L’abstinence, un moyen efficace de récupération des capacités d'apprentissage et de mémorisation chez les adolescents et les jeunes adultes consommateurs de cannabis ?

Details

Supervisors

Muccioli, Giulio

Faculty

Faculté de pharmacie et des sciences biomédicales

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences pharmaceutiques, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

enMarijuana, or cannabis, is the most widely used drug in the world. In a decade, its use has doubled, going from 14.8% to 30.6% worldwide. Moreover, with the new legalizations, a concern of increased use is emerging. Adolescents and young adults are using it without really thinking about the detrimental effects it has on cognition. These effects are important in the hippocampus, the amygdala and especially in the prefrontal cortex, which is maturing during adolescence. These regions are involved in the processes of learning, memorization and in the regulation of executive functions. Because the brain, at an early age, is still developing, it is more vulnerable to the effects of cannabis. In fact, early onset has been associated with greater effects on cognition. Therefore, it is important to address this issue and raise awareness among young people. The aim of this work is to highlight a possible improvement in cognition, especially memorization and learning, after abstinence in adolescents and young adults who use cannabis. Currently, only three studies have been conducted about this subject. Two studies, one from 2010 and another one from 2018, were able to show an improvement in memorization and learning after respectively two weeks and one week of abstinence. A third one, more recent, only found an improvement in attention after a three-week abstinence.