Cannabis use may harm working memory in young adults, new study suggests

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How Marijuana Is Used

About 7% of medical users and 12% of medical/ recreational users among women 18 to 34, had severe cannabis use disorder, compared with 6% of recreational users. About 14% of medical users and 13% of medical/recreational users among men 18 to 34 had severe cannabis use disorder, compared with more than 8% of recreational users. Delta-8 THC is another intoxicating cannabinoid found in the cannabis plant. Eating large amounts of products containing delta-8-THC has led to medical emergencies, including breathing problems5,6. There is limited research on the health effects delta-8-THC and other intoxicating cannabinoids and related compounds, including delta-10-THC, THC-O-acetate, THCV, THCP, HHC, HHC-O-acetate, HHCP, and CBN. Symptoms of marijuana withdrawal include agitation, decreased appetite and sleep problems.

Signs and symptoms

Heavy cannabis users in the study tended to be male, with a lower educational and social economic status, and were more likely to be smokers and drink alcohol. Over time, the continued need to is weed addictive consume cannabis to avoid withdrawal symptoms and to regain the pleasurable effects can lead to addiction, formally known as Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD). Cannabis, which some people call marijuana, refers to the dried leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds of the Cannabis sativa L plant. The plant contains at least 125 different cannabinoids,1 including delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Delta-9 THC is the most abundant form of THC in the cannabis plant. It has intoxicating effects, meaning it can temporarily alter a person’s mood, thoughts, and perceptions.

How to Find Help for Marijuana Misuse

• Tolerance is characterized by a need for larger doses of a drug to maintain the same effects.
• And then if we can go a step further, it would be wonderful to engage in some motivational interviewing, and if possible, cognitive behavioral therapy with return to use prevention when it comes to cannabis.
• Reach out to a healthcare professional such as a primary care provider or a psychologist for support.

Other mental health considerations have been noted in people with cannabis dependence as https://ecosoberhouse.com/ well. These findings suggest that heavy cannabis use may have lasting effects on brain function, particularly working memory, even after cessation. This has important implications for public health messaging around marijuana use. The research indicates that users may benefit from periods of abstinence before cognitively demanding tasks, though the optimal duration of such breaks remains unclear. Interestingly, heavy cannabis use didn’t seem to significantly affect these other brain functions. The researchers found that cannabis had a statistically significant effect on brain function during working memory tasks, meaning the observed impact is very unlikely to be due to random chance.

• These can help you change thoughts and behaviors that make it hard to quit.
• “Higher cannabis use disorder prevalence among adults with medical-only use might reflect more frequent cannabis use,” the researchers concluded in their paper.
• Marijuana has withdrawal symptoms, although they are generally less severe than those of heroin or alcohol, but you can still benefit from a medical detox.

Long-Term Effects of Cannabis on the Brain: Neuroimaging Studies

The link between reduced working memory and lifetime heavy cannabis use persisted when the researchers only looked at data from the heavy lifetime users who did not test positive for recent use. For the recent use portion of the drug addiction study, 106 people tested positive, including 19 people who were considered non-users because they said they had used cannabis less than 10 times in their lifetime. For example, 18- to 24-year-old men used medical marijuana 217 days on average, compared with 212 days for medical/recreational users and 154 for purely recreational users. Medical and medical/recreational users smoked an average 40% to 70% more days each year than recreational tokers, researchers found. Among women in the same age group, 2% each of medical and nonmedical users and 4% of those with both medical and recreational use had severe cannabis use disorder. “Clinicians should consider addiction risk before recommending medical cannabis and, if they do, should monitor for CUD cannabis use disorder emergence,” the researchers added.

We are a team of highly trained Psychologists and Psychiatrists who use the most progressive therapeutic treatment approaches, including medication if necessary. “An example is checking your blind spot when driving down the road,” Gowin said. “When you look back in front of you, you need to remember what you saw in the blind spot before you can make a good decision if you want to change lanes or not.

Marijuana Addiction

If you’re an adult, you’re allowed to buy it from a licensed source. “Part of the problem with prevention and deciding whether you should use a drug or not is that it’s hard to imagine, with one’s current brain, having a brain that isn’t making those evaluations rationally,” he said. Unlike opiate misuse, which can set in fairly quickly with heavy use, marijuana misuse can take months or even years to develop. A user might not immediately realize that they’ve crossed the line into addiction. “Marijuana-addicted people rarely present for treatment,” said Stalcup. “So, a lot of the people we see have gotten caught up in the legal system.

Signs of cannabis use disorder

A 2014 study examined people who use drugs and who came to the emergency room with drug-related problems, which is a strong indicator that something is not manageable. They’re not driving under the influence of the drug or using the drug at work. They don’t get caught with marijuana and never enter the legal system.