The Effect Marijuana has on Memory Recall. You are expected to write an 8 page term paper that explores recent research on one particular concept or idea from the textbook that interests you.
You are expected to write an 8 page term paper that explores recent research on one particular concept or idea from the textbook that interests you. In your paper, you must define the concept, give the appropriate historical background on the concept and summarize results regarding the current state of research on the concept, including at least 6 scholarly journal article references. The references must be research that has been done over the past 5 years.
As you get older, certain aspects of memory normally decline, but that does not mean you are powerless to protect your brain as you age. In fact, there is a lot you can do. In addition to getting regular exercise and eating a Mediterranean style diet, you can also consider what is known and not known about marijuana.
Is weed bad for your brain?
Cannabis contains varying amounts of the potentially therapeutic compound cannabidiol (CBD), which may help quell anxiety. However, there’s no question that marijuana (the dried flowers and leaves of the cannabis plant) can produce short-term problems with thinking, working memory, executive function, and psychomotor function (physical actions that require conscious thought, such as driving a car or playing a musical instrument). This is because marijuana’s main psychoactive chemical, THC, causes its effect by attaching to receptors in brain regions that are vital for memory formation, including the hippocampus, amygdala, and cerebral cortex. The extent to which long-term use of marijuana (either for medical or recreational purposes) produces persistent cognitive problems is not known.
Quality and Safety in Clinical Operations is a Harvard Medical School course being held in a live virtual format from June 8-10, 2022. This Continuing Education course will focus on ways to identify gaps and develop successful, sustainable, scalable interventions that lead to improved outcomes. You will leave this course with a pathway to review your institution’s current program and identify ways to advance strategically and tactically to impact outcomes. Lessons learned from the COVID-19 will be highlighted, including the need to aggressively advance our institutional approach to equity.
What you can do: If you use marijuana, understand you may have problems with memory and related cognitive functions while under the influence. There also is the possibility of developing cognitive problems with long-term use.
Marijuana has certain chemicals such as THC that enter your bloodstream and then ultimately pass the blood-brain barrier. Once marijuana’s chemicals reach your brain, they activate something called the endocannabinoid system, and this is intertwined with the areas of your brain that control your memory.
One example are your CB1 receptors. These receptors respond to the THC in marijuana, and they are in the hippocampus of the brain, which is the region where the majority of your memories are processed and ultimately stored.
So does marijuana affect memory, and if so, how?
First, we know that with marijuana and memory there is a short-term effect that’s also temporary. When you use marijuana, it impairs your short-term memory in a way that’s somewhat like what happens when you use alcohol. You may have trouble while you’re high on marijuana remembering certain things, but this isn’t a permanent change to your memory.
There is also some research showing that if you are a heavy marijuana user, it may create permanent damage to your short-term memory. If you’re someone who smokes marijuana daily and you have for a long period of time, you may be at risk for having lower levels of verbal memory by the time you reach middle age as compared to people who either didn’t use marijuana at all or did so minimally.
THC in marijuana can cause problems in memory related specifically to trouble encoding memories while high, and having problems with short-term recall. This means that you might not have a blackout when using marijuana, but it can be more difficult for your brain to create new memories while you’re high. You may also have problems recalling certain events or information while high.
With that being said, researchers are also starting to see that if you have a tolerance to marijuana, these effects on memory may be reduced.
Other studies that looked at the use of CBD, which is a component of marijuana that isn’t psychoactive may actually help combat memory impairment, and it may even be able to reverse cognitive impairments in some people. CBD doesn’t get you high, however, which is what’s meant by the fact that it’s not psychoactive. In older people who use CBD, it may act as a neuroprotectant.