Marijuana Myths: Marijuana Produces Memory Loss
In this installment in our series of marijuana myths we’re going to look at the notion, which I’ve heard even in cannabis user circles repeated as well, that marijuana causes memory loss. I can personally attest to having met many smokers who couldn’t remember which way was up even after coming down from a long high. And it certainly does seem like those who are on a good THC high seem to be cognitively inhibited based on anecdotes. Similar assertions even go so far as to state that cannabis permanently jars ones memory, however recent scientific studies have refuted this assertion.
According to a three years study originally published in the journal Addiction Biology earlier this year memory is not impaired after long-term, consistent cannabis use. Forty-nine participants were tasked with performing working-memory tests at the start of study period three years ago and then again at the end of the study. About half of the participants, twenty-two people, were heavy cannabis users, while another four were former users, and the rest were non-users. At the end of the study the researchers found that:
“[R]esults suggest that sustained moderate to heavy levels of cannabis, nicotine, alcohol and illegal psychotropic substance use do not change working-memory network functionality. Moreover, baseline network functionality did not predict cannabis use and related problems three years later, warranting longitudinal studies in more chronic or dependent cannabis users.”
It should be noted that the authors focused on “working memory”, not short-term memory. Short-term memory may certainly be affected by cannabis use during a high, long-term and working memory is evidently not permanently affected by cannabis consumption. So to sum up while short-term memory may be affected by cannabis temporarily, the common association of all cannabis users with addle-minded, forgetful hippies is simply incorrect.
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