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:: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 ::

Marijuana impairs brain functions, or does it?

A recent study published in the March 14 issue of Neurology claims that marijuana deteriorates cognitive abilities. Researchers took 20 long-term smokers (10+ years), 20 short-term (5-10 years), and 24 control subjects (who smoked 1-20 times in their lives), ages 17-49. All the users were classified as "heavy users," smoking 4 or more joints a week. Unsurprisingly, the study found that the smokers did worse on cognitive tests including delayed recall, recognition, divided attention, verbal fluency and executive functions of the brain (Stoners fail tests? That's unpossible). Thing is, before the tests were performed, participants abstained from marijuana for at least 24 hours. Now, THC (pot's main active ingredient) stays in your system for 10 days if you smoke occasionally. But with habitual smokers, as in this study, it can stay for 45-90 days, depending on metabolism and body fat (THC is fat soluble). Many long-term studies suggest that the negative cognitive effects that accompany getting high are not permanent and disappear once the drug is actually out of the system. Furthermore, when someone who has been using any drug regularly for 5-10 years suddenly stops, there are bound to be some withdrawal symptoms (depression, anxiety, tremors), symptoms that would inevitably impair cognitive functions, probably more so than the drug itself. But even ignoring all these objections, how are you going to compare three small groups of random people of varying ages/sexes and then blame all their shortcomings on weed, when it is entirely possible that they could as easily have been "impaired" had they never touched the whacky tobaccy. Studies like this are the reason why marijuana is still illegal in the US, where people can do time for possession and college students arrested for pot lose federal financial aid (while robbers, killers and rapists remain eligible). Meanwhile, it is legal to have up to an ounce in Canada and yet they seem to be doing just fine.

Memory, speed of thinking get worse over time with marijuana use, AAN.com (American Academy of Neurology)

:: alexei 2:01 AM {0 comments} [+] ::
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