Does regular smoking make stupid? | What are the consequences of smoking pot?

Does regular smoking make stupid?

Smoking has a negative effect on cognitive performance, i.e. on thinking, attention, memory and perception. These limitations are already noticeable a short time after consumption. They are part of the state of intoxication.

If a lot of cannabis is consumed over a longer period of time, the deficits can persist beyond the period of consumption. The effects can last for days or weeks, even if the user forces himself to give up completely. Usually, however, the functions normalize after long-term abstinence.

It has not yet been possible to determine correctly at which consumption range smoking pot permanently reduces cognitive performance, i.e. “makes you stupid”. However, negative effects on intelligence are very likely, especially in young consumers, in whom the functions of the brain are only just developing. If the development of the brain is completed, however, no lasting function losses could be determined so far. While consumers in different test series showed a lower intelligence, a reduced information processing and a disturbed memory function in comparison with non-consumers, no deficits could be determined with the same persons after some months of renunciation. The lasting consequences of cannabis use remain a part of further research.

Can smoking weed cause psychosis?

This question can definitely be answered with “Yes”. Excessive smoking can lead to an overdose and thereby to an acute drug psychosis. This is characterized by its sudden occurrence and is characterized by certain psychotic symptoms.

These include disorientation, the feeling of no longer being yourself (depersonalization), hallucinations and paranoid delusions (paranoia). If the psychosis occurs under an extremely high dose of cannabis, it is a kind of poisoning whose symptoms usually disappear after a few days of abstinence and do not leave any permanent damage. In various scientific studies, clear evidence has been found that excessive smoking can cause an illness previously hidden in the psyche to break out.

This disease, which has long been mistakenly called “cannabis psychosis“, is schizophrenia. It is believed that people who are susceptible to the disease develop symptoms earlier when using cannabis. It was also found that the course of the disease is negatively influenced by the use of cannabis.

It is controversial whether regular smoking can cause this mental illness even in people who would not normally be ill. This presumption of a new illness without risk factors is particularly likely in young consumers under the age of 16 years, as it is during this period that the substance has the greatest negative effect on the developing brain.