Current issues of debate about marijuana laws and interest in marijuana as medicine

In the current issue of debate about marijuana laws and interest in marijuana as medicine one issue remains unresolved: Does heavy, frequent, or prolonged use of cannabis lead to a deterioration in cognitive function that persists well beyond any period of acute intoxication? Is the functioning of the brain altered in the long term? With over 7 million people using cannabis weekly and the potential for increased physician recommendations for select patients to use cannabis therapeutically, …

…as a result of prolonged cannabis use and worsen with increasing years of use. Impairments develop gradually but may only become clinically significant and detectable by standard neuropsychological tests after 1 to 2 decades of cannabis use. However, altered brain function and impairment has been shown to manifest earlier. For regular users of the drug, the kinds of impairments observed in this study have the potential to impact academic achievements, occupational proficiency, interpersonal relationships, and daily functioning.