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Marijuana - Is using it really that big of a deal?
Reprinted from the Bulletin of the Allegheny County Medical Society, November 24, 1984.
Are We Losing Einsteins? by Abraham Twerski
Given the enormity and ubiquity of the use of marijuana, I wish to utilize this form to bring some rather recent findings to the attention of the medical community.
The early papers on marijuana were the results of studies done in the 1960s when the use of THC became widespread. The potency of the marijuana available at that time was about one-tenth (of) that in use today.
In one study, a group of seasoned airline pilots were given a flight plan and permitted to practice on a flight simulator until they were completely familiar with it. They were then each given one marijuana cigarette and asked to repeat the performance. Each pilot made at least one fatal error. It appears that marijuana interferes with the capacity to organize and coordinate multiple data inputs simultaneously.
In another study, a group of 40 mathematicians was given a number of very complicated mathematical problems. Only twelve in the group were able to solve all of the problems. These twelve were then given one marijuana cigarette three times a week for three months (very mild use by today’s standards). After three months, they were again given the same problems. None of the twelve were able to successfully solve the problems they once had solved before.
Three months later they again failed to solve the problems. They have been tested at intervals and it is now more than five years since the experiment and none has regained the capacity to solve the problems.
The significance of the latter study is alarming, since it indicates that even moderate use of marijuana may permanently impair the highest levels of abstract thinking. We may have already lost many of the Einsteins, Flemings and Salks of the next generation.
It is time that medical scientists make every effort to keep themselves well informed about the effects of mind-altering substances and on this basis speak out authoritatively to the public.
Reprinted from the Bulletin of the Allegheny County Medical Society, November 24, 1984.
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