EFFECTS OF CHRONIC DRUG USE ON COGNITION

药物滥用仍然是美国的一个主要健康问题。 吸毒对认知的不良影响令人严重关切。如果一些 吸毒者发展长期的脑功能障碍，潜在的成本， 社会在增加的医疗保健费用和降低的生产力， 高令人惊讶的是，尽管许多人的认知能力严重受损， 药物已被证明，慢性药物作用的实验研究 关于认知的研究数量很少，方法论薄弱，而且模棱两可。 结果。 我们研究的广泛而长期的目标是了解 长期使用几种药物，单独或联合使用，对认知的影响。 本申请中提出的研究将检查 大麻单独使用和与酒精结合使用的研究， 经常使用大麻，经常使用酒精，或经常使用 与很少使用任何一种物质的个人;以及 将通过研究多种非法药物对认知的影响， 经常同时使用大麻和可卡因的人， 其他非法药物。各组将根据智力功能进行配对 在开始使用药物之前，使用标准化评分记录 爱荷华州几乎所有的孩子都可以使用的测试。类似的， 高度相关的标准化测试，适合成人， 强调利用以前获得信息的战略将 沿着强调抽象的计算机化测试 学习和记忆新信息的能力。 四组吸毒者谁是病人将在非药物测试 入院接受药物和酒精治疗后14至21天 设施，并将重新测试3个月后入院评估 持续禁欲可能导致认知缺陷的变化。的 这项研究将确定参与四种模式的人是否 慢性吸毒者相对于匹配的非吸毒者表现出损害， 特别是审查最广泛使用的非法药物的相互影响， 合法药物（大麻和酒精）和参与的影响 可卡因和其他非法毒品，以及大麻。

Drug abuse continues to be a major health problem in the United States. Adverse effects of drug use on cognition are of serious concern. If some drug users develop long-term cerebral dysfunction, the potential costs to society in increased health care costs and decreased productivity are high. Surprisingly, although acute impairments of cognition from many drugs have been demonstrated, experimental studies of chronic drug effects on cognition have been few in number, methodologically weak, and ambiguous in outcome. The broad, long-term objectives of our research are to understand effects of chronic use of several drugs, alone and in combination, on cognition. The study proposed in this application will examine cognitive effects of marijuana alone and in combination with alcohol by comparing individuals engaging in frequent marijuana use, frequent alcohol use, or frequent use of both substances with individuals who rarely use either substance; and will examine cognitive effects of multiple illicit drugs by studying individuals who use both marijuana and cocaine frequently, in combination with other illicit drugs. Groups will be matched on intellectual function before the onset of drug use, using records of scores on standardized tests that are available for virtually all children in Iowa. Similar, highly correlated, standardized tests that are suitable for adults and that emphasize utilization of previously acquired information will be administered, along with computerized tests that emphasize abstraction ability and learning and remembering new information. Four groups of drug users who are patients will be tested under non-drug conditions 14 to 21 days after admission to drug and alcohol treatment facilities, and will be retested 3 months after admission to assess possible changes in cognitive deficits with continued abstinence. The study will determine whether individuals engaging in four patterns of chronic drug use show impairments relative to matched non-users, specifically examining interactive effects of the most widely used illicit and licit drugs (marijuana and alcohol) and effects of involvement with cocaine and other illicit drugs, in addition to marijuana.