Browsing by Subject "Marijuana"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Longitudinal Change in Cognition and White Matter Integrity in Young Adult Cannabis Users
    (2015-09) Becker, Mary
    Cross-sectional research indicates that cannabis use is associated with cognitive and neuroanatomical damage, particularly when used regularly during development. The timing of use-related impacts on cognition and brain structure remains unclear. This dissertation includes two studies to characterize the longitudinal (1) neurocognitive profile and (2) white matter microstructure of young adult cannabis users who initiated use during adolescence. Cannabis users were assessed on a comprehensive neurocognitive battery and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) protocol at baseline and at a 2-year follow-up. In Study 1, cannabis users had stable deficits in verbal learning and memory as well as planning ability, and a stable relative strength in processing speed at baseline and follow-up. Deficits in spatial working memory and motivated decision-making observed at baseline recovered to control-level performance at follow-up. Heavier and earlier use of cannabis during adolescence was associated with decline in verbal learning and memory performance over time. In Study 2, change in white matter microstructure between time points was observed. Cannabis users exhibited reduced white matter microstructure organization in the central and parietal regions of the superior longitudinal fasciculus, left superior frontal gyrus, corticospinal tract, right anterior thalamic radiation, and in the posterior cingulum; cannabis users demonstrated increased white matter microstructure in the left anterior corpus callosum and left thalamic white matter. The findings suggest that continued heavy cannabis use during adolescence and young adulthood disrupts ongoing development of white matter microstructure. White matter microstructure changes were generally unrelated to cognitive performance, and future research is needed to clarify their functional significance. Potential mechanisms and implications of the findings are discussed.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Making Marijuana Medical: Governing Bodies in Minnesota's Medical Cannabis Program
    (2022-06) Steel, Ryan
    For over a century, the defining, distribution, regulation, and punitive control of so-called ‘dangerous drugs’ has been a central feature of State policies and institutional practices in the US (and across the globe). The War on Drugs—which refers to the various punitive drug control-related policies and practices enacted over the last century—has assembled together a vast array of institutions, resources, and practices to authoritatively govern the use of ‘drugs’ (as defined by the State) and drug using bodies. Virtually no social institutions have been untouched by the Drug War, including medicine, criminal justice, the State, corporate manufacturing, the family, labor/employment, and culture, among others. Not only have they all been affected by the Drug War, but I argue they have been deeply shaped by it—that these institutions’ development has emerged in historically specific ways by their constitutive relationships to the Drug War. In that sense, the Drug War can be thought of as a machine made up of a variety of institutions (and the bodies that comprise them) that fit together and are configured in specific ways and, thereby, reconfigure and constitute each of these parts in the process. From this machinery, specific forms of governance are produced, affecting all that comes into contact with it and its apparatuses. This dissertation examines the ways in which the Drug War continues to operate in an era of medicalized drug reform through an in-depth case study of Minnesota’s medical cannabis program, which is one of the most restrictive in the US. By examining legislative hearings, professional position statements, in-depth interviews with medical cannabis patients, institutional and policy analysis, survey data from healthcare professionals, analysis of state-collected program data, and four years of ethnographic observation, this study provides insights into the institutional configurations of the program, the forms of governance it produces, and the consequences for patient bodies in their everyday lives.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Neurocognition in college-aged daily marijuana users
    (2013-12) Petrosko Becker, Mary
    Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States. Use, particularly when it occurs early, has been associated with cognitive impairments in executive functioning, learning, and memory. This study comprehensively measured cognitive ability as well as comorbid psychopathology and substance use history to determine the neurocognitive profile associated with young adult marijuana use. College- aged marijuana users who initiated use prior to age 17 (n=35) were compared to demographically-matched controls (n=35). Marijuana users were high functioning, demonstrating comparable IQs relative to controls and relatively better processing speed. Marijuana users demonstrated relative cognitive impairments in verbal memory, spatial working memory, spatial planning, and motivated decision-making. Comorbid use of alcohol, which was heavier in marijuana users, was unexpectedly found to be associated with better performance in many of these areas. This study provides additional evidence of neurocognitive impairment in the context of early onset marijuana use. Complications in determining cause-effect associations are discussed.