If you smoke marijuana, Arizona State University wants to study you. A report circulated online that sounded similar to other hippie pipe dreams involving ASU looking to examine in-state medical marijuana patients in-state.
At first it seemed too good to be true, but the university confirmed the information on its website this week.
Researchers from the ASU Department of Psychology are looking for medical marijuana users between the ages of 18-30 with an Arizona medical marijuana card to participate in a study. The study compares the immediate effects of your at-home use of different types of marijuana and takes approximately 10 hours over the course of 1 week. During that week, you will be asked to come to the lab for a two hour visit, and you will receive several text messages per day asking you to complete short surveys related to your marijuana use and marijuana effects. Participation is voluntary.
Those volunteers will earn $95 for their time, which is good enough to score about a quarter-ounce to a half-ounce of quality weed at Arizona’s state dispensaries.
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ASU researcher Madeline Meier confirmed the validity of the study as well to the Phoenix New Times. Meier’s work has made worldwide headlines while supervising ASU’s Substance Use, Health, and Behavior Lab. Her studies have ranged from detailing how long-term cannabis use from childhood adversely affects adulthood IQ and cannabis users’ worst possible worry was less-healthy teeth and gums.
Meier also participated in another study that expanded her initial cannabis findings recently published in the scientific journal Addiction. It illustrated no evidence of IQ loss in adolescents ages 12-18 who consume marijuana.
“Findings from the two studies suggest that short-term cannabis use in adolescence probably does not harm IQ but long-term cannabis use might,” Meier told Phoenix New Times. “The major concern is that some adolescents who use cannabis will find it difficult to quit and will develop long-term dependence on cannabis as adults, which has been found to harm cognitive function.”
While the current study underway remains under wraps, the posting on ASU’s website mentions “understanding links between cannabis use, psychotic-like experiences, and vascular health” and “testing whether older adult marijuana users show neuropsychological impairment and functional impairment in everyday life.” Click here to learn more and information about participating.
