Study Shows Drug-Addicted Individuals May Have Less Brain Matter

You're probably familiar with the famous 1980s commercial "This Is Your Brain On Drugs," in which a Partnership For Drug Free America compares your brain under the influence to a sizzling egg in a frying pan.

If a new study from the Department of Energy's Brookhaven Natural Laboratory is any indication, the PSA-turned-pop culture phenomenon might not be too far from the truth. Research released this week suggests that people addicted to certain types of drugs might actually have lower density in crucial parts of their brain.

PsyPost reports:

This and previous studies have shown that cocaine-addicted individuals, relative to non-addicted individuals, have lower gray matter density in frontal parts of the brain - which is important for paying attention and organizing one's own behavior - and in the hippocampus, a brain region important for learning and memory.

But it doesn't stop at cocaine. The study revealed that persistent alcohol or cigarette consumption may have a similar effect, as PsyPost explains:

The longer cocaine, alcohol, and cigarettes were abused, the lower gray matter was found in the hippocampus and frontal regions of the brain. This result means that curtailing drug use may be protective against such brain changes.

The study did not test the effects of other substances. It did, however, clarify that genetic makeup may predispose certain individuals to lose brain matter over others.

Comments

[Mark Ellsworth]

02:59 PM on 05/01/2011

Like being on Facebook four hours a day, that's not a problem? Right?

[AnnainLA]

05:52 PM on 03/15/2011

Antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs also damage the brain .

[BeautyAmerican]

11:04 PM on 03/14/2011

Your hard-earned taxes funded this study in order to point out the obvious. Conclusive proof that chemicals eat your brain.WTG, Department of Energy!

[fumes]

11:09 AM on 03/14/2011

“Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.”
- William F. Buckley Jr.

[aFtersootdamP]

03:47 AM on 03/14/2011

liberals are concrete proof of this phenomenon.

[p c r]

10:59 PM on 03/14/2011

I am liberal, have never smoked pot nor used cocaine. In fact, I've never used illegal drugs at all. Most of my friends who are liberal have never used drugs. In fact, the only 3 friends of mine who have used drugs other than some experimenting decades ago in college are staunch Republicans.
Don't generalize.

[fumes]

02:32 AM on 03/14/2011

wanna bigger brain?

smoke pot:

"Scientists from Ohio State University report that marijuana, contrary to the conventional wisdom, may help ward off Alzheimer's and keep recall sharp. Their findings, released today at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington D.C.: chemical components of marijuana reduce inflammation and stimulate the production of new brain cells, thereby enhancing memory."
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=pot-joins-the-fight-against-alzheim-2008-11-19

[aFtersootdamP]

03:48 AM on 03/14/2011

Is that why all the big brain dems forgot to vote in November? Or were they too busy buying munchies?

[fumes]

09:15 AM on 03/14/2011

you'd be surprised..

how little time it takes..

to go to the store.

[Yoda103]

01:44 AM on 03/14/2011

What a waste of resources. All drug users are stupid.

[TheExcaliber]

02:03 AM on 03/14/2011

I read not to long ago there was a study that said people with higher intelligence are more likely to use drugs :P

[fumes]

02:18 AM on 03/14/2011

THREE PRESIDENTS ..

and TWO WISE GUYS..

say LEGALIZE:

"Hemp is of first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country."
~ Thomas Jefferson

"Make the most you can of the Indian Hemp seed and sow it everywhere."
~ George Washington

"Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marihuana in private for personal use... Therefore, I support legislation amending Federal law to eliminate all Federal criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marihuana."
~ Jimmy Carter

"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this."
~ Albert Einstein

"The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world." ~Carl Sagan
http://www.veryimportantpotheads.com/

[rodjard]

01:40 AM on 03/14/2011

Doing drugs is an indication that you are
already opperating with a shrunken brain.

[Sol76]

01:45 AM on 03/14/2011

Making generalisations about the intelligence of people who take drugs is an indication that you are operating with enlarged testicles.

[fumes]

02:15 AM on 03/14/2011

at a guess..

Carl Sagan's brain was bigger than yours..

and he was an advocate of Cannabis:

''Through the years I find that slightly smaller amounts of cannabis suffice to produce the same degree of high, and in one movie theater recently I found I could get high just by inhaling the cannabis smoke which permeated the theater.

There is a very nice self-titering aspect to cannabis. Each puff is a very small dose; the time lag between inhaling a puff and sensing its effect is small; and there is no desire for more after the high is there. The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world." ~Carl Sagan
http://www.veryimportantpotheads.com/

[Sol76]

01:39 AM on 03/14/2011

I choose quality over quantity.

[oxjr]

01:05 AM on 03/14/2011

Does it grow back? I am an addiction survivor and I find that I am fully healed but now I am worried...

[TheExcaliber]

12:26 AM on 03/14/2011

Correlation does not always equal causation :D Perhaps people with less gray matter in their brain are more likely to become addicts???

[Mikeeee]

01:07 AM on 03/14/2011

That was just another cheap shot at rush, wasn't it?

[TheExcaliber]

01:20 AM on 03/14/2011

is it really a cheap shot considering he said that everyone that smokes pot should be shot in the head? funny comment though lol

[AnnainLA]

05:55 PM on 03/15/2011

Controlled studies have been done on the effects of psychiatic and street drugs on animals and they show significant brain damage with use of amphetamines , cocaine and psychiatric drugs.

[UpBone]

12:19 AM on 03/14/2011

Political Speeches will also shrink your brain.

[Ngonyama]

11:34 PM on 03/13/2011

It explains a lot.

About a lot of people.

[Dooner P Jenkins]

10:42 PM on 03/13/2011

It gets smaller because you trim the excess. Streamline, see?

[Rynox]

10:37 PM on 03/13/2011

So doing any drug will shrink your brain? WOW! HOLY SH... oh... cocaine, alcohol, and cigarettes... no mention of marijuana, aspirin, viagra, angeldust, or any of the millions of other drugs... which means we might have a poorly-written headline, folks.

[Sol76]

02:36 AM on 03/14/2011

To quote Roxy Music,

"Love is the drug,
Oh, Oh Can't you see?
Love is the drug for me."