PUFF-A-DAY OF POT MAY KEEP OLD MEMORY FUNCTIONING

WASHINGTON -- A daily puff of a compound like marijuana, the plant
blamed for ruining potheads' recall, might help maintain memory in old
age, researchers who tried it on rats reported yesterday.

Elderly rats better remembered their way around a swimming pool and
could find hidden resting spots after Yannick Marchalant and his
colleagues at Ohio State University gave them a compound that mimics
the effect of marijuana on the brain's cannabis receptors. Other rats
got placebos.

The marijuana-like drug, known as WIN-55212-2, spurred new brain-cell
growth and reduced inflammation, the researchers said.

"We used a low dose because we didn't want to give them a drug that
tried to save their memory while we're also causing psychoactive
effects," Marchalant said. "The dosage of WIN would be like giving one
puff a day and not a whole joint."

The study results were reported yesterday at a meeting of the Society
for Neuroscience.