A preclinical study found that repeated CBG treatment prevented a long-term recognition memory impairment induced by MK-801 in male rats, an experimental model used to study cognitive deficits relevant to schizophrenia. The effect did not appear to involve restoring reduced BDNF protein levels, though changes in TrkB messenger RNA point to a possible mechanism that will require further research.

CBG (cannabigerol), the precursor molecule from which THC and CBD are formed in the cannabis plant, and a cannabinoid far less studied than either of them, has just given researchers another reason to pay attention.

A preclinical study published online ahead of print by Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior found that CBG prevented a long-term memory deficit in male rats treated with MK-801, a compound commonly used in experimental models of cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia.

Does that mean CBG improves memory in people with schizophrenia? No, but the results offer an interesting clue about a problem for which there are still no approved treatments: the cognitive deficits that can accompany the disorder.

CBG and a Memory Problem

Schizophrenia affects about 23 million people worldwide, or roughly one in 345, according to the World Health Organization, and can cause persistent difficulties across a range of cognitive functions.

These impairments can affect memory, attention, learning and executive function, and can have real-world consequences for a person’s ability to study, work, maintain relationships or live independently. The authors of the new study describe the pharmacological options for treating them as limited, note that some research finds all antipsychotics have minimal effect on cognitive function, and cite estimates that 30% to 35% of patients with schizophrenia are treatment-resistant.

That’s where the new study comes in. It was carried out by researchers at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable and the Universidad de la República, in Uruguay, together with colleagues at Phytoplant Research, the Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya, the University of Barcelona and Spain’s Biomedical Research Networking Center in Mental Health.

To study CBG’s potential effects, the researchers used MK-801, a substance that blocks certain NMDA receptors in the brain. In animals, this compound can cause cognitive impairments that mimic some of the deficits observed in schizophrenia, which is why it is commonly used as an experimental model.

The study used 67 adult male Wistar rats, bred and housed at the institute’s facilities in Montevideo. The researchers gave them repeated doses of CBG at 10 mg/kg, and some of the animals then received a single 0.1 mg/kg dose of MK-801, while others received a control solution. Then came the test.

Did the Rats Remember What They Had Seen?

To measure memory, the researchers used a fairly intuitive test known as novel object recognition.

First, the rats are exposed to certain objects. The following day, one of them is replaced with a new one.

Normally, if an animal remembers what it saw before, it spends more time exploring the new object. If it fails to distinguish between the old and new objects, that may indicate impaired recognition memory.

That is exactly what happened in the rats that received only MK-801: they stopped showing a preference for the new object.

By contrast, the rats that had received CBG retained that ability, even after receiving MK-801.

According to the authors, CBG prevented the long-term recognition memory impairment caused by the experimental compound.

The researchers also had to rule out a much less exciting explanation: that the treated rats were simply moving around more and therefore spent more time exploring. According to the study, neither MK-801 nor CBG nor the combination affected locomotor activity. MK-801 did reduce rearing, the behavior of standing up on the hind legs, but the authors report that this did not change how long the animals spent exploring the objects.

Things Got a Little Stranger Inside the Brain

The researchers also tried to determine how that effect might be occurring.

One of the main suspects was BDNF, a protein associated with brain plasticity, learning and memory.

MK-801 reduced BDNF protein levels in two regions involved in these processes: the hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex. If CBG was preventing the cognitive impairment, one logical possibility was that it might also restore those BDNF levels. But it didn’t.

Even though the rats maintained their performance on the memory test, CBG did not restore the BDNF protein levels reduced by MK-801.

Then another clue emerged: the combination of CBG and MK-801 significantly increased messenger RNA expression for TrkB, a receptor closely involved in BDNF signaling, in the medial prefrontal cortex.

In very simplified terms, CBG appeared to influence part of the molecular machinery involved in memory, but not through the most obvious mechanism the researchers expected to find.

The authors suggest that TrkB signaling may contribute to the observed effect through a mechanism independent of direct changes in BDNF.

Promising, Yes; a Treatment, Not Yet

The study was conducted exclusively in male rats. The researchers did not test different CBG doses or dosing schedules, and they have not yet confirmed whether the changes observed in TrkB messenger RNA extend to the protein level.

Also, MK-801 does not give rats “schizophrenia.” It is an experimental tool that mimics certain cognitive deficits relevant to the study of specific aspects of the disorder.

For that reason, the results do not show that CBG treats schizophrenia, improves memory in human patients or should be used clinically for that purpose.

What they do show is something much narrower and, for that very reason, still interesting: in this preclinical model, CBG was able to preserve a form of memory that MK-801 had impaired.

And for a cannabinoid that remains far less studied than its more famous relatives, that is enough to justify a second look.

Disclosure: the study was funded by Uruguayan public science programs, including MEC-DICYT and PEDECIBA. The cannabigerol was donated by Phytoplant Research S.L.U., a Spanish cannabis research company, and two of the paper’s authors, Carlos Ferreiro-Vera and Verónica Sánchez de Medina, work for the company, according to its competing interest declaration.

Editor’s note: this article describes findings in animals. Preclinical research is an early step and does not establish that a compound is safe or effective in people. Nothing here is medical advice, and no one should change or stop a prescribed treatment based on it.

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Alex Lifeson quit cannabis at 72 while preparing for Rush’s return to the road, saying he wanted better focus, discipline, memory, and mental sharpness. After decades of openly enjoying weed, he says the change has been unexpectedly positive—even if he initially hoped it wouldn’t be.

At 72, after decades of having a pretty open relationship with weed, Alex Lifeson decided to quit. It wasn’t a sudden moral awakening or a newfound problem with cannabis. The Rush guitarist simply wanted his brain—and his playing—as sharp as possible, according to Rolling Stone.

The decision came while Lifeson was preparing for Fifty Something, Rush’s first tour since 2015 and the band’s long-awaited return to the road following the death of legendary drummer Neil Peart in 2020. Lifeson is touring alongside longtime bandmate Geddy Lee and German drummer Anika Nilles, who took on one of rock music’s most daunting roles.

And, as he put it, getting ready meant taking a hard look at some long-standing habits.

“I thought, this is interfering with the way my brain should be working, and the kind of focus and discipline that all of a sudden I really wanted to have in my life,” Lifeson told Rolling Stone in a recent interview.

So he cleared out his stash.

Lifeson Says Quitting Weed Improved His Memory 

This wasn’t exactly a casual tolerance break.

In the interview, Lifeson said he went through his home collecting jars of weed, pipes and other smoking gear and tossing everything into a garbage bag. When he came across a container of pre-rolls in his studio, he briefly considered keeping them before deciding that it would defeat the purpose. By the end, he said, the bag was full of pipes, bongs and weed. 

That’s notable considering Lifeson has never exactly been shy about his affection for cannabis. In previous interviews, he has described weed as part of his creative process, particularly in the studio, while acknowledging that being high didn’t always make him the most technically precise player.

But this time, the equation was different. Returning to Rush after more than a decade away from touring meant rebuilding stamina, relearning material, sharpening muscle memory, and mentally preparing to play some notoriously demanding music night after night.

And Lifeson says he noticed a difference.

“I’m so much clearer. I don’t procrastinate like I used to. My memory is so much better,” he said. “It’s all the stuff that they tell you about cannabis. I never believed it.”

The funniest part might be that he apparently wasn’t hoping sobriety would stick.

“It’s really been a positive experience,” Lifeson said. “I didn’t expect it, and I was hoping it wouldn’t be.”

Fair enough.

About That ‘30 Days’ THC Claim

Lifeson also said that “THC stays in your system for typically 30 days,” explaining that once he reached the end of that first month, he started thinking bigger.

“Oh my God, maybe I’ll just try it for two years then, for the whole tour,” he recalled.

That 30-day figure, however, is better understood as a rough reference rather than a biological countdown clock.

How long THC or its metabolites remain detectable depends on a long list of factors, including frequency of use, dose, metabolism, body composition, the type of test used, and the test’s detection threshold. Research shows substantial variation, particularly between occasional and frequent users.

So Lifeson’s timeline shouldn’t be treated as medical guidance. What matters here is what he noticed after several weeks without weed: better focus, less procrastination and, in his view, a sharper memory.

Rush Is Back, but Nobody Is Pretending It’s 1981

The timing makes the whole lifestyle change more interesting. Rush kicked off Fifty Something in June 2026 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, the same venue where Lee, Lifeson and Peart played their final concert together in 2015.

The new version of the band has an understandably delicate task. Lee and Lifeson are returning to music that shaped most of their lives without pretending that one of the three people at its heart isn’t gone. The tour is already stretching well beyond North America, with South American and European dates scheduled into 2027.

For Lifeson, getting ready for that chapter apparently meant more than plugging his guitar back in. It meant figuring out which parts of his old routine still worked for him at 72—and which ones didn’t.

There’s no anti-weed manifesto in his comments, and he doesn’t seem particularly interested in turning his own experience into advice for anyone else. If anything, his comments are more personal than prescriptive.

After spending much of his life enjoying cannabis, Alex Lifeson tried life without it and was mildly annoyed to discover he kind of loves it too.

Cover photo: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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