Story highlights Regular marijuana use delays processing of visual information in the retina, researchers claim

More study is needed, researchers say

(CNN) A marijuana habit may alter your vision, according to a new study.

Regular cannabis use delays the processing of visual information at its very beginning, in the retina, the results of a study published Thursday in JAMA Ophthalmology suggest. This disruption may impact the eyesight of regular pot smokers and edibles eaters, even if the influence is very weak, the authors noted.

"Such an anomaly could be imperceptible for cannabis users," said Dr. Vincent Laprevote, lead author of the study and a physician at Pole Hospitalo-Universitaire de Psychiatrie du Grand Nancy in Laxou, France. "However, it is important, since it could reflect the changes in the communication between neural cells implied by regular cannabis use."

Cannabis is known to act on synaptic transmissions within the brain. Since the retina is an easy-to-access extension of the central nervous system, a comparison study of retinal processes in both regular marijuana users and controls might provide more information about the drug's effects in the brain, hypothesized Laprevote and his co-authors.

The researchers examined whether cannabis disturbs the function of cells known as retinal ganglion cells.

Read More