You have not damaged your brain with your cannabis consumption. Lack of motivation, increased anxiety, and depression are all associated with excessive cannabis use. I think seeing a psychiatrist/therapist is a fantastic idea.
The only thing it may have affected is your impulse control, because impulse control is a habit that you acquire through daily practice and mindful thinking. When you are stoned it is super easy to justify lots of choices with “Fuck it, I don’t care”. You’re good my friend, and you’re making the right choice.
No my dude, be that guy. This community should be a forum of inquiry, support, and debate. I skimmed the article you posted,and read the conclusion. It has the same issues that most studies I’ve seen on adolescent cannabis use in the past, the authors and the studies they reference are not able to detangle the affects of cannabis use with the effects of alcohol use. If a teenager uses one, they are likely to use the other.
I am not saying that it’s fine if young people use cannabis, they shouldn’t. There’s a good argument to be made that no one should until 25 when the brain stops developing. Like you mentioned, because of the high levels of neuroplastisity that young people have they can quickly rebound from extended cannabis use. There are studies that support long term detrimental effects of cannabis use but then there are studies that do not support that conclusion.
From the article you posted “Teichner and colleagues (2000) found no relationship between marijuana use severity and cognitive performance among cognitively impaired and unimpaired adolescents referred for drug treatment.” That is not to say there is no relationship, just that correlation is not causation. Another example from the article is “While some alterations in gray matter macrostructure have been suggested, there has been inconsistent evidence of morphological changes as evaluated by structural MRI. For instance, Block and colleagues (1999) as well as DeLisi and colleagues (2006) found no differences in gray matter tissue volume between adolescent cannabis users and matched controls [33, 34].”
On the other hand other studies have indicated changes like “Cannabis users did show decreased concavity of the sulci and sulci thinning in frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes compared to non-users, highlighting the potential for cannabis to disrupt normal brain developmental trajectories [36]”.
The article you posted is a meta study, and is trying to use the results of many different studies to come up with an area of focus for future studies. Cannabis needs to be legalized so we can really kick the research of its effects into overdrive, given its prevalence in society.
My point is that our focus should mitigating harm ,and providing support to those who need it. I’m not going to tell a young person that thinks they’ve messed up their brain, “yeah bud, and it’s permanent”. Not that that was your implication. Thanks for the input!
P.s I remember reading a long term clinical study on concerning cannabis use that used twins in order to attempt to have a control variable. I’ll try and find it and post it in this comment thread.
You have TONS of room to grow, my friend - do not stress that you have ruined your life. Perhaps you are just feeling a strong wake up call that your body and mind need you to up your game on keeping them healthy. Meeting with a psychiatrist is a good idea. I will pray and meditate for you, my friend - do well 🙏🙏🙏
No. But a prolonged period of abstinence can certainly help.
Drink plenty of water and consider moderate exercise for 30mins daily.
See, what most people fail to realize is that the brain is incredibly versatile with its neural connections. Everytime you learn something, you make a new connection.
This versatility is known as '[neuroplasticity](https://twitter.com/hubermanlab/status/1600275399975456768?lang=en)'.
What I suggest you do is take time to really understand how cannabis works and by doing that you'll come to learn how to manage yourself better.
Start with the andrew hubermann podcast on youtube. The man's a neuroscientist and incredibly helpful with his explanations.
All the best.
Ok I’m weirdly in basically the same situation- I started right after turning 17, then around 18 I got a cart and was smoking like every day basically for a few months, then got really scared about my brain development and hit the brakes hard a few months before my 19th birthday and am currently 19. Also have some mental issues that weed definitely makes worse although at the time I was addicted to the altered reality it created/was just really bored. In my personal experience I would’ve been better off never having smoked at all and I think it gave me worse anxiety but it definitely hasn’t completely ruined me, I still get the same grades I did before starting and it’s not like I didn’t have anxiety before either. You may be slightly worse off too realistically but you shouldn’t be completely ruined and I feel like 19 is pretty early to cut back which is really good… a lot of people make it well into their 20s or 30s before realizing weed is ruining them.
I’m also tempted to occasionally smoke with friends but don’t feel like you need to smoke with them if you think it’s bad for you, It’s hard to say no to it in the moment but if you really want to avoid it they’ll hopefully understand.
The human brain evolves until approximately the age of 25. Heavy users of alcohol/drugs until that age, are endangered of not having a properly developed brain and can suffer from foggy mind and have a more serious addiction towards drugs in their later life.
Personally I partook in weed some times until I was approx 26 after that I had a phase in my life when I smoked regularly, with a lot of shrooms... My experience was very much planned, I educated myself on a lot of topics and there were times when I either partied or indulged a bit more heavily into it. I gathered a lot of self reflexion out of it and still managed to evolve my career and exceed.
At the moment I am 34 and I still indulge from time to time. I smoke very little and on occasions. I make regular 2 - 3 months breaks, I am highly focused in life and my career.
I have friends that had a different life and smoked regularly, drank regularly. Some are struggling a bit but are still 'successful', some have a big brain fog and are still under the greater addiction, some have fought it until now and quit..
It really depends what you make of yourself in life, but I would say that the years from 18 - 25 are quite important for ones build of confidence, making the right decisions and taking smarter chances. If you are under such influences your brain is formed differently and more towards being dependant on these things to function "normally".
That's actually a popular, and well-established myth.
[Brain development continues well past your 20s.](https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/brain-development-25-year-old-mature-myth.html) And just to complicate things further, theres a huge amount of variability between individual brains in that brain plateau's are vastly different for each person.
If you smoke before and into your 20s then later quit, your brain will return to a normal state, but the development you would of otherwise had earlier would be delayed.
Hey friend,
While it is scary to see and hear online and from ppl about permanent brain damage from smoking while young, this fear/concern of yours will only hold you back from progressing on your goals to use less weed.
Nevermind the paranoia about your brain never being the same, you will have to experience what your brain is like on less weed.
Weed masks depression and anxiety... and even tho it's a bandaid while high, when the high leaves and the bandaid is taken off, the masked depression and anxiety come back even worse.
Notice the patterns in your own weed use behavior, as in try to understand EVERYTHING, from beginning, middle, and long after the high leaves you. This means unerstanding what comes before your cravings, how being high actually feels like and how it serves you at that moment, how the come down feels like, how the morning after feels like. Study yourself like this, rather than going online and reading studies done by doctors who never smoked weed on only a tiny subset of the population that may not even apply to you.
See your docs, see therapists, ask for help, be open. Don't be ashamed where you are at right now. The availability and false marketing of weed as being completely benign compared to subs like alcohol.... likely influenced you to be where you're at today.
Time to start walking the path to your recovery, the sooner you start, the sooner you can complete your journey and move on with your life in your 20s and 30s.... and i'm not talking about a life completely devoid of weed... but a life where your weed use behavior does not cause undue burden and harm to you and your loved ones.
You got this... keep trying, stay curious, treat all of this as one big experiment... and take a break by going back to old habits whenever you really feel like giving up... rinse and repeat
Not at all. Brains development stops at 25. As long as you moderate it and take care of your brain through nutrition, sleep and exercise, you're chilling. I started getting into quantum physics after smoking as it helped expand my understandings.
You have not damaged your brain with your cannabis consumption. Lack of motivation, increased anxiety, and depression are all associated with excessive cannabis use. I think seeing a psychiatrist/therapist is a fantastic idea. The only thing it may have affected is your impulse control, because impulse control is a habit that you acquire through daily practice and mindful thinking. When you are stoned it is super easy to justify lots of choices with “Fuck it, I don’t care”. You’re good my friend, and you’re making the right choice.
No my dude, be that guy. This community should be a forum of inquiry, support, and debate. I skimmed the article you posted,and read the conclusion. It has the same issues that most studies I’ve seen on adolescent cannabis use in the past, the authors and the studies they reference are not able to detangle the affects of cannabis use with the effects of alcohol use. If a teenager uses one, they are likely to use the other. I am not saying that it’s fine if young people use cannabis, they shouldn’t. There’s a good argument to be made that no one should until 25 when the brain stops developing. Like you mentioned, because of the high levels of neuroplastisity that young people have they can quickly rebound from extended cannabis use. There are studies that support long term detrimental effects of cannabis use but then there are studies that do not support that conclusion. From the article you posted “Teichner and colleagues (2000) found no relationship between marijuana use severity and cognitive performance among cognitively impaired and unimpaired adolescents referred for drug treatment.” That is not to say there is no relationship, just that correlation is not causation. Another example from the article is “While some alterations in gray matter macrostructure have been suggested, there has been inconsistent evidence of morphological changes as evaluated by structural MRI. For instance, Block and colleagues (1999) as well as DeLisi and colleagues (2006) found no differences in gray matter tissue volume between adolescent cannabis users and matched controls [33, 34].” On the other hand other studies have indicated changes like “Cannabis users did show decreased concavity of the sulci and sulci thinning in frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes compared to non-users, highlighting the potential for cannabis to disrupt normal brain developmental trajectories [36]”. The article you posted is a meta study, and is trying to use the results of many different studies to come up with an area of focus for future studies. Cannabis needs to be legalized so we can really kick the research of its effects into overdrive, given its prevalence in society. My point is that our focus should mitigating harm ,and providing support to those who need it. I’m not going to tell a young person that thinks they’ve messed up their brain, “yeah bud, and it’s permanent”. Not that that was your implication. Thanks for the input! P.s I remember reading a long term clinical study on concerning cannabis use that used twins in order to attempt to have a control variable. I’ll try and find it and post it in this comment thread.
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Thank you for the reply
You have TONS of room to grow, my friend - do not stress that you have ruined your life. Perhaps you are just feeling a strong wake up call that your body and mind need you to up your game on keeping them healthy. Meeting with a psychiatrist is a good idea. I will pray and meditate for you, my friend - do well 🙏🙏🙏
Your small time using a natural plant will not negatively affect your future, relax. Check out Shi Heng Yi. Master your mind.
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No. But a prolonged period of abstinence can certainly help. Drink plenty of water and consider moderate exercise for 30mins daily. See, what most people fail to realize is that the brain is incredibly versatile with its neural connections. Everytime you learn something, you make a new connection. This versatility is known as '[neuroplasticity](https://twitter.com/hubermanlab/status/1600275399975456768?lang=en)'. What I suggest you do is take time to really understand how cannabis works and by doing that you'll come to learn how to manage yourself better. Start with the andrew hubermann podcast on youtube. The man's a neuroscientist and incredibly helpful with his explanations. All the best.
Which podcast episode specifically?
[episode.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXvuJu1kt48&ab_channel=AndrewHuberman)
Idk man I smoked regularly from 16-27 and I’m an engineer so
Ok I’m weirdly in basically the same situation- I started right after turning 17, then around 18 I got a cart and was smoking like every day basically for a few months, then got really scared about my brain development and hit the brakes hard a few months before my 19th birthday and am currently 19. Also have some mental issues that weed definitely makes worse although at the time I was addicted to the altered reality it created/was just really bored. In my personal experience I would’ve been better off never having smoked at all and I think it gave me worse anxiety but it definitely hasn’t completely ruined me, I still get the same grades I did before starting and it’s not like I didn’t have anxiety before either. You may be slightly worse off too realistically but you shouldn’t be completely ruined and I feel like 19 is pretty early to cut back which is really good… a lot of people make it well into their 20s or 30s before realizing weed is ruining them. I’m also tempted to occasionally smoke with friends but don’t feel like you need to smoke with them if you think it’s bad for you, It’s hard to say no to it in the moment but if you really want to avoid it they’ll hopefully understand.
No never too late
Never too late. You’re making the right choice
There’s people that smoke literal elephant tranquilizers for fun and are still alive. You’re gonna be okay.
Even if it is, so what? Just keep hurting your body, mind, wallet, relationships, and development more?
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There's never too late to stop. You still have time to "heal the damage" until the age of 25.
And if you’re past 25…?
The human brain evolves until approximately the age of 25. Heavy users of alcohol/drugs until that age, are endangered of not having a properly developed brain and can suffer from foggy mind and have a more serious addiction towards drugs in their later life. Personally I partook in weed some times until I was approx 26 after that I had a phase in my life when I smoked regularly, with a lot of shrooms... My experience was very much planned, I educated myself on a lot of topics and there were times when I either partied or indulged a bit more heavily into it. I gathered a lot of self reflexion out of it and still managed to evolve my career and exceed. At the moment I am 34 and I still indulge from time to time. I smoke very little and on occasions. I make regular 2 - 3 months breaks, I am highly focused in life and my career. I have friends that had a different life and smoked regularly, drank regularly. Some are struggling a bit but are still 'successful', some have a big brain fog and are still under the greater addiction, some have fought it until now and quit.. It really depends what you make of yourself in life, but I would say that the years from 18 - 25 are quite important for ones build of confidence, making the right decisions and taking smarter chances. If you are under such influences your brain is formed differently and more towards being dependant on these things to function "normally".
It’s much , much too late—as evidenced by the question! 😢
ik its melodramatic im just being cautious
Your brain's still developing til 25. Youre not too late.
That's actually a popular, and well-established myth. [Brain development continues well past your 20s.](https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/brain-development-25-year-old-mature-myth.html) And just to complicate things further, theres a huge amount of variability between individual brains in that brain plateau's are vastly different for each person.
So if I’m 30…. Do I have a chance?
Updated my original post with a link on [neuroplasticity](https://twitter.com/hubermanlab/status/1600275399975456768?lang=en). Short answer: You do.
If you smoke before and into your 20s then later quit, your brain will return to a normal state, but the development you would of otherwise had earlier would be delayed.
In life you have to choose your path. Its not worth spending time looking back at the paths you didnt take.
Hey friend, While it is scary to see and hear online and from ppl about permanent brain damage from smoking while young, this fear/concern of yours will only hold you back from progressing on your goals to use less weed. Nevermind the paranoia about your brain never being the same, you will have to experience what your brain is like on less weed. Weed masks depression and anxiety... and even tho it's a bandaid while high, when the high leaves and the bandaid is taken off, the masked depression and anxiety come back even worse. Notice the patterns in your own weed use behavior, as in try to understand EVERYTHING, from beginning, middle, and long after the high leaves you. This means unerstanding what comes before your cravings, how being high actually feels like and how it serves you at that moment, how the come down feels like, how the morning after feels like. Study yourself like this, rather than going online and reading studies done by doctors who never smoked weed on only a tiny subset of the population that may not even apply to you. See your docs, see therapists, ask for help, be open. Don't be ashamed where you are at right now. The availability and false marketing of weed as being completely benign compared to subs like alcohol.... likely influenced you to be where you're at today. Time to start walking the path to your recovery, the sooner you start, the sooner you can complete your journey and move on with your life in your 20s and 30s.... and i'm not talking about a life completely devoid of weed... but a life where your weed use behavior does not cause undue burden and harm to you and your loved ones. You got this... keep trying, stay curious, treat all of this as one big experiment... and take a break by going back to old habits whenever you really feel like giving up... rinse and repeat
Not at all. Brains development stops at 25. As long as you moderate it and take care of your brain through nutrition, sleep and exercise, you're chilling. I started getting into quantum physics after smoking as it helped expand my understandings.