{"id":531704,"date":"2026-04-15T06:33:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/531704\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T06:33:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:33:15","slug":"new-side-effect-from-smoking-cannabis-discovered-in-groundbreaking-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/531704\/","title":{"rendered":"New side effect from smoking cannabis discovered in groundbreaking study"},"content":{"rendered":"

While hazy memories are a common side effect of smoking cannabis, a new study has suggested that it can make those memories feel real when they’re actually not.<\/p>\n

Researchers at Washington State University<\/a> recruited 120 cannabis users and randomly assigned them to inhale either real cannabis containing 20 or 40 milligrams of THC<\/a> – the main psychoactive compound in cannabis – or a placebo.<\/p>\n

Participants then completed 21 different memory tests, many of which had never before been used in cannabis research<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The results showed 70 percent of the participants had some level of memory impairment<\/a> after consuming THC.<\/p>\n

And the worst side effect<\/a> was false memory and recalling events or details that never happened.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew research suggests that cannabis could be messing with memory formation in a way you wouldn’t expect (Getty Stock Images)Why do these ‘false memories’ happen?<\/p>\n

Scientists think false memories happen when the brain tries to reconstruct incomplete information.<\/p>\n

Because THC weakens the recollection but leaves the general sense of familiarity intact, people may feel certain about memories that are inaccurate.<\/p>\n

“Relative to placebo, cannabis increased susceptibility to false memories and detrimentally impacted verbal memory (immediate, delayed, working), visuospatial memory (immediate, delayed), event-cued prospective memory, source memory, and temporal order memory,” the researchers wrote.<\/p>\n

“There were no significant differences between the moderate and high dose groups.”<\/p>\n

Carrie Cuttler, an associate professor and co-author of the 2026 study, told National Geographic<\/a>: \u201cYou are activating certain pathways to create a memory and to recall something, you are trying to reactivate that same pathway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe worst side effect found in the study was false memory (Getty Stock Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you blast the system with THC, the THC hijacks the system,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Authors said it was ‘the first study to detect acute effects of cannabis<\/a> on prospective memory and temporal order memory, which is important because these tests better reflect everyday memory and predict daily functioning’.<\/p>\n

“Collectively, these results indicate that acute cannabis use has broad detrimental effects on most domains of memory rather than selectively impairing a limited number of these domains,” they added.<\/p>\n

Cuttler, however, notes that the side effect isn’t likely to impact you in the same way alcohol does and can.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcute alcohol intoxication is generally more disruptive to memory than cannabis,\u201d says Cuttler.<\/p>\n

She said that THC side effects can also dramatically reduce after ‘a person abstains from cannabis for a month’.<\/p>\n

\"CannabisCannabis has been the most used drug in England and Wales since estimates began (Getty Stock Images)Common side effects from smoking weed<\/p>\n

According to Mayo Clinic<\/a>, other common side effects from marijuana use include:<\/p>\n

Altered senses, like seeing brighter colors or smelling scents more intenselyAltered sense of time and spaceEuphoria and mood changesIssues with thinking and problem-solvingImpaired memoryDisorientation and confusionRelaxation and\/or sleepiness (sedation)DizzinessIssues with coordinationSlowed reaction timeExperiencing a panic attack<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While hazy memories are a common side effect of smoking cannabis, a new study has suggested that it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":531705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2505,59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-531704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-drugs","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/531705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}