A team of researchers from the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University (USA), and Northwestern Memorial Hospital, has found that young people who smoke marijuana daily for long periods of time are especially prone to developing problems with memory .
To determine this, they carried out a trial in individuals aged 16 to 17 who had consumed this compound for three years and studied changes in the structure of their brain using a magnetic resonance imaging system. Thus, they detected that they presented physical alterations in their hippocampus, a region associated with the formation of long-term memories, even 24 months after having given up the habit .
In an article published in the journal Hippocampus , these scientists explain that young former marijuana users performed specially designed memory tests 18% worse than other people their same age who had not abused the substance . In the case of those who also suffered from schizophrenia, this figure increased to 26%.
According to John Csernansky, professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the aforementioned institutions, who has coordinated this initiative, "the processes associated with memory that cannabis seems to affect are the same that we use to solve everyday problems ."
