Those who consume cannabis as adolescents may have a more difficult time remembering words as they grow up to become adults, a new study indicates. Yet cannabis use does not seem to have a negative impact on other mental capacities, such as the ability to think swiftly, concentrate or solve problems, according to the authors of the study.
“We were really surprised by the findings,” Dr. Reto Auer, author of the study and “academic chief resident in the department of community medicine and ambulatory care at the University of Lausanne,” in Switzerland, stated. Marijuana’s effects on the ability to remember vocabulary seems to be “incremental, meaning that the more you smoke, the lower your verbal memory,” Auer added.
Despite this, he made it a point that the results “are only associations,” and not evidence that marijuana has this effect. Auer stated that the experiment only saw marijuana’s effects on lexical memory rather than overall memory. The study also didn’t examine whether subjects or their kin though that marijuana had this effect. The findings were published on February 1st, in the online edition of JAMA Internal Medicine.
To observe the possible long-term impact of cannabis use, the researchers looked at 3,400 white and black men and women who were between the ages of 18 and 30 when they first enrolled in an international study in 1985 and 1986. The subjects were from Birmingham, Ala.; Chicago; Minneapolis; or Oakland, Calif. Also, they were all studies for the next quarter of a century till 2011. At that time cannabis use was reported and had interviews afterwards.
About eighty-five percent of the research subjects said they had smoked marijuana at some time, and about twelve percent reported that they consistently did so until they reached their thirties. Cognitive skills were studied at the end of the twenty-five years.
MAPH Enterprises, LLC | (305) 414-0128 | 1501 Venera Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33146 | new@marijuanastocks.com
