There has long been reason to think that marijuana may be helpful to some patients with bipolar disorder, as certain cannabinoids have been shown in lab and animal studies to have effects that ought to be beneficial. Now, a new study from the University of Oslo finds that marijuana use is associated with better neurocognitive functioning in bipolar patients. In various tests of memory, learning, etc., bipolar patients who used marijuana did better than those who didn’t use it – the exact opposite of what the researchers found in patients with schizophrenia, a condition marijuana can sometimes worsen. “The findings,” the scientists write, “suggest that cannabis use may be related to improved neurocognition in bipolar disorder.”

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