Culture Magazine Highlights Marijuana Usage of Pro Gamers

While professional video game players don't have the equivalent of performance enhancing drugs such as steroids, pro medical marijuana publication Culture Magazine thinks that many use Marijuana to enhance their abilities prior to tournament play. The publication cites a comment made by Alex Walker, the Australian World Cyber Games tournament director, to game publication GamePlayer.

"I’ve seen a number of players at national tournaments who came in ‘baked’ purely so they could play better," said Alex Walker, the Australian World Cyber Games tournament director, in a recent interview with Gameplayer.

Culture Magazine also cites a one year study conducted by the Groningen Mental Enhancement Department in the Netherlands. The study tested the effects of gaming and cannabis on the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Participants were tested by playing games each day, but half of the group was also given Marijuana. The marijuana test group scored 43 percent better memory retention than the control group during the study.

"It was a far greater benefit to the marijuana-administered group than we could have imagined," said test organizer Ewoud Joost.

Culture Magazine also pointed out that the Neurobiology of Aging journal published research showing that THC-related compounds reduce brain inflammation, improve memory retention and promote new brain cell growth in older rats.

"We were shocked and surprised that it worked," said Dr. Gary Wenk, one of the authors. "The most amazing thing we saw was that it re-initiates neurogenesis."

They also offer their own list of games that you should play "while you are baked" within the article and point out that a recent COED magazine article "12 Jobs You’ll Do Better While Stoned" offered "Video Game Tester" as a choice. "On the list of awesome things to do while stoned, right next to listening to music, is playing video games,” said the article. “Plus, since most of the people playing the game you’re testing are going to play it with a joint in their mouths; it’s really the only responsible course of action."

We get that Culture Magazine advocates for the use of medical Marijuana, and therefore promotes any story that is related to the positive effects in everyday life. Nevertheless, I highly doubt that a majority of pro gamers smoke marijuana before matches. Chances are it is a violation of most league rules.

Editor's note: GamePolitics does not promote or condone the use of Marijuana.

Source: Culture Magazine