Mar 11, 2017 08:57 AM EST By Audri Taylors, UniversityHerald Reporter

College students who are into the use marijuana and alcohol are in a crucial stage when it comes to academics. A study just found that heavy use of these substances are linked to poor grades.

The abuse on substances such as marijuana and alcohol are found to be associated with lower grades, poor performance, worse graduation rates and difficulty in landing jobs, Reuters reported. The research looks into the grade point averages (GPAs) of the American students who are involved with the use of pot and booze but have academic potential.

The research involved Connecticut college freshmen over four semesters, who were asked to answer online questions based on their alcohol and marijuana use on a monthly basis, according to Yale News. The study has found that students who engage in heavy drinking but do not use marijuana a lot get poor grades in the first semester of college but achieve similar GPAs. But the results were worse for those who heavily used both marijuana and alcohol because aside from starting out with lower GPAs, they continued to have worse performance as time goes by.

Godfrey Pearlson, professor of psychiatry and neurobiology, and senior author of the study said that heavily using both substances have a substantial effect on a student's lower grades based on their study. Other studies even found that it is also linked to an increased number of absences and increase in the number of students who drop out of school.

Meanwhile, the team has observed that those who put their alcohol and pot use in moderation have shown an improvement in their grades in the succeeding semesters. They were seen to have been able to recover and also showed better academic performance.

Both substances can impair a person's memory, attention, and function which means that it can make a student less efficient in studying and reduces their ability to retain information.

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit