"The study, published online today in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology,
looked at the behaviour of young rats exposed to cannabis."

I'll see if I can find it.

<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id...>

Early cannabis abuse 'does lead to heroin addiction' 01:01am 5th July 2006

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Taking cannabis as a teenager really does pave the way to heroin addiction
in later life, say scientists.

Researchers have found that cannabis acts as a 'gateway' drug, because
exposure during adolescence primes the system to crave the chemical
stimulation of hard drugs.

Previously it has been argued teenagers move to harder drugs because of
peer or emotional pressures, or easy availability.

The study, published online today in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology,
looked at the behaviour of young rats exposed to cannabis. These rats took
in much larger doses of opium when trained to self administer than other
rodents.

Phil Stovell wrote:

I'll get to work on this as well.

Too bloody stupid to pass up, say I. :-)

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 07:57:59 +0100, Phil Stovell wrote:

I couldn't find it on the Neuropsychopharmacology website, it's in The
Telegraph:

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/06/18/ndrug18.xml&sSheet...>

Long-term use of cannabis 'leads to harder drugs'
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
(Filed: 18/06/2005)

Teenagers and young adults who occasionally smoke cannabis over long
periods are more likely to turn to more addictive drugs such as heroin,
according to a study.

While it has been assumed that the brain is almost fully formed by the
time children reach their teens, there is evidence that the brain
continues to develop until as late as 25.

Experiments on rats by Prof Yasmin Hurd, of the Karolinska Institute,
Sweden, show that chronic periodic use of cannabis can interfere with
brain development.

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 08:16:18 +0100, Phil Stovell wrote:

First they got them hooked on smack...

"Phil Stovell" stovell.org.uk> wrote in message
news:pan.2006.07.05.06.57.56.283422@stovell.org.uk...

...

... as there seems also to be some correlation with mental illness in later
life.

Iain

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 08:16:18 +0100, Phil Stovell stovell.org.uk>
wrote:

No. That was an earlier study done while she was still in Sweden.

They have opened a new department for prohibitionist' research under her
control. Very well done Dr. Hurd - now you have a little empire of your
own!


Research Positions in Behavioral Neuropharmacology and Molecular
Neurobiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York
Research positions are available in a new laboratory being established...

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 07:57:59 +0100, Phil Stovell stovell.org.uk>
wrote:

I can't find it.

I found this:

<http://newsbureau.upmc.com/PDF/Hurd%20lay%20summary.pdf>

Marijuana may be more mind-altering than you think: Early exposure can
hinder brain development, increase susceptibility to other addictions

Phil Stovell stovell.org.uk> wrote:

Yeah, this kind of information is intellectually interesting, but the
only implication of it (if you take behavioral models from rats as
being particularly relevant to begin with, which I suppose is
reasonable to a well-defined extent) is that weed can *assist* in
conditioning the brain to become addicted to opiates. That would
really fall under the "duh" category, and easily qualifies as
deliberately hysterical, manipulated research. I'm quite sure that
alcohol and tobacco would do at least a lot of the same job, if not
more in some cases.

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 07:54:23 GMT, Jasbird houdini.com> wrote: