Change Your Brain Every Day - How Does Secondhand Marijuana Smoke Affect The Brain?

Episode Date: October 10, 2018

Although some may argue that marijuana isn’t as detrimental to one’s health as alcohol, those smoking marijuana may not be aware that they’re not the only ones they affect. In this episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen describe the surprising effect secondhand marijuana smoke may have on your brain, especially in terms of its perceived age.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. Here we teach you how to win the fight for your brain to defeat anxiety, depression, memory loss, ADHD, and addictions. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we've transformed lives for three decades using brain spec imaging to better target treatment and natural ways to heal the brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com.

The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceutical products to support the health of your brain and body. For more information, visit brainmdhealth.com. Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. And stay tuned for a special code for a discount to Amen Clinics for a full evaluation, as well as any of our supplements at brainmdhealth.com. Welcome back. Well, I read the most interesting study that horrified me, and I know we're going to get hate mail, and quite frankly, I don't care. Because here we operate on know the truth and the truth will set you free.

I'm actually happy you got this study. All right. Do you want to know why? Why? First of all, this segment really ticks me off. Really? Yes. Like more than most things tick you off?

Yes, more than most things. And let me tell you why. Because I know that you're a fan of legalizing marijuana. And in one of our segments, he actually said we are fans. I'm not a fan. The we in that, I don't know who the other person is. The weed in that? Okay.

Now, I'm not a fan of the same punishment. Whatever. Okay. Now I'm not a fan of the same punish, whatever. Okay. We can, the punishment should not be the same as like locking people up with hardened criminals. I agree with that. Um, let me tell you why it annoys me. And it's not the same as alcohol or the, are the effects on people the same? Yeah. Okay. I agree that they're very similar effects. I'm not comparing them that way. What annoys me as somebody who had to grow up with parents, my mom smoked almost three packs of cigarettes a day. My stepdad smoked almost four packs of cigarettes a day. And I hated it so much they were not even allowed in my room. I would literally scream and throw a huge fit if they walked in my room. Like it was like that bad in

my house. I can't imagine you're screaming. I know. It was so bad because the cigarette smoke was that bad in my house. I can't imagine. I know it was so bad because the cigarette smoke was so bad in my house. It just drove me crazy. This is one of the reasons that it annoys me because everywhere I go now, I smell pot and it just sets me off. Okay. So the legalization are, you know, we've already done that. So we don't have to do that again. I just don't think you should be putting potheads in jail. But if someone else is drinking a glass of wine, I'm not done. If someone else is drinking a glass of wine, if they get in their car drunk, yes, it affects me. Call the police. Lock them up. Or if you're married to them, they're more likely to beat you.

I mean, domestic violence is way higher in alcohol than marijuana. I am not disagreeing with that. I am not disagreeing with the negative effects of alcohol. And I'm not a fan of marijuana. I'm about to publish a study, just so everybody hears, on 70,000 scans. It's the world's largest imaging study ever. I'm just saying that if you light up in a room where it's legal and I'm across the room, hold on. Let me finish. I am forced, forced to deal with it.

We're going to get to it. Let me finish. 70,000 scans. One of the major findings that's going to cause all sorts of havoc. Good. This would be hysteria in this society. I like that. There's going to be hysteria in this society. It is on average marijuana brains are three years older than people who do not smoke marijuana. I mean, it's very clear that it has a negative aging effect on the brain.

All right, here's the study. The researchers found that people exposed to cigarette smoke, that it actually decreased blood flow and arterial flexibility, so the flexibility of your arteries, your blood vessels, if you're exposed for just one minute... This is secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke. So not smoke you inhaled, some smoke somebody else inhaled. It affected, and this was a rat study. This is cigarette or pot? First one is cigarettes for 30 minutes. So one minute of cigarette smoke affected the rats brains for 30 minutes and he was at a concert and got a contact high and he's like well I wonder what marijuana does and so

he did a study where he exposed the rats to one minute of marijuana smoke and it affected the rats brains for 90 minutes. Okay. You just made my point. Three times what cigarettes smoke. You just made my point. About what? That it just annoys me to no end. Someone's at a party.

So talk about the poison concert. Oh God. So I took my daughter to a Def Leppard Poison concert. She still hasn't forgiven me. She loved going with me. But I got to tell you, my generation, she's never been. She goes to Justin Bieber concerts. That really doesn't happen that much at those concerts, apparently.

These are like young kids that go to those concerts. She goes to my concert with me and she said two things. She was horrified by all the pot. The guy next to us would not stop smoking pot. She leaps over the, she literally leaped over the, over the things. There was no one sitting in front of us. And she like ran down the aisle and she calls you and she's like, oh my God, oh my God, if this shows up on my scan, it's not me. I didn't smoke pot. She was so angry and so upset that these people were smoking so

much pot. And then she looks at me and she goes, she's looking at all the moms who are acting psychotic at this concert. They're literally acting crazy. I would never do that. Just FYI. But she looks at me and she goes- How are they acting crazy? Oh, well, let me tell you. She looks at me and she goes, if I ever see you twerking, I will kill you myself she goes is this what moms do when they get rid of us for the night so two bad things at the deaf leopard concert so back to growing up in a home filled with smoke that had a negative impact on your mom's brain, on your stepfather's brain. I'm guessing on some of the negative health issues that I've had.

So like cancer. Now, my mom didn't know all of this, so I don't blame my mom. But, you know, it's... But we know it now. And you should not be exposing your lungs, yourself, or the people you love to secondhand smoke. And the idea that marijuana is good medicine, it damages blood flow to the brain. And people go, well, what about CBD? And the fact is, we don't know. CBD has only been legal for a very short time.

And I know everybody, I actually got an email today from a friend of mine who said, is BrainMD going to get into the CBD business? And I went, no, because there's not enough research that says this is good. There is some preliminary research that it may be helpful for seizures. Certainly, if somebody's dying of cancer, let them get high. I mean, you know, who cares? But don't affect other people in the house. Right. If you want to use it for medicinal reasons, stay at home or go somewhere where you're not like affecting people who don't want to be affected. Better to ingest it in other forms than to smoke it. Our chief scientist, I sent him the article,

and he goes, well, I totally believe it because whenever you heat up a substance, you're producing many free radicals. Your lung tissue is very delicate and very soft, and it's like it just damages lung tissue and if you damage lung tissue you damage blood flow throughout your whole right body so so i know all of the story is if you hate someone i guess you should blow smoke their way well now i'm gonna you think you're gonna get hate mail i'm gonna get lots of hate mail it's okay i don't actually care either but i'm just saying if you're

the person on the other end of that it's really not a fun thing to be having to inhale people's smoke when you don't smoke. So do with that what you will. Stay with us. Use the code podcast 10 to get a 10% discount on a full evaluation at amenclinics.com or on our supplements at brainmdhealth.com. Thank you for listening to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Go to iTunes and leave a review and you'll automatically be entered into a drawing to get a free signed copy of The Brain Warrior's Way and The Brain Warrior's Way Cookbook we give away every month.