Can marijuana really cause a person to become aggressive?

Using marijuana is usually synonymous with peace, love, and a bunch of tree hugging. It’s known as a cool herb where the most common side effects are keeping people happy and making them laugh a lot more on the way to a Taco Bell drive-thru. All in all, marijuana appears to be the one drug that, if legalized on a global scale, could finally give way to a situation where conflict states aren’t trying to kill each other with vicious vengeance.

It just seems likely that the world would be a better place if stoned from time to time. But then again, if some of the research on marijuana and violence is relevant, a society of stoners could spark an uprising of evil that will only destroy the planet.

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It may sound like utter madness to claim that marijuana could add to a more aggressive population. However, a 50-year study examining the link between long-term cannabis use and violence finds that it may not be that crazy after all.

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Research published in the journal in 2016 Psychological medicine notes that regular cannabis use over the years appears to alter the brain in ways that make a person more likely to engage in violent behavior.

“Taken together, the results of this study support a causal relationship between exposure to cannabis and subsequent violent consequences for much of the life span,” said senior researcher and neuroscientist Tabea Schoeler of Kings College London. Psychology Explained Today.

This is a touchy subject to say the least, considering that such studies are often interpreted without considering various other factors. In other words, it’s hard to say for sure whether a long marijuana habit will actually make people more aggressive and mean over time. At least not without first considering things like socio-economic status and personality traits.

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Because while the average marijuana user is usually considered friendly and carefree, there are undoubtedly some of us who are mad jerks. Chances are, however, that they have been like this from birth, and their propensity for being a royal donkey has nothing to do with grass.

RELATED: Does Marijuana Increase Violent Behavior?

Still, the study, which looked at 411 boys from London born in 1953 or around 1953, found no violent behavior in those who had never used cannabis in their life. But that was a different story for those who started using marijuana before age 18 and got high into adulthood.

Twenty-two percent of this group had a history of violent behavior. And the best researchers can say is that continued use of cannabis was the culprit. The results show that “disorders in neurological circuits that control behavior may underlie impulsive, violent behavior as cannabis alters normal neural function in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex”. the article says.

But we don’t know if we’re going to buy it. In fact, we would be ready to fight anyone who disagrees with us.