Cannabis use is associated with reduced brain volumes in a region involved in facial emotion processing, according to a new study in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.
“There is a high rate of overlap between regular (at least weekly) cannabis use and mood disorders such as depression and anxiety,” said study author Kristin E. Maple, a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
“People with depression and anxiety often have differences in brain structure in regions that process facial emotions. The current study was designed to investigate whether cannabis users (without mood or other psychiatric disorders) have similar differences in brain structure, and whether those abnormalities are related to problems processing facial emotions.”

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