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Richard H. Schwartz, MD; Paul J. Gruenewald, PhD; Michael Klitzner, PhD; Paul Fedio, PhD

Am J Dis Child. 1989;143(10):1214-1219.

Abstract
• The concentration of -9-tetrahydrocannabinol in marijuana available in the United States has increased by 250% since investigations of the effects of marijuana on short-term memory first appeared in scientific journals. Moreover, previous investigations of short-term memory in long-term marijuana smokers involved adults only. We evaluated the auditory/verbal and visual/spatial memory of 10 cannabis-dependent adolescents and compared the results with performance of 17 subjects in two control groups. The control groups included 8 adolescent drug abusers who had not been long-term users of cannabis and another 9 adolescents who had never abused any drug. All three groups were matched on age, IQ, and absence of previous learning disabilities. Adolescents with a history of frequent alcohol or phencyclidine abuse were excluded from entering the study. A battery of seven neuropsychological tests was administered initially to all subjects and a parallel test battery was administered 6 weeks thereafter. Significant differences between the cannabis-dependent group and the two control groups were obtained initially on the Benton visual Retention Test (F[2,24] = 6.07) and the Wechsler Memory Scale Prose Passages (F[2,23] = 7.04). After 6 weeks of supervised abstention from intoxicants, subjects in the cannabis-dependent group showed some significant improvement on the Wechsler Memory Prose Passages score and on the Benton Visual Retention Test; however, the improvement failed to achieve statistical significance. We concluded that cannabis-dependent adolescents have selective short-term memory deficits that continue for at least 6 weeks after the last use of marijuana.

(AJDC. 1989;143:1214-1219)

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Pediatrics, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC (Dr Schwartz); Prevention Research Center, Berkeley, Calif (Dr Gruenewald); Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Vienna, Va (Dr Klitzner); and Neuropsychology Section, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md (Dr Fedio).

Footnotes
Accepted for publication April 20, 1989.

Presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association, Washington, DC, May 1988.

Reprints not available.

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