Impairment / Accidents / Cognitive Functions
 

Abel EL. 1970. Nature 1227: 1151-1152. (Marijuana and memory.)

Abel EL. 1971. Science 173:1038-1040. (Marijuana and memory: acquisition or retrieval?)

Block RI, Wittenborn JR. International Journal of the Addictions. 1986;21: 281-285. (Marijuana effects on the speed of memory retrieval in the letter matching task.)

Brookoff D, Cook CS, Williams C, Mann CS. New England Journal of Medicine Aug.25,1994 pp 518- 522. Testing Reckless Drivers For Cocaine and Marijuana. (A total of 175 subjects were stopped for reckless driving, and 150 submitted urine samples for drug testing at the scene of arrest. 59% tested positive. 13% for cocaine, 33% for marijuana, 12% for both.)

Chesher GB, Bird KD, Sacramarcos A, Nikas M. 1985 In Harvey DJ,(ed), Marijuana 1984, Oxford, IRL Press. Pp 621-627. (A comparative study of the dose response relationship of alcohol and

cannabis on human skills performance.)

Chesher G, Consroe P, and Musty R., (eds.) Marijuana: An International Research Report. (Monograph Series No. 7. Australian Government Publishing Service. Canberra, Commonwealth of Australia. 1988. 433pp.)

Crouch J, et al. 1993 J Forensic Sci 38: 1342-1353. The prevalence of drugs in fatally injured truck drivers. (Study found 12.8% marijuana and 12.5% alcohol in truck drivers involved in fatal accidents.)

Darley CF, Tinklenberg JR, Hollister LE, Atkinson RC. 1973 Memory and Cognition 1:196-200. (Influence of marijuana on storage and retrieval processes in memory.)

Department Transport Research Report 202. The incidence of drugs in road accident fatalities. London: HM Stationery Office, 1989. (Department of Transport figures showed that in the period 1984-87 cannabis was the commonest drug [apart from alcohol] found post mortem in fatal road traffic accidents [RTAs]. Cannabis use was estimated to increase the risk of fatal RTAs by a factor of 3.5.)

Dittrich A, Battig K, Zeppelin JV. 1973 Psychopharmacologia 29:369-376. (Effects of delta-9-THC on memory, attention and subjective state.)

Dornbush RL, Fink M, Freedman AM. 1971 Am. J. Psychiatry 128: 194-197. (Marijuana, memory and perception.)

Elwan O, Hassan AAH, Naseer MA, Elwan F, Deif R, Serafy OE, Banhawy EE, Fatatry ME. Brain aging in a sample of normal Egyptians cognition, education, addiction, and smoking. Journal of Neurological Sciences 1997;148:79-86. (A decline in attention was determined in cannabis addicts consistent with pathological aging. 37 addicts mostly hashish smokers)

Fletcher JM, Page JB, Francis DJ, Copeland MA, Naus MJ, Davis CM, et al. Cognitive correlates of long-term cannabis use in Costa Rican Men. Arch Gen Psych 1996;53:1051-1057. (Older users average use 34 years and younger users average 8 years. Older users showed more disruption of short term memory, working memory, and attention skills.)

Gerostamoulos J, Drummer OH. Journal of Forensic Sciences. 1993; 38:649-656. (Incidence of psychoactive cannabinoids in drivers killed in motor vehicle accidents.)

Gjerde H, Kinn G.. Forensic Science International 1991;50:57-60. (Impairment in drivers due to cannabis in combination with other drugs.)

Heishman et al. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp 93-101, 1997. (This well performed study substantiates observations made in many previous studies that even small doses of alcohol and marijuana impair performance.)

Jeffery, WK, Hindmarsh, KW, Mullen, PW. Can. Soc. Forens. Sci. J. Vol.29.No 2 (1996) pp.93-98. The Involvement of Drugs in Driving In Canada; An Update to 1994. (Marijuana was found in 38% of the blood samples taken from 1441 impaired or dead drivers across Canada.)

Kamine et al. Behavior of Pharmacology, Vol. 5:71-78, 1994. (The effects of THC on 8 health subjects (19-32 years of age) all of whom had occasionally used marijuana were studied. Oral THC caused measurable learning deficits which, the authors concluded, might be disastrous in some environments, such as operating "the cab of a speeding locomotive." They pointed out that the "learning deficit from a single dose might become quite relevant if it cumulates over time.")

Kirby JM, Maull KI, Fain W. Southern Medical Journal. 1992; 85:800-802. (Comparability of alcohol and drug use in injured drivers.)

Kuehnle J, Mendelson JH, Davis KR, New PFJ. Computed tomographic examination of heavy marijuana smokers. Journal American Medical Association 1977;237:1231-2. (Even social doses seriously impair car driving and aeroplane flying ability because of distortions of time and space estimation, reduced vigilance, and incoordination.)

Leirer VO, Yesavage JA. 1991 Aviat Space Environ Med 62: 221-227. (Marijuana carry-over effects on aircraft pilot performance.)

Leirer VO, Yesavage JA, Morrow DG. Cannabis: Physiopathology, Epidemiology, Detection. CRC press. 1993 47-60. (Marijuana carry-over effects on psychomotor performance: a chronicle of research.)

Leon-Carrion J. Psychological Reports. 1990;67:947-952. (Mental performance in long-term heavy cannabis: a preliminary report.)

Marzuk PM, et al. Journal of the American Medical Association 1990; 263:250-256. (Prevalence of recent cocaine use among motor vehicle fatalities in New York City.)

Mathew, et al, Life Sciences, 60: 2075-2087, 1997. (This data shows that alterations in perception, emotion, and motor skills may be present in users of marijuana even when it has a very low THC content.)

Melges FT, Tinklenberg JR, Hollister LE, Gillespie HK. 1970 Science 168: 1118-1120. (Marijuana and temporal disintegration.)

Mendhiratta SS, Wig NN, Varma VK. 1978 Br.J. Psychiatry 132:482-486. (Some psychological correlates of long-term heavy cannabis users.)

Mendhiratta SS, Varma VK, Dong R, Mohhotra AK, Das K, Nehra R. 1988 Br J Addict. 83: 749-753. (Cannabis and cognitive functions: a re-evaluation study.)

Murray JB. Journal of General Psychology. 1986;113:23-55. (Marijuana's effects on human cognitive functions, psychomotor functions, and personality.)

NIDA Notes. (National Institute on Drug Abuse). NNVol.11N3 Marijuana Memory (Chronic heavy marijuana users showed residual impairment in cognitive abilities a day after they had last used marijuana.)

Pope HG, Yurgelun-Todd D, JAMA 1996;275:521-527. (The residual cognitive effects of heavy marijuana use in college students.)

Reeve VC, Robertson WH, Grant J, et al. 1983 J Forensic Sci 28: 963-971. (Hemolyzed blood and serum levels of delta-9-THC. Effects on performance of roadside sobriety tests.)

Reeve JC, Grant JD, Robertson W, et al. 1983 Drug Alcohol Depend. 1: 167-175. (Plasma concentrations of delta-9-THC and impaired motor function.)

Schwartz RH, Gruenwald PJ, Klitzner M, Fedio P. AJDC. 1989;143:1214-1219. (Short-term memory impairment in cannabis dependent adolescents.)

Soderstrom, CA, et al. Archives of Surgery Vol.123:733-737. 1988. Marijuana and Alcohol Use Among 1023 Trauma Patients. (Study found that 34.7% of patients received with major trauma injuries had marijuana in their system, 32.6% had alcohol.)

Soderstrom CA, Smith GS, Dischinger PA, McDuff DR, Hebel JR, Gorelick DA, Kerns TJ, et al. Psychoactive substance use disorders among seriously injured trauma center patients. Journal of the American Medical Association 1997; 277:169-1774. (39.7% of patients had urine positive for drugs other than alcohol and nicotine. Lifetime [current] drug dependency rates were cocaine 16.4% [10.6%], marijuana 14.8% [6.5%], opiates 13.8% [10%], hallucinogens 2.3% [0.4%], stimulants 1.9% [0.3%])

Soderstrom CA, et al. Cannabis; Physiopathology, Epidemiology, Detection. CRC press 1993;79-91. (Marijuana and alcohol use among 1023 trauma patients.)

Solowij et al. Biol Psychiatry, 37; 731-739, 1995. (The ability to focus attention and filter out irrelevant information was measured and was found to be impaired progressively by the number of years of marijuana use, but was unrelated to the frequency of use. The results suggested that a chronic buildup of cannabinoid produces both short and long term impairments of brain function compared to control subjects. Marijuana produces an attention deficit.)

Solowij et al, National Drug and Alcohol Research Center, Sydney, Australia. Life Sciences, Vol. 56, pp.2119-2126, 1995. (This study confirms that marijuana use produces difficulty in complex brain functions and, more disturbingly, even after up to 6 months of abstinence these effects were still present.)

Tinkleberg JR., Megles FT., Hollister LE., Gillespie HK. 1970 Nature 226: 1171-1172. (Marijuana and Memory.)

Tomaszewski C, Kirk M, Bingham E, Salzman B, Cook R, Kulig K. Urine toxicology screens in drivers suspected of driving while impaired from drugs Clinical Toxicology 1996;34:37-44. (Marijuana found in 66.9% of the drivers stopped for DWI)

Varma VK, Malhotra AK, Dang R, Das K, Nehra R. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 1988;21: 147-152. (Cannabis and cognitive functions: a prospective study.)

Volkow et al. Psychiatry Research: Neuro imaging, Vol. 67, pp 29-38, 1996. (Brain glucose metabolism in daily marijuana users at baseline and during marijuana intoxication were studied using positron emission tomography [PET scan]. THC produced lower glucose metabolism in the cerebellar part of the brain. The location of the abnormality in the cerebellum could account for the motor defects and lack of coordination previously reported in these subjects.)

Yesavage JA, Leirer VO, Denari M, Hollister LE. Am. J. Psychiatry. 1985;142:1325-1329. (Carry-over effects of marijuana intoxication on aircraft pilot performance; a preliminary report.)

Wig NN, Varma VK. 1977 Drug Alcohol Depend 2:211-219. (Patterns of long-term heavy cannabis use in North India and its effects on cognitive functions: a preliminary report.)

Zimmerman EG, Yeager EP, Soares JR, et al. 1983 J Forensic Sci 28:957-962. (Measurement of delta-9-THC in whole blood samples from impaired motorists.)

Zwerling and associates. Journal of the American Medicine Association, vol. 264, pp.2639 -2643,1990. (Marijuana users had 55% more industrial accidents, 85% more injuries and a 78% increase in absenteeism. The mean absence rate from the job was 7.1% for marijuana users compared to 4% for non-users.)
 
 

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