WORLD SCIENCE
WORLD
SCIENCE
"Long
Before It's In the Papers"
RETURN
TO THE WORLD SCIENCE HOME PAGE
Pot
changes
brain
more
than
a
month
after
use,
Yale
imaging
study
finds
The
study
may
come
as
a
surprise
to
proponents
of
marijuana
legalization,
as
it
contradicts
several
previous
results
showing
that
there
are
no
significant
long-term
effects
of
marijuana
use. Normally
human
memory
formation
is
associated
with
a
specific
pattern
in
a
part
of
the
brain
called
the
hippocampus.
The
pattern
is
abnormal
in
teenagers
with
a
history
of
marijuana
use,
Yale
University
researchers
found
based
on
the
study. The
marijuana
users
in
the
study
also
performed
worse
on
a
simple
working-memory
tests
in
which
the
participants
heard
a
list
of
words
and
periodically
were
asked
to
repeat
a
word
that
was
one
or
two
words
back
on
the
list.
The
marijuana
users
had
stopped
taking
the
drug
for
more
than
one
month
before
the
tests. Their
research,
published
on
June
issue
of
the
Annals
of
the
New
York
Academy
of
Sciences,
involved
seven
teenagers
with
a
history
of
marijuana
use
and
14
without
such
a
history.
The
authors
said
the
results
should
be
taken
with
caution:
because
of
the
small
sample
size,
the
research
is
merely
a
"pilot
study"
and
further
studies
are
needed
to
confirm
the
findings. The
university's
Leslie
Jacobsen
and
colleagues
used
functional
magnetic
resonance
imaging
in
the
research,
a
type
of
brain
scan
technology
that registers blood flow to functioning areas of the brain.
The
technique
is
supposed
to
reveal
which
parts
of
the
brain
are
active
at
any
given
time. Links: Annals
of
the
New
York
Academy
of
Sciences
World
Science
staff
One
of
the
first
studies
to
use
brain
scans
to
examine
marijuana's
effects
has
found
that
smoking
it
may
be
associated
with
changed
brain
activation
patterns
more
than
a
month
afterward.
WORLD SCIENCE
"Long
Before It's In the Papers"
