cannabisnews.com: Speed of Thinking Gets Worse Over Time with MJ Use





Speed of Thinking Gets Worse Over Time with MJ Use
Posted by CN Staff on March 13, 2006 at 13:45:19 PT
Press Release
Source: Newswise
Newswise — Memory, speed of thinking and other cognitive abilities get worse over time with marijuana use, according to a new study published in the March 14, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found that frequent marijuana users performed worse than non-users on tests of cognitive abilities, including divided attention (ability to pay attention to more than one stimulus at a time) and verbal fluency (number of words generated within a time limit).
Those who had used marijuana for 10 years or more had more problems with their thinking abilities than those who had used marijuana for five to 10 years. All of the marijuana users were heavy users, which was defined as smoking four or more joints per week. “We found that the longer people used marijuana, the more deterioration they had in these cognitive abilities, especially in the ability to learn and remember new information,” said study author Lambros Messinis, PhD, of the Department of Neurology of the University Hospital of Patras in Patras, Greece. “In several areas, their abilities were significant enough to be considered impaired, with more impairment in the longer-term users than the shorter-term users.” The study involved people ages 17 to 49 taking part in a drug abuse treatment program in Athens, Greece. There were 20 long-term users, 20 shorter-term users and 24 control subjects who had used marijuana at least once in their lives but not more than 20 times and not in the past two years. Those who had used any other class of drugs, such as cocaine or stimulants, during the past year or for more than three months throughout their lives were not included in the study. Before the tests were performed, all participants had to abstain from marijuana for at least 24 hours. The marijuana users performed worse in several cognitive domains, including delayed recall, recognition and executive functions of the brain. For example, on a test measuring the ability to make decisions, long-term users had 70 percent impaired performance, compared to 55 percent impaired performance for shorter-term users and 8 percent impaired performance for non-users. In a test where participants needed to remember a list of words that had been read to them earlier, the non-users remembered an average of 12 out of 15 words, the shorter-term users remembered an average of nine words and the long-term users remembered an average of seven words. The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 19,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, autism and multiple sclerosis. Complete Title: Memory, Speed of Thinking Get Worse Over Time with Marijuana Use For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit: http://www.aan.comSource: Newswise (VA)Published: March 13, 2006Copyright: 2006 NewswiseContact: editor newswise.comWebsite: http://www.newswise.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Chronic Cannabis Use http://freedomtoexhale.com/ccu.pdfCannabis Can Slow Narrowing of Arterieshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20474.shtmlMarijuana May Block Alzheimer's Diseasehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread20269.shtmlSmoking Pot Doesn't Harm Brain Function http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16706.shtml
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Comment #11 posted by runderwo on March 14, 2006 at 18:04:20 PT
some study
"The study involved people ages 17 to 49 taking part in a drug abuse treatment program in Athens, Greece."Uh oh. What drugs were they in there for abusing?"There were 20 long-term users, 20 shorter-term users and 24 control subjects who had used marijuana at least once in their lives but not more than 20 times and not in the past two years."Oh great, a sample size of 60!"Those who had used any other class of drugs, such as cocaine or stimulants"Or alcohol, or pharms, or inhalants, or ...."during the past year or for more than three months throughout their lives were not included in the study."If they're trying to demonstrate permanent damage, why did they wait only 24 hours after last smoking pot? Hell, if I go on a bender, I'm feeling the effects for days.
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Comment #10 posted by Hope on March 13, 2006 at 20:52:24 PT
I remember
very well, the many, many outright lies and obfuscations they have foisted on the American people for decades and decades now, in the name of marijuana prohibition. There is no lie that a prohibitionist, no matter what field of work he is in, won't tell to get his way. It's so hard not to literally despise the miscreants and I do despise their lies.
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Comment #9 posted by siege on March 13, 2006 at 18:12:28 PT
Alzheimer's disease
The marijuana users performed worse in several cognitive domains, including delayed recall, recognition and executive functions of the brain. They don't know how to read there work, What he has just told us is they found the ones that have Alzheimer's disease...
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Comment #8 posted by mayan on March 13, 2006 at 17:39:38 PT
Drug Abusers For Subjects??? 
The study involved people ages 17 to 49 taking part in a drug abuse treatment program in Athens, Greece.What other drugs have these subjects been doing for years? What a way to run an experiment!After a week of cannabis abstinence there is a different finding... Frequent Cannabis Use Not Associated With Cognitive Declines In Working Memory, Selective Attention:
http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6832 
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Comment #7 posted by Sam Adams on March 13, 2006 at 16:12:02 PT
sad irony
Look at the description of these scientists who are working so hard to impugn cannabis:"A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, autism and multiple sclerosis."It's interesting that in the last 5 years I've seen several studies showing clear benefit of cannabis treatment to all of the above illnesses, except maybe autism. I've also seen several studies right here showing NO long-term cognitive effects from heavy cannabis use, there have been a few in the last year on this one. What gives?  I sure hope these Greeks don't do research the American way, injecting monkeys with a lethal dose of methamphetamine - as part of an MDMA experiment.
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Comment #6 posted by global_warming on March 13, 2006 at 15:40:22 PT
Not so fast
"Memory, speed of thinking and other cognitive abilities get worse over time with marijuana use,.."I can still remember this current prohibition, I can still see human beings placed into cages for Cannabis sake, I can see grown men and women who hold that baton of power, like some authority, that has neither the spirit or consensus in this creation.
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Comment #5 posted by Christen-Mitchell on March 13, 2006 at 15:12:23 PT:
Brain Damaged Presidents
The nonsense foisted on the American public never stops. When President Reagan warned of the hazards of Marijuana use, he said "We don't know what they are yet, but we know that they are permanent."......They only evidence I've seen of brain damage from past use is our current president
Hemptopia - Towards Our Greener Future
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on March 13, 2006 at 14:23:01 PT
MaRkAyNe 
I agree with you.You said: Maybe if you stopped throwing us in jail, we would all be willing to participate. 
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Comment #3 posted by MaRkAyNe on March 13, 2006 at 14:13:18 PT
The only real argument
The only real argument against Cannabis. 
 However- They need to do a test with people who have NO history of other drug use (cocaine, LSD, etc..) 
Also- Only a group of 60.
 Would be interesting to see the levels of education of all the participants, as well as those of their parents. There are lazy smokers who just never developed good learning habits. There are also users who excel at every level. 
Hey Government! We need long term research! With a wide base of participants! Maybe if you stopped throwing us in jail, we would all be willing to participate. 
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on March 13, 2006 at 13:55:48 PT
Related Article from NewScientist.com
Long-Term Marijuana Use May Fog The Brain***March 13, 2006Long-term users of marijuana gradually become worse at learning and remembering things, a new study suggests. “It definitely fogs your brain,” says Lambros Messinis, who led the study at the University Hospital of Patras in Greece.Messinis and colleagues tested the mental abilities of 20 long-term users who had taken marijuana heavily – smoking at least four joints a week – for an average of 15 years. Their brains were rustier than those of 20 short-term users – who had averaged seven years of use – and 24 controls who had used the drug sporadically or not at all.Long-term users performed worse in tests to measure memory, learning ability and the capacity to recall information. Asked to recall lists of 15 words that they had seen earlier, for example, the long-term users averaged seven, compared with nine recalled by short-term users and 12 by controls. Complete Article: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8839
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on March 13, 2006 at 13:49:21 PT
Up in Smoke: Marijuana Toasts Memory
By Robert Roy Britt, LiveScience Managing EditorMarch 13, 2006 
 If you can't remember the headline of this article or are already struggling to recall some of the words at the beginning of the story, try hard to recall how much pot you smoked in your youth.A new study finds those who've used a lot of marijuana have worse memories and don't think as quickly. It's not the first study to suggest pot hurts memory, but the findings are stark. In one memory test, long-time uses remembered seven of 15 words, on average. Non-users remembered 12 of 15. On a decision-making test, those who had rarely smoked pot had impaired performance 8 percent of time, while long-term tokers had 70 percent impairment.The results are detailed in the March 14 issue of the journal Neurology.The study involved 64 people age 17 to 49 selected from a larger study group. They were split into three groups: those who had smoked four or more joints per week for more than 10 years; those who'd been smoking for five to 10 years; and those who had smoked at least once but not more than 20 times and not at all in the past two years.The middle group consistently scored in between the other two."We found that the longer people used marijuana, the more deterioration they had in these cognitive abilities, especially in the ability to learn and remember new information," said Lambros Messinis of the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital of Patras in Patras, Greece. A separate study in Neurology last year found higher blood flow velocity in the marijuana users even a month after they stopped smoking. Researchers said the change could help explain other studies that have revealed memory problems in pot smokers.A Harvard Medical School study in 2003 found lasting memory impairment in people who had started smoking marijuana before age 17, when the brain is still forming. And research published in November indicated that heavy marijuana use might put adolescents who are genetically predisposed to schizophrenia at greater risk of developing the brain disorder.Some 3.1 million Americans age 12 and older use marijuana daily or almost daily, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In 2004, 5.6 percent of 12th graders reported daily use of marijuana.Copyright: 2006 Imaginova Corp. http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060313_pot_brain.html
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