The surprising neurological effects of mixing cannabis and tobacco

While we already knew that cannabis and tobacco mixed together acted on the hippocampus, They each affect the brain in different ways. Numerous studies have looked separately at the effects of cannabis or tobacco, and very few have studied the brains of people who smoke both.

For Dr. Francesca M. Filbey, this lack of studies has contributed to a gap in understanding of these substances. She hopes to close this gap with her latest research.

«Most of the literature to date has focused on isolated combinations of cannabis and nicotine, even though the simultaneous use of cannabis and nicotine is more prevalent in our society than cannabis alone,» she explains. in a press release. «Our findings confirm the limitations of existing research».

Dr FIlbey used MRI scans to examine the neural activity of four groups of people. The first included tobacco smokers, the second cannabis users, the third people who used both, and the fourth was a control group who used neither.

The scans showed that the control group had the greatest connectivity in most scenarios, while the tobacco-only and cannabis-only groups showed the least activity, to varying degrees. Those who used both tobacco and cannabis had almost similar results to the control group, with greater neural connectivity than the individual consumption groups.

These findings suggest that tobacco and cannabis counteract each other's effects on the brain, although further research is needed to solidify the conclusion. However, Dr. Fibley hypothesizes that understanding the interactions between these two substances could help develop programs for people seeking to stop using tobacco or cannabis.