The week is halfway over, which means we’ll soon be able to enjoy a well-deserved weekend. Wonderful! Many of us do this in exactly the same way: with a bong in one hand and a cold glass of beer in the other. The result? Spending the whole evening lounging on the couch in a nice, drowsy state. So it won’t surprise you that a well-filled bong or joint isn’t exactly great for your memory. At least, that’s what we always think… But is that really true? Well, it turns out cannabis isn’t nearly as bad for your memory as you might think. On the contrary! In this article, we’ll explain exactly how that works…
Does reading this article make you want to create something tasty right away? Here at Dutch-Smart, we have absolutely everything you need to enjoy cannabis to the fullest. In our headshop, you’ll find everything from bongs to grinders, and from rolling papers and tips to lighters.
Go cannabis users!
Okay, where were we? The study!
“Cannabis users performed better than those who had never tried cannabis in a recent study that tested participants’ working memory.”
With this conclusion, a group of researchers presented their most recent study, in which they sought to determine the effects of marijuana on our brains. And that’s quite remarkable, given that we usually hear (and notice) that cannabis does little good for your memory. The researchers themselves share this view:
"Although some suggest that cannabis use during adolescence may have long-term consequences for brain development, the supporting science is ambiguous. Some studies suggest negative outcomes, while others suggest no effect at all,” explained study author Brenden Tervo-Clemmens of the University of Pittsburgh.
Mixed results
That is exactly what is happening. One study says one thing, and the next says something completely different. For example, some studies have shown that cannabis use is associated with impairments in working memory—where information relevant to the task at hand is stored and processed—but other research suggests that cannabis is completely harmless.
Time for even better research, the study group concluded. They recruited participants from the Maternal Health Practices and Child Development Study, a longitudinal study examining the effects of prenatal exposure to medications on children. The participants have been followed since birth and were 28 years old at the time of the current study. Fifteen participants had never used cannabis, 14 had tried cannabis but had stopped, and 46 were regular cannabis users.
The researchers used fMRI scans to observe the participants’ brain activity while they completed a spatial working memory test. "We conducted neuroimaging in adults whose substance use was measured during adolescence," Tervo-Clemmens told PsyPost, an American media outlet covering all aspects of psychology.
"We found that the age at which participants reported starting to use cannabis was associated with slower performance on a working memory task and that these behavioral differences were driven by brain regions associated with visual attention."
‘Age matters, quantity does not’
"However, the associations between the age of onset of cannabis use and working memory and brain function were not sensitive to the amount of reported cannabis use," Tervo-Clemmens explained. "Furthermore, compared to those who had never tried cannabis, cannabis users performed better or showed no difference on the working memory task."
In other words: it might very well be that cannabis use isn’t all that bad for memory, as long as you don’t start too early. Still, such conclusions are premature, the researchers say.
