This Week's News from NORML - Experienced Marijuana Consumers Exhibit Virtually No Change In Cognitive Task Performance After Smoking, Study Says
- Oregon: Marijuana Dispensary Measure Likely To Qualify For November Ballot
- Washington: Proposed Marijuana Legalization Initiative Will Not Qualify For 2010 Ballot
Experienced Marijuana Consumers Exhibit Virtually No Change In Cognitive Task Performance After Smoking, Study Says
Share This Article       New York, NY: Experienced marijuana consumers exhibit nominal changes in cognitive performance after inhaling cannabis, according to clinical trial data published online this week in the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior. Investigators at Columbia University in New York and the San Francisco Brain Research Institute assessed acute marijuana-related effects on cognitive functioning in 24 volunteers who reported consuming the drug at least 24 times per week. Researchers determined that participants' overall performance accuracy on episodic memory and working memory tasks "was not significantly altered by marijuana." Authors concluded: "The present findings show that smoked marijuana produced minimal effects on episodic and spatial working memory of near-daily smokers. The overall response accuracy on the word recognition and working memory tasks was unaffected by marijuana, although smoked marijuana did increase the amount of time participants needed to complete these tasks. "This pattern of effects is consistent with results previously reported by other researchers studying the acute effects of marijuana on cognitive performance of regular users. ... The finding ... stands in contrast to previous findings in occasional smokers who showed reduced accuracy on these same tasks after marijuana. ... The observation that frequent users' response accuracy is not altered after marijuana smoking to the same extent it is for infrequent users ... suggests that near-daily marijuana smokers may have developed tolerance to some marijuana-related behavioral effects." For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: pa...@norml.org. Full text of the study, "Neurophysiological and cognitive effects of smoked marijuana in frequent users," will appear in Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior.
Oregon: Marijuana Dispensary Measure Likely To Qualify For November Ballot
Share This Article Salem, OR: Proponents of a measure to establish statewide regulations for the legal production and distribution of medical marijuana have collected an estimated 130,000 signatures from registered voters in an effort to qualify the proposal for the November 2010 ballot. The measure, known as I-28, needs approximately 83,000 valid signatures to qualify for the fall ballot. The Secretary of State's office is presently in the process of verifying proponents' signatures. Initiative 28 seeks to allow for the state-licensed production and non-profit distribution of cannabis to authorized patients. Under the plan, both dispensaries and private producers would be subject to inspection and auditing by the health department. Polling commissioned by Voter Power, who is co-sponsoring the initiative campaign, found that 59% of Oregon voters support the measure. In 2009, voters in Maine approved a similar measure to legalize and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries. Lawmakers in Colorado, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Washington, DC have enacted regulations overseeing the state-authorized distribution of marijuana. However, to date such regulated facilities only exist in Colorado and New Mexico. Oregon voters initially legalized the physician-authorized use of marijuana in 1998. Patients may grow their own marijuana under the law or designate a caregiver to cultivate for them. For more information, please visit: http://coalitionforpatientsrights2010.com/.
Washington: Proposed Marijuana Legalization Initiative Will Not Qualify For 2010 Ballot
Share This Article Seattle, WA: A statewide ballot measure that sought to remove all state penalties for the possession, cultivation, use, and sale of marijuana by those over eighteen years of age will not qualify for the November 2010 ballot, the measure's proponents have told the Associated Press. Backers of the volunteer effort said that they collected approximately 200,000 signatures from registered voters in favor of the proposal, known as Initiative 1068. State law requires proponents to collect some 241,000 signatures to qualify for the statewide ballot. According to a May 2010 University of Washington poll, 52 percent of the state's registered voters said that they supported the measure, and only 35 percent opposed it. For more information, please visit: http://sensiblewashington.org.
| 
