THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON DRUGS: NOT SO BAD AFTER ALL?

New Study Explores Possible Benefits Of Marijuana For Binge Drinkers

A controversial new study found that smoking marijuana may improve
brain functions.

Before you down that fifth shot of Jagermeister, you might want to
fire up a joint. Research shows that compared with alcohol, marijuana
causes less brain damage.

In a study completed at the University of California, San Diego, the
results of which were published in the current issue of the
scientific journal "Neurotoxicology and Teratology," researchers
examined the white brain matter of 42 teenage participants. The
participants were placed into three groups: those classified as binge
drinkers (defined in this case as males who consume five or more
drinks in one sitting and females who consume four or more), binge
drinkers who also smoked marijuana "regularly" and a control group of
those who neither drank nor smoked.

The binge drinkers displayed lower fractional anisotropy (FA) scores
­ indicating white brain matter damage ­ in all eight sections of the
brain than the control groups, whereas the second group (those who
also smoked marijuana) had lower FA scores than the control in only
three sections. Additionally, in a finding the researchers termed
"surprising," the second group had higher FA scores than the first in
seven of the brain sections.

So, how are the experts reacting to these findings? Mason Tvert,
co-author of "Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to
Drink?" and executive director of the marijuana legalization advocacy
group Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, sees validation in
the results.

I find it ironic that marijuana can actually protect you from
alcohol," he said. "It's just one more way in which marijuana is
safer than alcohol, and I hope this dispels the myth that marijuana
kills brain cells when it's actually protecting brain cells from
damage. Marijuana gives a temporary euphoric effect, whereas binge
drinking causes long-term permanent damage."

Tvert's message is apparently reaching the masses: "Marijuana is
Safer" climbed as high as No. 14 on Amazon.com's bestseller list
following the publication of the UC San Diego study.

In a press release, Tvert's "Marijuana is Safer" co-author, Steve Fox
(LA '90), who is also the director of state campaigns for the
advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project, defended his belief that the
use of marijuana is less harmful than that of alcohol.

This study suggests that not only is marijuana safer than alcohol, it
may actually protect against some of the damage that booze causes,"
Fox's press release read. "It's far better for teens not to drink or
smoke marijuana, but our nation's leaders sent a dangerous message by
defending laws that encourage the use of alcohol over marijuana."

However, the study doesn't quite live up to press reports heralding
the findings as a definitive sign of marijuana's benefits, according
to Dr. Klaus Miczek, director of the Behavioral Core of the
Neuroscience Research Center at the Tufts' Sackler School of
Biomedical Studies. Miczek isn't convinced of any causal link between
marijuana usage and a lesser degree of binge drinking-induced brain damage.

The imaging study represents a very preliminary study that correlates
imaging data with the diagnosis of binge drinking plus past marijuana
use," Miczek said. "It certainly does not present a causal
relationship. [The press] got carried away with this story."

Yet the study, regardless of its preliminary nature, does shed light
on an ongoing debate ­ one with potential implications for university
policy ­ over the safety and potential health benefits of marijuana,
particularly in the wake of the decriminalization of the substance in
the state of Massachusetts last November.

This kind of begs the question of why current college policies make
marijuana an equal or more of a serious offense than alcohol, which
drive people to drink, when they might otherwise make a safer choice
like marijuana," Tvert said. "This study should put off an alarm in
the heads of universities."

At Tufts, the current marijuana policy considers possession of the
drug as roughly equivalent to underage alcohol consumption, Dean of
Student Affairs Bruce Reitman said in an interview with the Daily last year.

Some students, perhaps predictably, are in favor of lessening the
severity of being caught with marijuana compared to alcohol.

As of now it's kind of hazy if there haven't been any conclusive
studies, but if it does have health benefits then it shouldn't be as
serious a thing as drinking," freshman Krishna Soni said.

Regardless of student opinion or the results of the recent study,
Director of Alcohol and Health Education Ian Wong doesn't foresee any
change in disciplinary policies regarding those found in possession
of the drug, at least for now.

Our policy is driven by federal, state and local law," Wong said.
"Regardless of what the study says, we have to uphold those. We are
bound by those rules."

For Wong, the addictive nature of marijuana is more important than
the legal status or potential health benefits of marijuana is its
addictive nature.

What I kind of look at more is the addictive part if it. If it really
is restorative, whatever, that's one thing. But what I see in
students who smoke marijuana is that they never really vandalize
things or do anything destructive like students who drink, but
they're failing their classes."

Though Wong said that alcohol is more addictive than marijuana, he
said that it is nonetheless a drug with potentially harmful side effects.

What people need to understand is that these are all drugs," Wong
said. "In some ways, alcohol is considered a 'good' drug, when heroin
and cocaine are 'bad' drugs. I don't know why we categorize them when
they all have some benefits, if you will, in some ways, and are all
damaging in others, including marijuana.

As for the issue of, 'If we let kids smoke marijuana, it's better
than drinking alcohol,' we have no comment on that. Until the
government says it's legal, marijuana is an illicit drug."

Still, Wong said that the school is "more lenient than the state"
when punishing marijuana possessors.

We aren't charging kids $100 [as per the state's fine for those
caught with an ounce or less of marijuana]. You get on Pro[bation]
One like everyone else."

If and when future scientific and medical testing demonstrates
marijuana as beneficial and the government responds in kind, the
school's administration will address the issue, according to Wong.

It's a very interesting question. What it comes down to is good
drugs, bad drugs, what people accept, what people don't accept. Times
are changing. This is a timely question," Wong said.