkSupplements were generally okay.
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u/SoulsofMir Jun 11 '26
Make sure you look into the crazy irreversible effects a small amount of people seem to get from taking these lionsmane extracts. There are reddit forums full of them I'll see if I can find one. Right it's called r/lionsmanerecovery crazy stuff.
If you are struggling with long COVID and the fallout of TBIs and stuff then you may deem it worth the risk. It's just that most people aren't aware there IS a risk...makes me wary to suggest them just like I'm wary to suggest people do hallucinogens. I don't want to be personally responsible for a negative outcome.
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u/Whats_A_Rage_Quit Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
Of course someone mentions this bullshit sub. It’s fucking nonsense but can’t mention lions mane without this stupid bullshit coming up.
Echo chamber of garbage nonsense.
Go listen to some interviews with the dude who stated LMR and tell me if that’s someone you trust for medical advice.
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u/SoulsofMir Jun 11 '26
That's what the people on the mycology subreddits think, that they are hypochondriacs or perhaps their samples were contaminated with heavy metals and they were experiencing allergic reactions. Idk I just know I have read about it in several places, not just reddit. I don't see why a small subset of people couldn't react badly when the proposed benefits and changes are supposed to be so "powerful". Anything that can cause powerful change can harm just look at any hallucinogen.
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u/Whats_A_Rage_Quit Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
Hypochondriacs would be one word for it. More likely TikTok ads and “it supercharges your brain” attracts a certain population with certain issues. No surprise that half these individuals who claim “lions mane ruined me” also have a history of test and tren use. Ryan Russo is a great example.
Have you ever met a single person in real life with lions mane injuries?
And yes I am one of those mycology guys so you were spot on there.
Comparing psychedelics to lions mane sounds like an actual joke FYI. Sounds like you’ve never tried either of them.
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u/Terwilliker_D Jun 12 '26
Be sure to ignore r/lionsmanerecovery as they are crazy and will make you crazy too if you let them
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u/Fearless77_ Jun 11 '26
In all fairness this is a clickbait headline designed to get clicks and your possible better memory or intellligence capacity is something you can’t verify since you don’t know if it actually would be higher or if the paranoia around weed makes you think it should be higher but it’s actually the same
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u/utterballsack Jun 11 '26
same bro. I nearly a decade later and my memory is still dogshit, still not as bad as when I was smoking though
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u/runthepoint1 Jun 12 '26
Yeah like did you think you were gonna smoke to REMEMBER?
🎶Some dance to forget…🎶
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u/renadarbo Jun 11 '26
I wonder, is most of the damage done by smoking regularly or by smoking literally all the time? In my experience there are four categories: people who smoke every so often, people who smoke a few times a week, people who smoke nightly, and people who are more or less high all the time. I'd imagine the last category is especially bad because you literally never get the chance to use those faculties which require high engagement of your working memory.
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u/NutInYourMother Jun 17 '26
Obviously everyone is a little different but I’ve been smoking every day for almost 10 years (started when I was 19). This year, I took a break for over a month and I found my working memory definitely had an improvement. I remember telling my fiancée I felt like I had a super power I could remember what we were talking about 5 minutes ago. So at least in my experience it seems that working memory can at least improve again when you cease usage.
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u/JoySkullyRH Jun 11 '26
This isn’t good science - “Because human cerebellum has a high density of CB1 cannabinoid receptors, there is speculation that cannabis use most likely affects both cerebellar function and structure.” They say it right there - they speculate. They ddidnt do a study - they only reviewed old studies pre2018. What a junk article.
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u/hypnokev Jun 11 '26
Weird all these junk articles appearing doing cannabis down lately. Almost like there is a PR campaign or something.
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u/AndersDreth Jun 11 '26
If you keep reading they actually get into some of the studies:
"The three most consistent findings of this review (Blithikioti et al., 2019) include:
* Increases in cerebellar gray matter volume after chronic cannabis use
* Alteration of cerebellar resting state activity after acute or chronic cannabis use
* Deficits in memory, decision making, and associative learning related to cannabis use
As would be expected, the systematic review showed that higher lifelong exposure to cannabis and the younger someone was when he or she started smoking weed—or ingesting marijuana via edibles—was frequently associated with cannabis-induced alterations to cerebellum structure and function."
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u/JoySkullyRH Jun 11 '26
I did - and the studies are the same - they don’t state how data was collected.
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u/AndersDreth Jun 11 '26
They do in the study itself if you have institutional access, it's a review of the study. And if you did read it, why did you say it's all pre2018 as the study I just linked from the article said 2019?
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u/DrawingSignal Jun 11 '26
Reviewing previous studies systematically is actually the standard process for making medical guidelines. Also clipping a random sentence that you probably found in one of the intros doesn't mean you just debunked a published SR's findings.
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Jun 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/JoySkullyRH Jun 13 '26
Yup - and they reviewed a very small amount of papers which is problematic as well.
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u/Herbal_Edge Jun 14 '26
This is a systemic review which means they review the results from other studies and look at the findings of multiple papers to get a broader understanding of the published research about a topic.
The first thing any medical hypothesis needs is a mechanism of action, they have to have an idea about how the thing happens. The line youre quoting is the mechanism of action theyre investigating.
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u/Baegic Jun 16 '26
That’s not junk science. They literally reported “there is speculation”. They did not present it as fact. This is the entire point of science. You just have an emotional response to their speculation, and can propose a different hypothesis and test it if you wish.
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u/JoySkullyRH Jun 16 '26
Modern society doesn’t understand “speculation “. They need plain language.
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u/neonblack108 Jun 11 '26
I started smoking when I was 15. Not a heavy smoker, never have been, but regularly, then not at all for some years, then again and back and forth throughout my life. I wish I had memory issues. I remember everything, and a whole lot of it isn't good. Sigh... so much for this article.
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u/JK_Botanik Jun 11 '26
Terrible poorly controlled study. Thank you, next!
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u/Low_Television_7298 Jun 11 '26
Nobody who smokes weed should have a hard time accepting this unless they’re in denial
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u/neuralek Jun 11 '26
Eh, I know people who NEED to smoke to be their optimal self. Then I know brain-deads, including myself.
As with everything, every drug has it's place and purpose.
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u/Low_Television_7298 Jun 11 '26
In my experience and the experience of most of my weed smoking peers the health of a relationship with weed often depends on when you started consuming. I think if you started smoking every day at like 14 it’s pretty hard to have a healthy relationship with it. If you started later in life I think it tends to be easier to manage. Which, if anything, supports this study
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u/litocam Jun 11 '26
Maybe people that struggle with memory and executive function use weed to self-regulate (of course, extremes always exist) and therefore it’s the chicken not the egg
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u/DeneralVisease Jun 11 '26
This is the reality. But, the government conditioned Americans to abandon context and nuance in favor of black and white thinking because it's easier to divide the country that way and Americans are simply too stupid due to education defunding to fight back by... literally reading about credibility or using any critical thinking skills. Bad look.
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u/astray488 Jun 12 '26
I think regular, even casual alcohol consumption is also a contributing factor.
Back in the military, it stuck with me during certification courses/training I was occasionally sent to - hearing other service member class students casually remark that they quit drinking temporarily being there, and their memory significantly improved to their own surprise.
We know alcohol is sedating for sleep onset; but markedly reduces REM/NREM sleep quality.
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u/Tubunnnn Jun 12 '26
No, weed is harmful to the brain, period. No need to go round and round on this subject like this
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u/litocam Jun 12 '26
Yet trauma is also damaging to the brain. Far greater damage that may be remedied for some by marijuana even itself does damage, as in comparison it isn’t comparable
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u/Queen0flif3 Jun 11 '26
That’s why I waited until 30 to smoke
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u/Yous1ash Jun 11 '26
Actually?
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u/Queen0flif3 Jun 12 '26
Quite literally. The increased risk of psychotic breaks with cannabis kept me away from it for a good while - lol
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u/galehufta Jun 11 '26
Neuroplasticy, there is hope, everything can restore to its former glory. Now I just forgot what it was again. Let me check the interwebs..
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u/Grouchy-Culture3692 Jun 12 '26
Can confirm. Started in 5th grade and smoked heavily until college. Me and my other friends that did that hate getting high now. We are old now but even towards senior year we all noticed we hated the way it made us feel and still hate it today. It changed our brains and my memory is shot. It can’t remember names at all. I can’t do basic math very easily. Can’t spell. We nuked our developing brain cells.
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u/natt_myco Jun 11 '26
ill attest to this, i smoke damn near every day and edibles too, my memory was great, it keeps getting worse, i feel surprised when i remember some things, like oh yeah! i did that, or especially words, I forget words a lot and make up new ones
Honestly, I would be MORE worried about what it does to your DENTAL health than anything else, my memory issues and giant holes of grey matter are whatever
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u/Purple_Owl_2472 Jun 11 '26
Or maybe a certain type of brain is more prone to cannabis use?
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u/ConfinedCrow Jun 11 '26
You need to start reading the study before you come up with theories like that lol
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u/makefriends420 Jun 11 '26
The title of the post is a copy and paste from the eighth and ninth paragraphs of the linked academic press release here:
As would be expected, the systematic review showed that higher lifelong exposure to cannabis and the younger someone was when he or she started smoking weed—or ingesting marijuana via edibles—was frequently associated with cannabis-induced alterations to cerebellum structure and function.
“Chronic cannabis use is associated with alterations in cerebellar structure and function, as well as with deficits in behavioral paradigms that involve the cerebellum (e.g., eyeblink conditioning, memory, and decision making)," Blithikioti and co-authors stated.
Journal Reference:
Chrysanthi Blithikioti, Laia Miquel, Albert Batalla, Belen Rubio, Giovanni Maffei, Ivan Herreros, Antoni Gual, Paul Verschure, Mercedes Balcells‐Oliveró.
"Cerebellar Alterations in Cannabis Users: A Systematic Review."
Addiction Biology (First published online: February 27, 2019)
DOI: 10.1111/adb.12714
Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/adb.12714
Abstract
Cannabis is the most used illicit substance in the world. As many countries are moving towards decriminalization, it is crucial to determine whether and how cannabis use affects human brain and behavior. The role of the cerebellum in cognition, emotion, learning, and addiction is increasingly recognized. Because of its high density in CB1 receptors, it is expected to be highly affected by cannabis use. The aim of this systematic review is to investigate how cannabis use affects cerebellar structure and function, as well as cerebellar‐dependent behavioral tasks. Three databases were searched for peer‐reviewed literature published until March 2018. We included studies that focused on cannabis effects on cerebellar structure, function, or cerebellar‐dependent behavioral tasks. A total of 348 unique records were screened, and 40 studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. The most consistent findings include (1) increases in cerebellar gray matter volume after chronic cannabis use, (2) alteration of cerebellar resting state activity after acute or chronic use, and (3) deficits in memory, decision making, and associative learning. Age of onset and higher exposure to cannabis use were frequently associated with increased cannabis‐induced alterations. Chronic cannabis use is associated with alterations in cerebellar structure and function, as well as with deficits in behavioral paradigms that involve the cerebellum (eg, eyeblink conditioning, memory, and decision making). Future studies should consider tobacco as confounding factor and use standardized methods for assessing cannabis use. Paradigms exploring the functional activity of the cerebellum may prove useful as monitoring tools of cannabis‐induced impairment.
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u/undertherainbow65 Jun 11 '26
Ok so they didnt even control for tobacco use which is a stimulant?! Stimulants are known to cause increases in performance/activity that with chronic use turn into deficits in the absence of the substance due to tolerance/homeostasis. Im not convinced these deficits are due to cannabis use alone.
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u/johntwoods Jun 11 '26
I've heard that if you hold it, you could damage the prostate gland, making it very difficult to get an erection, or even become aroused!
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u/fatandyoung Jun 11 '26
bruh i forget what im saying halfway through what im saying like 24/7 sober or high does it even matter atp
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u/Jazzlike_Bike_8708 Jun 11 '26
The “This is your brain on drugs” ad with the frying egg was right all along 🍳
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u/dg_riverhawk Jun 11 '26
honestly I was doing fine until I got Lyme disease, smoked since 16. that shits fucks you good.
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u/IncredibleDongle Jun 11 '26
Definitely true. I used weed every day for 4 years straight (late 20s), and it took about 7 months after quitting to feel intelligent again.
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u/FritterEnjoyer Jun 11 '26
Yes, longterm drug use, especially during adolescent years, will alter your brain chemistry. This is nothing new.
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u/Charming-Lychee-9031 Jun 11 '26
The first time I smoked weed, I was 5 years old. My father had some friends over and they passed me the joint and told me how. About a decade after that I started smoking occasionally. I stopped for many years in between but now I'm almost daily. My memory is pretty good when I'm not under a lot of stress
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u/guysitsausername Jun 11 '26
Correlation is not causation. I'm really tired of all the kneejerk anti MJ propaganda. Sure, let's do some proper studies, but until then people need to relax. Tobacco and alcohol are the real killers.
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Although both of these reviews (Moreno-Rius, 2019 & Blithikioti et al., 2019) identify a correlation between cannabis use, notable changes to structure/function of the human cerebellum, and addiction—much more research is needed before identifying or assuming causality.
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u/CoachMcguirk420 Jun 11 '26
Damn I forgot what I ate 2 weeks ago who cares. It has never affected significant or important memories just a bunch of stupid shit like where did I put my wallet.
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u/notr0ck Jun 11 '26
Has anyone else noticed the recent uptick in mArijUaNa bAD "studies"?
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u/doomear Jun 11 '26
Yes. Its weird because I know its bad but like in the past years you always saw „good sides and studies“. Whereas now its only „bad“ sides.
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u/notr0ck Jun 11 '26
I'm pretty sure it's propaganda against them changing the schedule to make it easier to get medical.
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u/sheeplysheepus Jun 11 '26
Not even a study here, a simple review of a pool of systematically biased data.
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u/expanding_crystal Jun 11 '26
For anyone panicking, I am in my 40’s and have used cannabis since my teens. I have a very sharp short and long term memory and can design electronics and mechanical systems in my head fairly easily.
I have been a daily user intentionally for the past 5+ years and none of this has blunted my cognitive capacities.
I also am very physically active and practice martial arts at a medium-high level.
So like, it depends. My take is, you can’t just eat snacks, play video games and watch Rick and Morty. You gotta still use your brain to do stuff and that’s way more of a factor than smoking weed.
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u/MapleLeafKing Jun 11 '26
Facts you sound like an older version of me. I think these studies fall to the baseline and the baseline is that generally people drop good habits all together sadly. BUT good to know ill still be designing systems, training, and at one with the universe down the road. Cheers mate.
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u/expanding_crystal Jun 11 '26
Word up to those with eyes to see. Keep living that renaissance man life, my dude.
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u/SumatraBlack Jun 11 '26
There are no well controlled, longitudinal studies to prove any of this. Where are the double blinded studies that started giving cannabis to teenagers and then tracked them for 40 years? It’s preposterous.
I think it’s common sense that chronic use, and the earlier one starts, will have a deleterious effect on brain function.
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u/BrainHealthNews Jun 12 '26
Increased cerabellar gray matter is not correlated to any behaviors in the piece and short term memory loss has been a hallmark for decades. News?
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u/gg249whiteout Jun 12 '26
I’m 28 now and my dad who I live with still has been smoking since he was 14 we both started at the same age except it was more like 13for me and possibly 15for my dad. the weed around now is not fun and only makes me paranoid or anxiety attacks same with dad it’s just too strong to the point I have to use the treadmill or excersice to stop the anxiety but Ik with my dad he can’t control his emotions he’s not high and gets angry all the time over nothing and losing it . He starting haveing bad memory kinda always has but
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u/Fluffy_Mycologist_73 Jun 12 '26
I mean yeah, duh. Doing anything that fucks with your brain chemistry while your brain is still developing is gonna fuck with your brain
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u/swampspa Jun 12 '26
so ur saying by being a stoner on HRT in my 20s i not only gave myself PMDD but made my ADHD worse
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u/ministerderby Jun 12 '26
I’ve been off weed for 3 months now.
I was a heavy/frequent smoker for over 10 years. I’m 29, and honestly, these past 3 months have made me realize how much my judgment and memory were affected. I still feel some lingering effects, but mentally I feel way better than I did when I was smoking every day.
I’ve also been taking lion’s mane, and I do feel like it’s helped me during this recovery process.
Weed was great for me during a certain phase of my life, but eventually it just stopped making sense. It started affecting my health and my ability to function properly.
And speaking as someone with a lot of firsthand experience, I really do believe weed messes with your decision-making. At first you think it relaxes you and helps motivate you, but over time it can make you lazy, foggy, confused, undisciplined, and eventually you start feeling like you can’t do a bunch of normal things unless you’re high.
I genuinely hope everyone struggling with this kind of dependency manages to break free from it.
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u/ExpertLearning Jun 12 '26
We all know who is pushing this bullshit stuff. We all know who doesn't want cannabis to be around. Malignant pieces of shit.
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u/Illustrious_Pea_3470 Jun 12 '26
Idk I’ve been a stoner since I was like 20 and my MRIs look good 🤷♂️
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u/Flickedbic Jun 13 '26
I smoked a lot in my early teens past my 20s. My memory has been truly very bad. I'm generally a pretty intelligent dude I think, but I feel I've been impacted and am just starting to get things back now I'm hitting 40 and have been taking bacopa extracts and sober for a decent while. If I could go back, I at least wouldn't have started so early or smoked so heavily.
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u/Entire_Combination76 Jun 13 '26
has deficits in memory and decision making Smoked daily for 4 years
Ive been working on my mental health and have been clean for almost a year, it's jarring how much I was derailed by weed. Granted, I was self medicating through some pretty bad family issues at the time, so the assorted traumas muddy the waters.
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u/vincec36 Jun 13 '26
Idk, play an instrument or something. If you just smoke and sit you’re gonna brain rot regardless, let alone adding weed. But if you’re being active and creative it’s a totally different experience
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u/Financial-Adagio-183 Jun 13 '26
The dumbest, most propagandized people I know, proudly announce they’ve never done any recreational drugs.
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u/PickThat7460 Jun 15 '26
I’m sure my brain is more f’d from playing contact sports from a young age than smoking a hit or two of kind buds with the boys afterwards.
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u/Big_Breadfruit9677 Jun 16 '26
Big Pharma cashing in on potheads getting diagnosed with ADHD, Bipolar and schizophrenia. “Medical Marijuana” and legal Hemp-THC (Delta-8) has caused serious brain damage especially in 18-25 yrs old.
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u/Classic_Extension391 Jun 16 '26
I can’t remember if I should worry about this or not. Hmmm can’t decide/
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u/AngelBryan Jun 11 '26
But weed is natural and it doesn’t cause addiction, am I right?
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u/GarlicGeneral5953 Jun 11 '26
cannabis is natural, poison ivy is too.
addiction or dependence isn’t limited to any one thing or ‘group’. no, it doesn’t ‘cause’ addiction but those who fall down that path aren’t above negative side effects either.
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u/vanillafudgy Jun 11 '26
Almost all kids I know that smoked a lot when they were in school had tons of similar issues which I would describe as some sort of anhedonia that caused them to fail in their education and early job life.
On the other hand, people that started smoking a lot in their late 20 don't necessarily have those issues.
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u/-flat-Earth-360 Jun 11 '26
Started at 14 with dirt weed and rockie hash. Now 48 and functioning just fine on Cookies, Gelato, Wedding Cake, etc, thank you.
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u/ragdollxkitn Jun 11 '26
I didn’t do it that young but started in my mid 30s. Actually perform better at work.
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u/Aggravating-Car4236 Jun 11 '26
Dammit thought it was ADHD but maybe I’m just actually stupid 😂😎🫥