cannabisnews.com: Memory Up in Smoke With Long Marijuana Use Memory Up in Smoke With Long Marijuana Use Posted by CN Staff on March 13, 2006 at 16:32:21 PT By Christine Dell'Amore, UPI Health Correspondent Source: United Press International Washington, DC -- Smoking marijuana long term could make your memory and other cognitive skills go -- quite literally -- to pot. In a new study of long-term users people who smoked at least one marijuana cigarette a day for 10 years performed poorly on a range of standardized tests, including verbal fluency, verbal memory and learning, as compared to both those who had lit up for shorter amounts of time or did not use marijuana at all. "It will help us understand that cannabis is not such an innocent drug," said lead author Dr. Lambros Messinis, a neurologist at the University Hospital of Patras in Patras, Greece. His research will be published in the March 14 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Scientists understand the intoxication effects of cannabis, but the long-term impacts of the drug on the mind are not as well-documented. This prompted Messinis to address what he called a "significant absence" of studies on the subject. Messinis and colleagues recruited 64 people from a drug-abuse treatment program in Athens and divided them into three groups: long-term frequency users, who had smoked for at least 10 years; short-term frequency users, who smoked for five to 10 years, and a control group of people who may have tried marijuana in the past, but sparingly. Frequent users ingested marijuana more than 20 times a month. The participants, aged 17 to 49, were tested to ensure they were not using other drugs at the time of the analysis. The subjects also refrained from smoking marijuana for at least 24 hours in order to avoid the effects of intoxication altering the experiment. Researchers then administered various cognitive tests to participants. The most striking deficits among the long-term users appeared in verbal learning: the subjects had difficulty in recalling previously learned words, for instance. Messinis also discovered the long-term users had trouble with executive functioning, or the ability to organize and coordinate simple tasks. So what does marijuana do once it hits the brain? Messinis said no one knows for sure, and he did not want to speculate. However, the Web site of the National Institute on Drug Abuse suggests it's likely marijuana attaches to receptors in the brain, interfering with normal neurotransmission. Sections of the brain with the most receptors include the cerebellum, the cerebral cortex, and limbic system: all areas responsible for thinking, problem solving, balance and memory, among others. Yet some view the results with skepticism. For instance, the data does not support the conclusion that heavy long-term use leads to permanent deficits, which is implied in the research, said Igor Grant, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California in San Diego. "It's not a surprise to anybody that people who are active users have subtle impairments," Grant said. Grant authored a 2003 paper in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, which reviewed many studies on the topic of long-term cannabis use and concluded that brain effects, if any, are minimal. "I have no doubt if I did an identical study I would come out with same numbers. But I would still be cautious about drawing the conclusion that marijuana is responsible for those numbers," said Harrison Pope, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. That's because it's hard to figure out a chain of causality when doing marijuana studies. For example, long-term marijuana users are more likely to have spent high school stoned, and thus might be less likely to have boosted their vocabularies reading literature. So asking them to recall words they are not familiar with in the first place wouldn't necessarily mean the marijuana has damaged their brain. "It's always and forever difficult to tease apart the confounding variables," said Pope, who has conducted research on marijuana use for more than 10 years. In most aspects of science, the only way to answer a question once and for all is to do a randomized, controlled trial of 100 people or more, Pope said. But since giving people marijuana in a clinical setting poses a rather formidable dilemma, Pope said that he and other psychiatrists must fall back on messy methodology. But Messinis is up for the task. Next he plans to explore two questions still up in the air: whether the deficits in memory and cognition are reversible, and also whether a heavier dose of marijuana -- not just duration -- has a different effect on the mind. Source: United Press International (Wire)Author: Christine Dell'Amore, UPI Consumer Health CorrespondentPublished: March 13, 2006Copyright 2006 United Press InternationalWebsite: http://www.upi.com/ Contact: consumerhealth upi.comRelated Articles & Web Site:Chronic Cannabis Use http://freedomtoexhale.com/ccu.pdfMarijuana Again Tied To Memory Problemshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21660.shtmlSpeed of Thinking Gets Worse Over Time http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread21659.shtmlSmoking Pot Doesn't Harm Brain Function http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16706.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #30 posted by Hope on March 15, 2006 at 09:12:33 PT Sinsemilla Jones Lol! I don't even want to know what your talking about in that last post!But, please...share your thoughts with us often. [ Post Comment ] Comment #29 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on March 15, 2006 at 05:42:23 PT Hi Hope and the rest of the gang! One last thought on this study - It's Greek to me!Even understanding the nonsense for what it is, considering the sexual practice that is their namesake, it's still Greek to me. [ Post Comment ] Comment #28 posted by Hope on March 14, 2006 at 21:08:40 PT Titus 1: 12 12Even one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.":0) [ Post Comment ] Comment #27 posted by Hope on March 14, 2006 at 21:03:16 PT Greece Wonder if any of these Greeks that did this study are from the island of Crete.Many of you know what the Bible says about Cretians.Maybe Paul the Apostle's words about Cretians apply to them. [ Post Comment ] Comment #26 posted by whig on March 14, 2006 at 20:42:27 PT Cannabis's effect on memory... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamnesis [ Post Comment ] Comment #25 posted by John Tyler on March 14, 2006 at 20:24:03 PT Ho hum, another phony study Can't the prohibitionist remember that the memory problem argument has been addressed and disproven many times? But they keep coming back with it from time to time. It must be just so other prohibitionist can site it as a source. It is still wrong though. And the study itself, 64 people in rehab. That is so ridiculous. This is not a scientific or a statistically significant survey. It is what we think it is, a prostitution of science for political purposes. It is shocking but it happens all of the time. When facts don't line up with beliefs the facts get twisted into lies. The prohibitionist simply do not have any valid arguments. They don't want to change because the policy has been in effect for so long, and they don't want to have to say that they had been wrong for so long. [ Post Comment ] Comment #24 posted by afterburner on March 14, 2006 at 20:23:48 PT Hope #16 Speaking of coffee, Chris Goodwin, owner of Up in Smoke Cafe has some interesting thoughts. Alcohol compares to cannabis in teaching people about the evils of prohibition. Coffee compares with cannabis in terms of what we want: a legal, available herb.Chris Goodwin on CH Live http://www.zippyvideos.com/9513808484284026/cg_chlive/*slainte [ Post Comment ] Comment #23 posted by FoM on March 14, 2006 at 18:19:23 PT Off Topic: Hope I know you have seemed interested in the Waco incident and that is what is on World Link TV right now. ***Spotlight: Waco - The Rules of EngagementLength: 02:30 Type of program: DocumentaryBroadcast Times Tuesday, March 14 7:00 PM Wednesday, March 15 1:00 AM Wednesday, March 15 7:00 AM Wednesday, March 15 1:00 PM On April 19 1993, the Waco, Texas compound belonging to the Branch Davidian sect burned down. Seventy-six Davidians died, including women and children. The FBI maintained that the Davidians killed themselves by setting fire to the building. This Oscar-nominated film suggest that the sect members were murdered. The filmmakers also claim the FBI and others engaged covered-up their culpabilities during the lengthy follow-up investigations. Visit the film's official site - Waco - http://www.waco93.com/ to learn more and purchase the program.http://www.linktv.org/programming/programDescription.php4?code=waco [ Post Comment ] Comment #22 posted by FoM on March 14, 2006 at 14:57:12 PT Which One Ambien or Cannabis: Memory Problems? Excerpt: Ambien WoesResearchers in Minnesota are studying why some people taking the drug Ambien end up eating in their sleep.The New York Times reported that one woman on the drug gained 100 pounds before realizing she was bingeing in her sleep.Doctors have identified at least 30 people with the problem, and said there may be thousands more.Last week, the Times reported a growing number of Ambien users who were driving while asleep.The drug's maker said it's reporting adverse events to the Food and Drug Administration. Complete Article: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/consumer/7997369/detail.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #21 posted by dididadadidit on March 14, 2006 at 11:53:00 PT Dumb down? Smarten up? I had occasion to take an online IQ test about a year ago. The result was supposedly 15 points higher than my college entrance test in the late 50's. Some 35 years of criminal smoking activity sure appears to have softened up my brain. I don't know how I can possibly cope with the loss.Cheers ? [ Post Comment ] Comment #20 posted by Hope on March 14, 2006 at 10:01:22 PT Comment 16 I said, "Something else that bothers me. If the subjects were in a treatment program....how were they smoking marijuana regularly up to twenty four hours before the tests?"And if they were just committed to the abuse center less than twenty four hours before the test...I can imagine they were not in the best state of mind to begin with. [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by observer on March 14, 2006 at 09:36:11 PT A Study to Trumpet Throughout the Land 64 people from a drug-abuse treatment programHey, no sample bias, there. And, what, with so many people in the study, the margin of error must so low as to be unmentionable, which, of course, must be the reason why the margin of error wasn't mentioned. Yes, a study like this is destined to travel far and wide. Actually, any "study" which may be fodder for jailer/prohibitionists is destined for continual encore performance. We're still hearing about Dr Heath's rhesus monkey brains, http://www.google.com/search?q=+Dr+Heath%27s+rhesus+monkey+brains horribly destroyed by the killer cannabis. Just as the studies and articles that show cannabis shrinks cancerous tumors are spiked.Cherry-picking rare scare stories while studiously ignoring the manifold health benefits of cannabis: it is two sides of the same coin. Drug War Propaganda [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by mai_bong_city on March 14, 2006 at 09:35:07 PT thanks whig! we'll definitely check picamilone out - i see right away the GABA thing....what little science i'm able to piece together with my addled-brain (j/k!) is the relation of GABA receptors and some other thing that at the moment escapes me...but i really do feel i would not have retained what good mind i'm left were it not for what cannabis does for the body, the brain.my thanks agin [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by Hope on March 14, 2006 at 09:35:04 PT Toker00 There was a graduate in my son's university class who was in his seventies. Any professor will tell you that adults are more serious about their education and will devote more serious study to it than a lot of young people. It just comes with the territory.We're never too old to learn. We're never too old to achieve. [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by Hope on March 14, 2006 at 09:29:43 PT Sinsemilla Jones "Shoot, I bet I could prove cigs, coffee, anti-depressants, or doughnuts caused slow thinking, if I deprived people who used them on a daily or more basis for over 24 hours before testing their "cognitive" ability."So true! If I were deprived of good strong coffee for twenty four hours...I'd be in pain which would sure contribute to a cognitive decline. A headache would be pounding me. I didn't drink coffee until I was well in to my twenties. I did see a boost in mental and physical energy and alertness...and I like it! Of course the addiction leads to a headache if I don't have it...but I love my coffee and I would definitely do worse on a test if I was deprived. It's amazing to me that some busy body hasn't called for a prohibition on caffiene. It is a very popular "drug". The fact that coffee is a huge corporate industry helps protect it. The fact that prohibition is a huge corporate interest is what protects it. Sugar can effect your mental capacity, too, I believe.Heck...depriving me of my left shoe would cause me some distraction. By the way...I'm pretty dang sharp in the cognitive department, if I do say so myself. Sharp enough to see the "researchers" in this study are die-hard prohibitionists and all they were looking for was ammunition for the prohibition gun they are holding the world hostage with.Something else that bothers me. If the subjects were in a treatment program....how were they smoking marijuana regularly up to twenty four hours before the tests? Some "researchers" in Greece are working with "wool" and are weaving a blindfold for the gullible out of it. This study stinks to high heaven. [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by FoM on March 14, 2006 at 09:29:17 PT Toker00 That's wonderful. Liberal Arts includes what? I never went to college. [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by Toker00 on March 14, 2006 at 09:19:09 PT Yeah, FoM Can you believe it? Toker a student? I work at a community college and can take one free course per semester. Figure I'll pay for one and take the freeby. Eventually I will have an associates degree. LOL. It will be more symbolic than anything.(That's what they say about a liberal arts degree anyway, right? Symbolic?) A lot of people get a degree first, then get an education in life. I got an education in life, now I want a degree. Does that make sense?I'll be quite satisfied to pull off a c average. Anything else will just be icing on the cake.Toke. [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on March 14, 2006 at 08:30:02 PT Sounds like NOT using marijuana made them stupid. "...all participants had to abstain from marijuana for at least 24 hours"Shoot, I bet I could prove cigs, coffee, anti-depressants, or doughnuts caused slow thinking, if I deprived people who used them on a daily or more basis for over 24 hours before testing their "cognitive" ability.Were they afraid of letting them use mj however they normally would? They were worried about the "effects of intoxication altering the experiment", but weren't at all concerned that the effects of NON-intoxication might alter the experiment.And did they really think 24 hours was long enough for the effects of this "not so innocent drug" not to be a factor? Would they test the cognitive abilities of an alcoholic during the D.T.s or a heroin addict during cold turkey?Further, just what was the motivation for these people locked up in drug rehab to do their best on these annoying cognitive tests being given by the assholes who are keeping them locked up? Extra jello at lunch? [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by whig on March 14, 2006 at 07:42:04 PT mbc Your doctor and you might want to look into picamilone as well. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by FoM on March 14, 2006 at 07:10:42 PT Toker00 You're going back to school? That is really great to read. Why do you want to go back to school if you don't mind me asking? [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by mai_bong_city on March 14, 2006 at 06:33:03 PT my mind on cannabis i am wondering about the underlying issues that these study subjects may have had going on that led to cannabis being their drug of choice, if it even was their choice. as has been stated previous, they were probably users of other substances as well. i have a degenerative disease, and so my brain function - memory, cognitive skills, etc. have declined at a far more rapid rate than is normal for my age - however, so many other factors contribute to cognitive decline and memory loss - pain, for one thing.....prolonged agony without relief affects the whole system and chemical actions, neurotransmitters, etc. i believe that cannabis has acted in such a way as to protect brain cells in my case and many, many others - and there have been studies indicating this as well. one note of interest - memantine (namenda) is an alzheimer's drug that recently was shown to have better effect on more advanced cases of alzheimer's than aricept. i was put on namenda a few years ago by a very creative doc because of it's compatability and similar binding on the endocannabinoid system as marijuana.....and what we found was my mental clarity improved - and also - my medical cannabis was longer-acting in system - evidently enhanced by the memantine. whereas before, i might need three bowls before noon to keep symptoms in check, i found one lasted the entire morning..... somehow, the endocannabinoids in the brain and the action of memantine actually improved not only my memory and cognitive function, it improved my whole system and complimented the effect of medical marijuana. and the best part? no icky side effects whatsoever from memantine. nothing but a plus. i don't know all the science of why, but i'm sure someone else out there can shed a little more light as to how it works - i'm just darned glad it does. canna-bliss-ings, mbc [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by Toker00 on March 14, 2006 at 03:55:03 PT Mind over matter. This study is so rediculous. They chose their subjects from a drug abuse treatment program. Was it the Salvation Army program? Or the Betty Ford program? The major drug of abuse is alcohol. Can we have a study on each drug of abuse, and see if ANY of them cause even more severe memory loss? I know a lot of people who drink but can't remember what they did later. If a brain isn't kept busy learning, it will lose more than just memory. Doing a good job requires the ability to remember to not make mistakes. I am at my peak ability in my craft. If you can remember to not make mistakes, who cares if you only remember sixty out of a thousand words someone shoves at you?Why not do a report about all the cannabists whose memory HASN'T been affected? Oh, I know. There aren't any tests results out there, so let's flood the market with all these bogus one sided propaganda articles, and confuse everyone.I'm going back to college this summer. I made B's when I was in my twenties at Univ. So. Miss. Let's see how I do in my fifties. Remember, I've smoked regularly for 35 years.Wage peace on war. END CANNABIS PROHIBITION NOW! [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by OverwhelmSam on March 14, 2006 at 02:18:51 PT Should Have Waited A Few Weeks After Smoking The ability to forget the painful past can be a wonderful blessing. Especially when it comes to the retarded drug prohibitionists and the cruel marijuana war. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on March 14, 2006 at 02:18:40 PT Alcohol group How about another group, this one uses alcohol and gets drunk four or more times a week for ten years. How would they do on the study? I bet the potheads would, metaphorically, smoke 'em. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by lombar on March 13, 2006 at 22:06:22 PT High School "For example, long-term marijuana users are more likely to have spent high school stoned, and thus might be less likely to have boosted their vocabularies reading literature. So asking them to recall words they are not familiar with in the first place wouldn't necessarily mean the marijuana has damaged their brain."When I first started using cannabis, a book was the best escape from reality. While the kids were struggling thru grade 8, I was reading James Clavell. In order to have any validity they would have to have to have baseline measurements before and after the 'long term usage'. It is not merely hard to 'tease out the other variables' it is outright impossible.""It will help us understand that cannabis is not such an innocent drug,""Right there is the motivation. Not harmless or without consequence, he used the word 'innocent'. His bias is evident, I bet NIDA funded the research, it was in support of prohibition.Why didn't they test the heavy users just after they consumed some cannabis... [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on March 13, 2006 at 18:53:00 PT whig You're bad, bad, bad! LOL! [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on March 13, 2006 at 18:52:02 PT mayan I believe that they would need to do a study using only people who just smoked Cannabis and never did any other drugs or alcohol. I don't know anyone that would be able to be in a true fair study. Studies are just to make a point one way or the other. People are individuals and no one is quite the same so results will alway vary. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by whig on March 13, 2006 at 18:44:24 PT Hmm I forgot. What were we discussing? [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by mayan on March 13, 2006 at 18:04:48 PT FoM That is the question. What other substances have those "subjects" been using for years? I can't believe Messinis and his colleagues used people from a drug-abuse treatment program for this study!The Dutch tell a different story...Frequent Cannabis Use Not Associated With Cognitive Declines In Working Memory, Selective Attention: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6832On an unrelated note, THE 9/11 COVER-UP IS CRUMBLING...Scholars Question Cheney's Role in 9/11: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/3/prweb357922.htmHicks Shuts Down Spitzer Fund-Raiser: http://www.hicksforsenate.com/2006/03/hicks-shuts-down-spitzer-f_114225952643582562.htmlPakistan weekly spills 9/11 beans: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060313/asp/nation/story_5962372.aspAllegations of Bribes to 9/11 Commission: http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20060313080211207Ex-State Department Security Officer Charges Pre-9/11 Cover-Up: http://counterpunch.org/cockburn03092006.html9/11 Truth Revealed at Movie Premiere in Auburn: http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/03/1807523.phpTime for the true story about 9/11: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_matthew__060311_time_for_the_true_st.htm [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by FoM on March 13, 2006 at 17:04:28 PT A Question What drug or drugs did the people use in this study that made them be in a drug-abuse treatment program? 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