Health & Medicine - Posted by Clare Ryan-UCL on Monday, October 4, 2010 12:23 - 3 Comments 
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Smoking potent pot fries memory
Researchers found that people smoking cannabis containing a low percentage of cannabidiol performed much worse on the memory tests when they were intoxicated than when they were sober. In contrast, those smoking cannabis high in cannabidiol performed just as well on the tests when they were intoxicated as when they were sober. (Credit: iStockphoto)
UCL (UK) — Certain strains of cannabis low in cannabidiol, such as skunk, put smokers at a greater risk of acute memory loss than other types of the drug, new research shows.
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The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.
Two major constituents of cannabis are Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol. THC is the main psychoactive ingredient which makes users feel “stoned” and produces psychotic-like symptoms such as delusions and paranoia.
In contrast, cannabidiol does not induce these symptoms and may counteract the effects of THC. Levels of cannabidiol in cannabis can range from virtually none, to up to 40 percent.
Researchers at University College London (UCL) tested 134 cannabis users between the ages of 16 and 23 years. The participants were invited to take a series of memory tests on two separate occasions—once while they were smoking their own preferred type of cannabis and were intoxicated, and once when they had not smoked for the last 24 hours and were sober. Details are reported in the October issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
A sample of the cannabis each participant smoked was taken on the intoxicated day and analyzed for levels of THC and cannabidiol. Saliva samples were also taken from each participant, and analyzed for levels of THC and cannabidiol.
The researchers found that people smoking cannabis containing a low percentage of cannabidiol performed much worse on the memory tests when they were intoxicated than when they were sober.
In contrast, those smoking cannabis high in cannabidiol performed just as well on the tests when they were intoxicated as when they were sober. There were no differences in the THC content of the cannabis smoked by any of the participants.
“We asked the participants to recall a short passage of prose, immediately after hearing it and again after a short delay. We found that people who were smoking cannabis low in cannabidiol experienced memory impairment and remembered less of the prose that they could when sober,” says psychology professor Valerie Curran.
“However, people who were smoking high cannabidiol strains were still good at these tests. Indeed, their performance when intoxicated was virtually indistinguishable from when they were drug-free.”
“Over the last 20 years, the constituents of street cannabis have changed, with low-cannabidiol strains like skunk now dominating the market,” Curran adds. “But our study suggests that these strains can increase the risk of cognitive harm. On the back of this study, we believe users should be made aware of the risk of memory impairment from smoking low-cannabidiol strains.”
More news from UCL: www.ucl.ac.uk/news/
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3 Comments
joe4379
So the test was *during* a smoking session? Of course it’ll impair memory then! The headline and lede imply permanent damage….
Bob
Who cares…crack is a real drug. One hit and you’re addicted to such a degree you’re homeless and selling your body for a rock. Pot…it’s really no worse for me than my morning cup of coffee.
- User of 15 years
The haphazard effect of memory loss from pot has been known for years. Now the smoker can ask for an analysis of the weed he is buying. The odds of somebody doing this is not high. Especially if you have been smoking skunk for a while. Research now needs to be done to see if the memory impairment is temporary or permanent.