A new study found that long-term marijuana use is linked to poorer performance on verbal memory tests in middle-aged adults. The study was conducted by following thousands of young adults into middle age, giving them cognitive tests throughout the years. The good news for regular weed smokers is that other areas of brain function do not appear to be affected.
At the beginning of the study in the 1980s, participants were 18 to 30 years old and more than 80 percent reported past marijuana use, probably at an arcade or roller skating rink. As the study continued, 12 percent of the participants continued to use marijuana into middle age. The study did not report reasons for continued usage, though it's likely because they still like to party, or need sweet relief from the mundane daily grind they find themselves trapped in during middle age.
The study results found that as the years of marijuana use increased, verbal memory scores decreased. The researchers were able to break it down to simple math: for every additional five years of exposure, 50 percent of marijuana users would remember one less word from a list of 15 tested words. Although stoners are probably just fine with those odds, if they can remember them.
The study found no cognitive impairment in people that used marijuana in moderate amounts, or stopped using it in their 20s. The researchers hope these studies continue, since recreational marijuana continues to be legalized in more and more of the United States, bringing fancy trends with it such as weed tents at weddings and farm-to-table weed delivery.