The largest study yet into the effects of cannabis on the brains of 18- to 36-year-olds has found that the drug can reduce brain function during cognitive tests. The findings will help people to make an informed decision about the pros and cons of using cannabis.
Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20250130042220/https://newatlas.com/brain/young-adult-cannabis-brain-function/
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That’s a much smaller impact than the headline would lead you to think. If you’re not a heavy user, or you’re a heavy user but not for the past month, then you are unlikely to see significant mental changes. And even if you do, it’s only for short-term working memory, no other types of mental ability.
With the low sample size of the study, I wonder how much of that is confounding variables. I know when I’ve been at my heaviest cannabis usage, my life was falling apart and I was using it to cope with a shitload of stress — which is known to cause short-term and working memory impairments.
Then you’ve also got, say, ADHDers (diagnosed or otherwise). We’ve literally got dogshit working memory disorder and as a population we tend to love substances (on account of the underactive reward circuits in our brains).
I haven’t read the full study, but as the article says the effects lingered for 2-4 weeks, it sounds like the retesting after abstaining would eliminate confounding variables. Unless they somehow resolved the stress or ADHD at the same time.
Seems as though they didn’t retest, they only scanned people once. Scanning people is expensive and getting people to show back up for a second scan is difficult. The abstention periods are likely based on self-reports.
Yeah, it seems pretty obvious to me that you don’t remember things well while you’re high, just like you don’t remember things while you’re drunk.
That’s a good point. It would be interesting to see how this relates to alcohol and if they see similar effects.
Also I’d like to see it done on a “heavyweight smoker” who’s not uses cannabis for say, six months to a year.
Because I think all of the heavy lifetime users were also actively blazed as fuck.