Is Smoking Weed Every Day Harmful? Here’s what a new study reveals

By Nina Zdinjak

What, if any, are the negative effects of regular marijuana use? According to a comprehensive review published Wednesday in the journal Addiction, cannabis use can result in mild or moderate acute cognitive impairment that may persist after the intoxication phase, MedicalXpress reported.

The study was conducted by the Research Center of the Institute Universitiaire En Santé Mentale De Montréal in Canada. It was a meta-review, i.e. a review of reviews, in which the results of 10 meta-analyses with a total of 43,000 participants were combined.

Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels

While meta-analysis is a powerful tool, a National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) study warned that meta-analysis can be a controversial tool that can lead to misleading conclusions because “decisions made in designing and performing a meta-analysis require personal judgment.” require and expertise, creating personal biases or expectations that may affect the outcome.”

The study concludes that marijuana intoxication produces cognitive deficits in the following areas:

• Make a decision;
• memory and concentration;
• Suppression of inappropriate responses;
• learning through reading and listening;
• The time it takes to complete a mental task.

According to the review, these adverse effects of cannabis use begin during use and continue thereafter.

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“Our study allowed us to highlight several areas of cognition impaired by cannabis use, including concentration, memory and learning difficulties, which can have a significant impact on users’ daily lives,” said study co-author Dr. Alexandre Dumais, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Université de Montréal. “Consequently, cannabis use in adolescents can lead to reduced educational attainment and in adults to poor job performance and dangerous driving. These consequences can be worse in regular and heavy users.”

importance of the study

The study also highlighted that cannabis is the third most commonly used psychoactive substance in the world after alcohol and nicotine, with adolescents and young adults being the most common users.

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With the recent global trend towards legalization of cannabis changing perceptions of the plant’s safety, the study authors emphasized the importance of understanding the cognitive risks associated with marijuana use, particularly for adolescents whose brains are undergoing significant developmental changes.

This article originally appeared on Benzinga and has been republished with permission.