Patients who used medical cannabis for a year didn’t see any negative effect on their memory, reward processing and impulse control, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open. The researchers, from Harvard, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions, had expected to see some of those effects because they have shown up in studies of recreational weed users, our Mona Zhang reports. But much of that earlier research focused on young people who use cannabis heavily. Why it matters: The FDA hasn’t approved the drug for any medical use, but medical marijuana is legal in 38 states. One estimate put the number of patients at more than 8 million. They use weed for a wide variety of conditions, from anxiety to Parkinson’s disease. The details: The researchers gathered data from 57 medical cannabis patients from the greater Boston area who sought medical cannabis cards so they could legally purchase the drug to help relieve their anxiety, depression, pain or insomnia. Thirty-two control participants were also recruited. Brain imaging after one year of medical cannabis use didn’t find any association between brain response while participants completed working memory, reward processing or inhibitory control tasks. The researchers didn’t see any changes in behavioral performance either. The study’s participants were generally older, white, female and well-educated, which could limit how applicable the findings are to other demographic groups. Adults who start using cannabis for medical purposes are likely to have different neural implications than young people who use the drug recreationally. And certain conditions like depression could influence the effects of cannabis on the brain. The study’s sample size was too small to break out subgroups of medical cannabis patients. Also, patients were free to choose whatever cannabis they wanted from the dispensary, so the study didn’t take into consideration product type or dosage. What’s next? The researchers call for further study with more diverse subjects and a more careful examination of whether certain product types or dosages impact cognitive processes.
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