Effects of marijuana on performance of a computerized cognitive-neuromotor test battery.

To evaluate the sensitivity of a computerized cognitive-neuromotor test battery in assessing the effects of marijuana (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol [THC]), we conducted a study of 10 healthy male volunteers who were experienced marijuana smokers. After extensive training on the performance tasks, each subject was tested on three separate days after smoking a cigarette containing either 1.75% THC, 3.55% THC, or placebo according to a randomized double-blind repeated measures design. Testing was carried out before smoking and 30, 90, and 150 minutes after smoking the cigarette. Of the five tasks employed, the digit-symbol substitution test with memory and the reaction time task were the measures most sensitive to effects of marijuana. We examined the usefulness of the coefficient of variation and effect size as indices of sensitivity to be used across different types of tasks.