Heavy Marijuana Users Shrinking Their Brains

Not only does it appear that heavy marijuana users increase the chances of psychotic episodes, but that they shrink their brains. Reporting in the Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers from the Universities of Melbourne and Wollongong tested 15 heavy marijuana users against 16 men who were not users. The users were aged 40 on average… Read More »Custom Single Post Header

Family Law Section Law Council of Australia Award
Member of Queensland law society
Family law Practitioners Association
International Academy of Family Lawyers - IAFL
Mediator Standards Board

Heavy Marijuana Users Shrinking Their Brains

Not only does it appear that heavy marijuana users increase the chances of psychotic episodes, but that they shrink their brains.

Reporting in the Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers from the Universities of Melbourne and Wollongong tested 15 heavy marijuana users against 16 men who were not users. The users were aged 40 on average and had been smoking marijuana for about 20 years. They either smoked no less than 5 or 10 joints daily.

The conclusion? heavy smokers of marijuana had shrunk the hippocampus and the amygdala. The hippocampus regulates emotion and memory. The amygdala also are responsible for memory, fear and aggression.

Marijuana users also scored worse on verbal learning.

“These findings indicate that heavy daily cannabis use across protracted periods exerts harmful effects on brain tissue and mental health” according to the researchers.

Things to Read, Watch & Listen

Forced Marriage

On November 1st 2023, Accredited Family Law Specialist and Page Provan Director Stephen Page presented a paper at the Brisbane Zonta Club about forced marriage. I acknowledge the Jagera and Turrbal peoples, on whose lands we meet today, their elders, past, present and emerging. Ruqia Hidari was aged 21 and living in Victoria, when, according to police,… Read More »Forced Marriage

ACT Government Surrogacy Bill

The ACT Government has today introduced a bill to amend the ACT’s surrogacy laws. The proposed changes are more incremental than fundamental. They include allowing a single person to undertake surrogacy, for the surrogate to be single if needed, a requirement for legal advice and counselling beforehand, a written agreement being required, that traditional surrogacy is… Read More »ACT Government Surrogacy Bill

Planning to resolve: ADR in ART

ADR can help resolve disputes in ART cases. ADR is not limited to mediation and arbitration. Other types of informal dispute resolution can resolve disputes. When assisted reproductive treatment cases go off the rails, they can have the next level of bitterness and volatility. There can be a keen sense of betrayal when things don’t… Read More »Planning to resolve: ADR in ART