Cognitive decline in multiple sclerosis

Patients with multiple sclerosis who smoke marijuana show impaired thinking compared with patients who don't. Marijuana, also known as cannabis and ganja, is also a drug used for medicinal purposes. It's sales and possession is illegal in many parts of the world. To investigate the emotional and cognitive effects of cannabis use in patients with MS, researchers from Canada studied 140 patients suffering from MS, 10 of whom were users of cannabis. On an average, cannabis users were 9 years younger than the non-users. Each user of cannabis was matched by age, demographics and disease characteristics to four patients who did not use cannabis. The participants were made to undergo clinical trials and complete intellectual tests to assess cognition, working memory and sustained attention. It was found that the proportion of patients who met the diagnostic criteria for a psychiatric condition were higher in the cannabis group. In addition, on a number of intellectual tests, cannabis users were slower than non-users. People with multiple sclerosis already suffer from slowness of thought, memory disturbances and psychological disturbances, which in extreme cases can also lead to suicidal tendencies. The above findings suggest that the use of cannabis can further deteriorate the mental capabilities of MS patients. However, future studies are required to clarify this relationship.

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