McLean Hospital Study Finds That Medical Marijuana Use May Improve Cognitive Performance
A Pilot Study Assessing the Impact of Medical Marijuana on Executive Function
Preliminary evidence from a new study led by McLean Hospital’s Staci Gruber, PhD, director of the Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery (MIND) program, suggests that medical marijuana may not impair, and in many cases, may actually improve executive functioning in adults.
“After three months of medical marijuana treatment, patients actually performed better, in terms of their ability to perform certain cognitive tasks, specifically those mediated by the frontal cortex,” explained Gruber.
Study participants also reported improvements in their specific clinical conditions, sleep, and overall health as well as a decreased use of conventional medications, particularly opiates.
“We saw a 42 percent reduction in opioid use,” reported Gruber. “This is significant, particularly for those of us in Massachusetts and other areas of the country where the opioid epidemic is ravaging so many. This preliminary finding certainly warrants deeper and broader investigation.”
Here is the link: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2016.00355/full