{"id":1378,"date":"2016-07-08T13:09:40","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T03:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/smoking-cannabis-does-dampen-your-emotions-and-increases-the-risk-of-addiction-to-all-drugs\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T21:02:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T10:02:27","slug":"smoking-cannabis-does-dampen-your-emotions-and-increases-the-risk-of-addiction-to-all-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au\/wp_site\/smoking-cannabis-does-dampen-your-emotions-and-increases-the-risk-of-addiction-to-all-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Smoking cannabis DOES dampen your emotions &#8216;and increases the risk of addiction to ALL drugs&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Smoking cannabis affects the reward centre in a user&#8217;s brain, scans show<\/li>\n<li>That is the region responsible for releasing &#8216;pleasure&#8217; hormone dopamine<\/li>\n<li>In cannabis users, scans show less activity in the reward centre, so a smaller amount of dopamine is released<\/li>\n<li>That dampened, blunted emotional response means a marijuana smoker will need more of the drug to illicit the same reward &#8211; raising addiction risk<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>By <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/home\/search.html?s=&amp;authornamef=Lizzie+Parry+For+Dailymail.com\" target=\"_blank\">LIZZIE PARRY<\/a> FOR DAILYMAIL.COM PUBLISHED: 07:21 EST, 7 July 2016 | UPDATED: 07:37 EST, 7 July 2016<\/strong><br \/>&nbsp;<br \/>For most people, the idea of winning some money will ignite a rush of emotions &#8211; joy, anticipation, excitement.<\/p>\n<p>If you were to scan their brains at that very moment, you would see a surge of activity in the part of the brain that responds to rewards.<\/p>\n<p>But, for people who&#8217;ve been smoking cannabis, that rush is not as big &#8211; and gets smaller and smaller over time, new research suggests.<\/p>\n<p>And that dampened, blunted response may actually increase the risk that marijuana users are more likely to become addicted to pot and other drugs.<\/p>\n<p>Smoking cannabis dampens activity in the brain&#8217;s reward centre, a new study has shown. The blunted emotional response it provokes, increases the risk that marijuana users will become addicted to the drug, and other addictive substances<\/p>\n<p>Dr Mary Heitzeg, senior author of the new study, a neuroscientist from the University of Michigan Medical School, said: &#8216;What we saw was that over time, marijuana use was associated with a lower response to a monetary reward.<br \/>&#8216;This means that something that would be rewarding to most people was no longer rewarding to them, suggesting but not proving that their reward system has been &#8220;hijacked&#8221; by the drug, and that they need the drug to feel reward &#8211; or that their emotional response has been dampened.&#8217; <\/p>\n<p>The findings come from the first long-term study of young marijuana users, that tracked brain responses to rewards over time, and is published in the JAMA Psychiatry. They reveal measurable changes in the brain&#8217;s reward system with cannabis use &#8211; even when other factors like alcohol use and cigarette smoking were taken into account.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/health\/article-3677813\/Smoking-cannabis-DOES-dampen-emotions-increases-risk-addiction-drugs.html#ixzz4DmYal2Dm\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"button\">For complete article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Smoking cannabis affects the reward centre in a user&#8217;s brain, scans show That is the region responsible for releasing &#8216;pleasure&#8217; hormone dopamine In cannabis users, scans show less activity in the reward centre, so a smaller amount of dopamine is released That dampened, blunted emotional response means a marijuana smoker will need more of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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