The Effects Of Marijuana And Alcohol On The Brain

Marijuana and alcohol use have been thought to be detrimental to brain function. The purpose of this experiment was to observe, and test, what kind of effects marijuana and alcohol have on the brain. This experiment is a longitudinal study that consisted of the participants using alcohol and marijuana over a period of three years and being evaluated by a series of tests. These tests measured multiple aspects of cognition such as memory and how quickly they could understand and sort material. The partakers were chosen from students in California whose ages ranged from 16-19 years old, therefore these students are in late adolescence and early emerging adulthood. It is important to note these stages because the use of drugs can alter the brain

makeup, and during these stages the brain has not yet developed completely. The independent variable is the marijuana and alcohol use, because the drugs affect the outcomes of the tests. The dependent variable would be the cognitive functions of the brain, because the functions are manipulated by the marijuana and alcohol use. The experimental group is the group that uses these substances regularly. Participants were classified as regular users if they used marijuana more than 60 times, and regular alcohol use was scaled by how many alcoholic drinks were consumed each month with the range being 0-248 drinks each month. There were two branches of the experimental group one was early use of marijuana and the other was later use. The control group only used marijuana about one-seventh of the amount of times as the experimental group, and the maximum amount of drinks each month was 58 drinks.