More recent research found improved neuropsychological performance following cannabis use. According to the author of a 2007 study from Berlin, "[T]o our surprise, cannabis abusing schizophrenic patients … achieved results either similar to those [achieved] by the non-using cannabis schizophrenic patients or, at times, performed even better than them," investigators concluded. "[R]ather than deteriorating neuropsychological performance, cannabis [use] prior to [a patient’s] first psychotic episode improved cognition in some tests."

Cognitive dysfunctions are thought to be present in more than 80 percent of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

A separate 2005 study by investigators at Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain reported that schizophrenic patients who consumed cannabis prior to disease onset possessed greater cognitive skills after ten years than did non-users.

Neurocognitive studies performed on healthy volunteers generally report that the use of marijuana, even long-term, is not associated with any significant or long-lasting declines in cognitive function. [6]

            Related sections: Depression, Psychoactivity, Stress Reduction.