Pubdate: Tue, 23 Feb 2016
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2016 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10

Health in Brief

POT SMOKING LINKED TO POOR VERBAL MEMORY

The longer you smoke pot and the earlier you start smoking it, the 
more likely you are to have problems recalling words in middle age.

But past exposure to marijuana doesn't appear to affect other mental 
skills, such as processing speed and executive function.

So says a recent large study that tracked marijuana use in more than 
3,000 people over 25 years. Participants came from a handful of cities.

"Cumulative lifetime exposure to marijuana remained significantly 
associated with worse verbal memory," researchers wrote in the online 
medical journal, JAMA Internal Medicine.

The study comes at a time when more states are legalizing marijuana 
for medical purposes.

Though researchers did not examine the impact of smoking pot on 
overall memory, they did look at the effect on verbal memory. 
Notably, they found that when asked to memorize a list of 15 words, 
half of the people who smoked pot recreationally over time could 
recall about one word less than nonsmokers.

Participants were between 18 and 30 when the study started, and they 
were asked about their marijuana use at eight intervals throughout 
the 25 years.

Most - 85 percent - said they had smoked pot at one time or another.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom