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Does marijuana affect the brain, specifically memory?

OneShotKi11

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Basically this is just a question I have that my friends are debating.
Is marijuana harmful to an individuals memory? How harmful is it during your adolecences?
If so, are you able to regain memory through some sort of brain power exercises?
 
I'm not going to reply because by tomorrow you're gonna forget you asked this question.
 
In my experience, marijuana has had no effect on... um... that thing you were just asking about... sorry, what was the question again?
 
There's evidence that it negatively affects memory, individual-by-individual.

My guess is that short term memory could be stymied because lots of times when you're baked you don't pay very close attention to "things I must remember today".

Long term memory, I say no effect. My friend, who's the stoniest that ever stoned, can recall what I was wearing and what we discussed, when we met more than twenty years ago. He has an uncanny memory, and it appears unaffected by his Cannabis use.

BTW: so there's no confusion, nobody is advocating anything here, nor should they.
 
I didn't enter the debate with my friends because I lack the knowledge on the subject, but from a few of the things I have read it can have an affect.
 
OneShotKi11 said:
Basically this is just a question I have that my friends are debating.
Is marijuana harmful to an individuals memory? How harmful is it during your adolecences?
If so, are you able to regain memory through some sort of brain power exercises?
Click to expand...

It effects the brain's ability to make long term emories during the duration of intoxication. So yes.

No long term effects after the withdrawl.

It is not good to go to school high, or study high. (If you want to learn.)
 
The serious answer: the memory effect of marijuana for which the most definitive evidence exists is to impair the formation of new memories, while one is under its influence. (Possibly for a longer period, extending beyond the perceived high, but evidence for that is scantier.)

Memories that were never formed in the first place (such as trigonometry if you were getting stoned before every class) cannot be recovered with memory exercises, but there's no evidence that the ability to form memories or to recall memories already formed is permanently impaired. So, once the THC is out of your system you should be able to re-learn what you missed, and get the same benefits from memory exercises or memory-sharpening activities as anyone else.

Respectfully,
Myriad
 
What people have written above jibes with what I've heard, but I think we would better serve the poster by citing some actual studies.

Based on my purely subjective experiences, I highly suggest not smoking it until you are 18 years old or older. There is just so much brain development going on in the teen years that in my opinion you don't want to throw other chemicals into the mix. Marijuana can sap motivation and has the potential to be habit forming. The older and more mature you are, the easier it becomes to evaluate these risks and to handle those effects. I speak here not as an anti-drug zealot, but as someone who smokes pot almost every day.
 
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Myriad said:
The serious answer: the memory effect of marijuana for which the most definitive evidence exists is to impair the formation of new memories, while one is under its influence. (Possibly for a longer period, extending beyond the perceived high, but evidence for that is scantier.)

Memories that were never formed in the first place (such as trigonometry if you were getting stoned before every class) cannot be recovered with memory exercises, but there's no evidence that the ability to form memories or to recall memories already formed is permanently impaired. So, once the THC is out of your system you should be able to re-learn what you missed, and get the same benefits from memory exercises or memory-sharpening activities as anyone else.

Respectfully,
Myriad
Click to expand...

I agree with most of that especially the part about how it mostly affects you while under the influence of marijuana. But you don't forget everything and you can even remember some complex concepts. I still wouldn't recommend it before going in for a job interview.
 
godless dave said:
Marijuana can sap motivation and has the potential to be habit forming. The older and more mature you are, the easier it becomes to evaluate these risks and to handle those effects. I speak here not as an anti-drug zealot, but as someone who smokes pot almost every day.
Click to expand...


Wierd. I've long had the habit of lacking motivation, yet I can only remember smoking marijuana twice. (Canada in 79 and Wyoming in '81).

What year are we in now again?
 
Soapy Sam said:
Wierd. I've long had the habit of lacking motivation, yet I can only remember smoking marijuana twice. (Canada in 79 and Wyoming in '81).

What year are we in now again?
Click to expand...

I was lazy and unmotivated long before I smoked weed, but there is some evidence that the effect exists. I'd look it up, but I'm just not motivated.
 
stoned.jpg

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/01/28/dude/
 
Has anyone really been far as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

Well, yes, but throw title taken down with never wanted decided even look more like.
 
I agree that smoking marijuana can have negative effect on an individuals memory, but again it has to do with that particular individual, as is the case with most drugs. It depends on how much motivation you have in the first place.

For example, one could argue that marijuana aids in creativity as seen with certain artists of all mediums. Ideas are formed because of the alternate view we get on reality as a result of using it. I'm sure some people here like Carl Sagan, right? lol. I will contend that these people can remember very well what they produce while under the influence of pot.

godless dave for instance stated that he smokes pot every (or almost every) day. He seems to be on these forums a lot and I bet he has learned tons of stuff even though he's been stoned. Whether he could have learned more depends more on his will to learn what he is interested in.

If you can 'channel' your will to learn for subjects you are interested in, marijuana may hold you back slightly but your will to learn will to learn could also be strengthened because of said alternate view (high) you gain.

Marijuana is different from other drugs' alternate views because although it may contend to be more enjoyable than sobriety, it doesn't make sobriety unbearable for you when you may need to be sober =]. I'm a firm believer that marijuana is a great aid to humanity in so many ways.
 
That said, I don't blaze up just before starting a C# tutorial, and if I were to back to school for any reason* I would either cut way down or give it up entirely for the duration.







*Sorry, Mom, this is purely hypothetical.
 
I don't know about marijuana, but let me tell you about the side effects of Topamax (topiramate). Almost everyone who takes it seems to rather rapidly lose memory, the ability to find words, lots and lots of IQ points, and a number of other things that are often found to be handy (and that's just part of the fun, believe me.) You wouldn't believe how bad this can be until you've seen someone on T; it can literally be like seeing (and hearing) a stroke victim, including small children who have to take it.

However, unlike marijuana, Topamax is NOT a recreational drug (it's used for uncontrollable epilepsy, severe migraines, bipolar disorder that won't respond to anything else, intractable ADHD, PTSD, and a bunch of other miscellaneous things.) Sometimes, I have to admit that it kind of scares me to be swallowing it three times a day. However, I don't feel like I have any choice. NOTHING else works for me. I'm one of the very few who hasn't had any of the cognitive effects (although I've had some of the others), but I sometimes have an unpleasant image of a ticking time bomb somewhere in my head.... and, I'm sorry, I don't mean to disparage anyone's personal choice or sound holier-than-thou (starts lacing up running shoes, because it's going to sound like that anyway), but I just cannot help thinking, why would ANYBODY gamble with a drug which might screw up your cognitive functioning when you don't HAVE to take it??? When you actually have a choice?

Self-righteousness is so unattractive, isn't it?:rolleyes:
 
It doesn't mess with your cognitive functioning as much as the Ads on TV would say. I live in the Birmingham area (near UAB) and I have heard there are a few doctors that smoke and I have smoked with quite a few nurses. It is great for calming your nerves when you don't wanna take something like Xanex. And as for the effects on your lungs there is some pot out there that is strong enough that you only need 2-3 hits to give you a 2-3 hour buzz. When you compare it to alcohol it is much better in terms of health problems, which marijuana has very few.
 
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