Since Alaska has now legalized THC, what effect is this having on Alaska?

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2/12/2000

VAPE STUDY REVEALS TROUBLING LINK BETWEEN MARIJUANA AND FALSE MEMORIES

A memory is not a simple recall of a truth. Memory is more of a restructuring of what one may think is the truth. …

Marijuana and its main psychoactive ingredient THC have been found to impair memory before. Animal studies suggest regular marijuana use harms long-term memory skills. But a new study raises the stakes, linking using weed to false memories.

In a new study, researchers specifically examine the link between marijuana use and the formation of false memories.

Across three experiments, they found that marijuana consistently increases a person’s susceptibility to false memories — which they point out is especially problematic in the context of a crime, and cannabis-intoxicated witnesses and suspects.

The study was published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

There are two kinds of false memories: They are either spontaneous — a result of internal cognitive processes — or suggestion-based — occurring because of external suggestions. The study looked at the effects of marijuana on the ability to form both. It turns out that elevated false memories are the norm when THC affects memory retrieval.

The most important takeaway from the study is that cannabis exerted a general impact on memory by increasing various types of recollective errors, the researchers say. There is a debate over how different types of false memories relate to each other, but the current study shows that intoxicated individuals may be at higher risk of forming “all kinds of memory errors, which can be perilous in investigative interview settings.”

STORY