A study found drug users often drifted off in the middle of sentences and would repeat a joke or story they had told already.The drug cannabis people used, the more they abated in their everyday memory, scientists conclude.
The findings come from one of the largest studies carried out into the impact of recreational drugs on psychological function. However, it is not representative of all drug takers and involved more than 600 people taking part in an online questionnaire. The survey looked at drug-taking habits and whether they affected people's ability to remember simple tasks.Dr Andrew Scholey, a psychologist from the University of Northumbria, said: "The more they had taken ecstasy in the past, the more their long-term prospect of memory failed. The other thing we recorded was the number of errors they made when submitting the questionnaire. The research team suggest ecstasy targets the frontal lobes of the brain, which are related to memory and organising responses. People with frontal lobe damage caused by accidents often find difficulty concentrating and are more easily distracted, research shows.
