Con

Igor Grant, MD, Executive Vice Chairman at the University of California, San Diego Department of Psychiatry, wrote in his study published in the July issue of the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, as reported in a June 27, 2003 Reuters article:

“Smoking marijuana will certainly affect perception, but it does not cause permanent brain damage. ‘The findings were kind of a surprise. One might have expected to see more impairment of higher mental function. Other illegal drugs, or even alcohol, can cause brain damage…

If we barely find this tiny effect in long-term heavy users of cannabis, then we are unlikely to see deleterious side effects in indivduals who receive cannabis for a short time in a medical setting…

If it turned out that new studies find that cannabis is helpful in treating some medical conditions, this enables us to see a marginal level of safety.”

June 27, 2003