Cannabis Induces Different Cognitive Changes in Schizophrenic Patients and in Healthy Controls
Maria C. Jockers-Scherubi et al, “Cannabis induces different cognitive changes in schizophrenic patients and in healthy controls” Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry 31, issue 5 (June 2007): 1054-1063.
Schizophrenics typically do worse on cognitive tests than healthy individuals, and many schizophrenics use marijuana. Does marijuana use affect their cognitive performance? In this small case control study, marijuana use before age 17 was associated with cognitive impairment among healthy subjects, but schizophrenic patients who had used marijuana had better cognitive performance by several measures, with younger initiation of use associated with the best cognitive performance, and adding yet another wrinkle to the complicated story of the interactions of marijuana and mental illness.
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