UC San Diego

Objective

Adolescent marijuana use continues to increase in prevalence as harm perception declines. Better understanding of marijuana's impact on neurodevelopment is crucial. This prospective study aimed to investigate cortical thickness and neurocognitive performance before and after 28 days of monitored abstinence in adolescent marijuana and alcohol users.

Method

Subjects (N = 54; >70% male) were adolescent marijuana users (ages 15-18 years) with regular alcohol use (MJ + ALC; n = 24) and non-using controls (CON; n = 30) who were compared before and after 4 weeks of sequential urine toxicology to confirm abstinence. Participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging, neuropsychological assessment, and substance use assessment at both time points. Repeated-measures analysis of covariance was used to look at the main effects of group, time, and Group × Time interactions on cortical thickness and neurocognitive functioning. Bivariate correlations estimated associations between cortical thickness, substance use severity, and cognitive performance.

Results

Marijuana users showed thicker cortices than controls in the left entorhinal cortex (ps < .03) before and after monitored abstinence, after adjusting for lifetime alcohol use. More lifetime marijuana use was linked to thinner cortices in temporal and frontal regions, whereas more lifetime alcohol use and heavy episodic drinking episodes was linked to thicker cortices in all four lobes (ps < .05). Age of onset of regular marijuana use was positively related to cortical thickness (ps < .03).

Conclusions

Adolescent alcohol and marijuana use may be linked to altered longer-term neurodevelopmental trajectories and compromised neural health. Cortical thickness alterations and dose-dependent associations with thickness estimates were observed both before and after monitored abstinence and suggest neural differences continue to persist 28 days after cessation of marijuana use. Neural recovery may be identified with longer follow-up periods; however, observed changes related to use severity could have implications for future psychosocial outcomes.