ArticleFrontiers in pharmacology2017
The Grass Might Be Greener: Medical Marijuana Patients Exhibit Altered Brain Activity and Improved Executive Function after 3 Months of Treatment.
Article in Frontiers in pharmacology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of medical cannabis on cognitive functions: a systematic review.Systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol on cognitive outcomes following acute use of cannabis for chronic pain.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Real-Time and Long-Term Effects of Medical Marijuana on Older Adults: Protocol for a Prospective Cohort Study.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- The effects of orally ingested Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol on drivers' hazard perception and risk-taking behaviours: A within-subjects study of medicinal cannabis users.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- History of cannabis use and cognitive function in older adults: findings from the UK biobank.Age and ageing · 2025Article
- Clinical and Cognitive Improvement Following Treatment with a Hemp-Derived, Full-Spectrum, High-Cannabidiol Product in Patients with Anxiety: An Open-Label Pilot Study.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Commentary on the Role of Medicinal Cannabis in Healthy Aging and Neuroprotection.Current medicinal chemistry · 2025Article
- A longitudinal study of cannabis use and risk for cognitive and functional decline among older adults with HIV.AIDS and behavior · 2023Article
- Perceived Efficacy, Reduced Prescription Drug Use, and Minimal Side Effects of Cannabis in Patients with Chronic Orthopedic Pain.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2022Observational
- Increased White Matter Coherence Following Three and Six Months of Medical Cannabis Treatment.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2022Article
- Clinical and cognitive improvement following full-spectrum, high-cannabidiol treatment for anxiety: open-label data from a two-stage, phase 2 clinical trial.Communications medicine · 2022Article
- A survey of medical cannabis use during perimenopause and postmenopause.Menopause (New York, N.Y.) · 2022Article
- Cannabis-only use in the USA: prevalence, demographics, use patterns, and health indicators.Journal of cannabis research · 2022Article
- Cannabis Use and Neuroadaptation: A Call for ΔFrontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Cannabis Use and Resting State Functional Connectivity in the Aging Brain.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Article
- A Cross-Sectional and Prospective Comparison of Medicinal Cannabis Users and Controls on Self-Reported Health.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2021Article
- The Neurocognitive Effects of Cannabis Across the Lifespan.Current behavioral neuroscience reports · 2021Article
- Medical Cannabis for Headache Pain: a Primer for Clinicians.Current pain and headache reports · 2021Review
- Cannabinoid Formulations and Delivery Systems: Current and Future Options to Treat Pain.Drugs · 2021Review
- Use of Medical Cannabis to Treat Traumatic Brain Injury.Journal of neurotrauma · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The vast majority of states have enacted full or partial medical marijuana (MMJ) programs, causing the number of patients seeking certification for MMJ use to increase dramatically in recent years. Despite increased use of MMJ across the nation, no studies thus far have examined the specific impact of MMJ on cognitive function and related brain activation. In the present study, MMJ patients seeking treatment for a variety of documented medical conditions were assessed prior to initiating MMJ treatment and after 3 months of treatment as part of a larger longitudinal study. In order to examine the effect of MMJ treatment on task-related brain activation, MMJ patients completed the Multi-Source Interference Test (MSIT) while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We also collected data regarding conventional medication use, clinical state, and health-related measures at each visit. Following 3 months of treatment, MMJ patients demonstrated improved task performance accompanied by changes in brain activation patterns within the cingulate cortex and frontal regions. Interestingly, after MMJ treatment, brain activation patterns appeared more similar to those exhibited by healthy controls from previous studies than at pre-treatment, suggestive of a potential normalization of brain function relative to baseline. These findings suggest that MMJ use may result in different effects relative to recreational marijuana (MJ) use, as recreational consumers have been shown to exhibit decrements in task performance accompanied by altered brain activation. Moreover, patients in the current study also reported improvements in clinical state and health-related measures as well as notable decreases in prescription medication use, particularly opioids and benzodiapezines after 3 months of treatment. Further research is needed to clarify the specific neurobiologic impact, clinical efficacy, and unique effects of MMJ for a range of indications and how it compares to recreational MJ use.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.