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TORONTO – A study found that teenagers and young adults who regularly consume cannabis, but stop for 30 days, have better memory and learning ability compared to their peers who continue to smoke, spray or to ingest marijuana.
The study by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers focused on two broad areas of cognitive function – attention and memory – among a group of young people aged 16 to 25 who regularly consume cannabis, engaging in less once a week.
About two-thirds of the 88 subjects were randomly assigned to abstain from weeds for 30 days, while the others continued their usual use. Researchers conducted regular assessments of participants' thinking and memory during the 2015-2016 study period.
Frequent urine tests were done to verify that those in the cannabis – free group had stayed away from the drug. Nearly 90% met the 30-day criteria for continued abstinence.
"Our findings provide two compelling evidence," said lead author Randi Schuster, director of neuropsychology at the Center for Addiction Medicine at Boston Hospital.
"The first is that adolescents learn better when they do not use cannabis," she said. "The second, which is the good news of history, is that at least some of the deficits associated with cannabis use are not permanent and improve rather quickly after cessation of the cannabis use. "
This improvement occurred largely during the first week of abstinence, according to the authors, whose research was published Tuesday in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
However, the study did not reveal any difference in attention – the ability to stay focused on a visual task, for example – between the two groups after 30 days.
Schuster said that there were a number of potential reasons, including the possibility that a longer period of abstinence would be required for the attention deficits that occur when doing so. Marijuana use is corrected.
The research was released the same day that Health Canada released the latest national data on tobacco, alcohol and drug use among Canadians aged 15 and over, who rate cannabis use as the highest among young people aged 15 to 19 (19%). and young adults aged 20 to 24 (33%).
The authors of the study note that adolescence and the beginning of adulthood are critical moments for brain development, especially for the most sensitive regions of the brain to the effects of cannabis, especially the THC psychoactive ingredient.
A study conducted in 2016 by the same research team found that cannabis users aged 16 and under had difficulty learning new information, a problem that had not been observed in this study among users 17 years old and over.
"When I see this data, I am concerned that their regular use by younger users may have a negative impact on their ability to reach their full potential," said Schuster of Boston. "One of my big concerns is how does this happen in a classroom and does it prevent them from succeeding and learning?"
Dr. Romina Mizrahi, a clinical researcher at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, called the Boston research "important."
"What was particularly surprising to me was the fact that these young cannabis users used it at least once a week, which suggests that even … what you would call a recreational use on weekends is associated with some impairments, which are improved after abstinence, "she said Tuesday.
Schuster said that there were still many issues to consider, especially if attention could be improved and memory would continue to improve with longer periods of cannabis avoidance.
These are questions that will be addressed in two major follow – up studies conducted by his team, one of which is aimed at young participants – aged 13 to 19 – and at a group that is not involved. have never used cannabis, to determine whether the cognitive improvements brought about by abstinence reduce participants to performance levels similar to those of non-users.
A second trial will follow young cannabis users who stay away for six months, to determine if cognition continues to improve beyond 30 days and if these improvements can affect school performance.
The ability to "learn" or "map" new information is an essential part of classroom success, Schuster said.
"Young cannabis users who stop using drugs on a regular basis – every week or more – may be better equipped to learn effectively and thus better able to succeed in their studies," she said.
"We can confidently say that these findings strongly suggest that refraining from cannabis helps young people learn, while continuing cannabis use may interfere with the learning process."
Mizrahi nodded, saying it was essential that young people understand that their brains were developing until around the age of 25 and that cannabis could interfere with the system that governs this maturation process .
"In other words, you are changing the basic architecture of the brain," she said. "It is therefore dangerous that your brain is not yet fully developed because it may not develop completely because young people would not have used cannabis."
– Follow @SherylUbelacker on Twitter.
Sheryl Ubelacker, Canadian Press
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