Cannabis Improves Night Vision

For years now, researchers have noticed that people who regularly consume marijuana have a better night vision. Jamaican fishermen have long claimed that marijuana improves their vision, according to a letter published in the journal Nature by M E West in 1991. “I went with a crew on a dark night to a fishing cay 40 miles south of Kingston. The approaches to the ca are shallow with an abundance of coral reefs. Only a narrow entrance of deep water allows boat to get close for mooring,” write West. He waited for the boat to crash, only to be told that they had successfully docked. “I was then convinced that the men who had taken the rum-extract of cannabis had far better night vision than I had.” In a study published in the journal eLife, a group of researchers offer an answer. Lois Miraucourt and team decided to test the effect of cannabis on eye cells of tadpoles of the African clawed toad (the retinas of these frogs have cannabinoid receptors). The results showed that retinal ganglion cells, essential inner eye neurons, become more sensitive to light after being exposed to cannabis. The tadpoles themselves showed better ability to distinguish contrast after that exposure as well.