Heavy Pot Smoking Might Raise Schizophrenia Risk

Heavy marijuana use may increase the risk of schizophrenia in adolescents predisposed to the brain disorder, according to a new U.S. study. Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City used a brain imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to study the brains of 12 younger and 12 older healthy male adolescents; 11 adolescents with schizophrenia and 17 matched controls; 15 adolescent schizophrenia patients who smoked marijuana and 17 matched controls; and 15 marijuana smokers and 15 non-drug users. They found repeated marijuana use to be associated with abnormalities in the development of a specific language/auditory pathway in the brain.

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