Smoking too much pot can impair memory and spatial recognition, according to new research.

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WEBVTT < If we're going to do something, lets do it right.> Republican legislator clel Baudler is doing an about face on medical marijuana in Iowa. < The change of heart I had is when I seen what happened to my caucus at the end of last year. I don't want them to run around in seven different directions> So to prevent more chaos and wasted time, baulder is proposing his own new legislation. It would allow for private production, transportation and distribution of medical marijuana oil. And he would task doctors at the university of Iowa to decide what kinds of disease it could be used to treat. < If you can show me that it helps, ill be 100 percent for it> < I don't believe it's a good idea to expand it here in Iowa...> Substance abuse counselor David Kaptain says expanding marijuana use is a slippery slope to bigger problems. Many states end up legalizing recreational use of the drug. And there's a worry. <ask anyone in treatment as an adult if marijuana is a gateway drug .ive made a point of asking that many times and people just laugh and they say yea absolutely it is> but Baulder promises that as long as he's in the legislature, recreational pot use will never be legal in Iowa. < If you want to come to me about smoking it, you might as well hit the highway, because it's not going to happen with my vote, any way shape or

Advertisement Regular marijuana use can slow blood flow to the brain, says new study Smoking too much pot can impair memory and spatial recognition, according to new research. Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Regular marijuana use may slow the blood flow to a user’s hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for memory, emotion and spatial recognition, a study from Dr. Daniel Amen’s clinic concluded last week. Researchers studied 26,268 patients from California, Washington, Virginia, New York and Georgia between 1995 and 2015, comparing the brain scans of one thousand marijuana users with non-users. “The most predictive region distinguishing marijuana users from healthy controls, the hippocampus, is a key target of Alzheimer’s disease pathology,” the research claimed. “This study raises the possibility of deleterious brain effects of marijuana use.” Amen Clinics use SPECT scans – single-photon emission computed tomography – imaging techniques that utilize gamma rays to take 3-D images of a patient’s brain. The scans recorded blood flow and activity patterns while patients completed tasks. The results were compared with 100 healthy controls. “The problem with marijuana is that it’s not selective. Not only does it calm the parts of the brain that are overactive, it calms the entire brain—long-term—through a slow and insidious process,” Amen Clinic researcher Dr. Kabran Chapek said in a press release in 2014. SPECT scans of the brains of regular marijuana users can be seen here. However, Zach Walsh, associate professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, told the Clinical Psychology Review that the drug could benefit patients with depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and social anxiety. “This is a substance that has potential use for mental health,” Walsh told the publication earlier this month. “We should be looking at it in the same way and be holding it up to the same standard.” Walsh and his colleagues examined all studies surrounding the substance and mental health. "There is currently not a lot of clear guidance on how mental health professionals can best work with people who are using cannabis for medical purposes," he explained. "With the end of prohibition, telling people to simply stop using may no longer be as feasible an option, so knowing how to consider cannabis in the treatment equation will become a necessity."