Researchers looking into the effects of medical marijuana use on brain processes say in a new federally funded paper published by the American Medical Association that cognitive attributes such as working memory, reward and inhibitory control were not significantly affected after a year of cannabis consumption.
The results appear to run contrary to long-held stereotypes about marijuana negatively affecting memory and other brain health indicators. “Our results suggest that adults who use cannabis, generally with light to moderate use patterns, for symptoms of pain, anxiety, depression, or poor sleep, experience few significant long-term neural associations in these areas of cognition,” the study says.
There was no statistically significant difference in brain activation between the 2 time points (baseline and 1 year) in those with medical cannabis cards and no associations between changes in cannabis use frequency and brain activation after 1 year were found.
Similarly, Harvard and MIT found that Marijuana use “did not have a significant association with brain activation or cognitive performance” over the same year period.
