Cannabis Impact on Adolescent Neurodevelopment and the subsequent harms have been researched and reported on in journals since at least 2015. Awareness on these unquestioning harms has been in play for years now, and despite growing and confirming evidence, disregard for the well-being and future of our teens and young adults, the pot propaganda excises this data from its public square offering. The following is just a small sample of the evidence-based research on these short and long-term harms.

1) American College of Paediatricians article Marijuana Use: Detrimental to Youth – (2018)

 Although increasing legalization of marijuana has contributed to the growing belief that marijuana is harmless, research documents the risks of its use by youth are grave. Marijuana is addicting, has adverse effects upon the adolescent brain, is a risk for both cardio-respiratory disease and testicular cancer, and is associated with both psychiatric illness and negative social outcomes. Evidence indicates limited legalization of marijuana has already raised rates of unintended marijuana exposure among young children, and may increase adolescent use. Marijuana Use: Detrimental to Youth | American College of Pediatricians (acpeds.org)

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2) Marijuana worse for teen brains than alcohol, study finds – (2018)

Marijuana use causes more long-term damage to teen brains than alcohol use, according to a new study entitled “A Population-Based Analysis of the Relationship Between Substance Use and Adolescent Cognitive Development.”

The study – completed by researchers at the University of Montreal – followed 3,800 Montreal teens over the course of four years. As part of the study, teen participants were questioned about their marijuana and alcohol use, and took computer-based cognitive tests.

They found that marijuana had more of an effect on the teens’ skills, memory and behavior than alcohol… Even after students reported stopping marijuana, their cognition did not improve.

“Cannabis causes cognitive impairment and delayed cognitive development in adolescents," Patricia Conrad, the lead author and professor of psychiatry at the University of Montreal, told NBC News. “This study focuses on the neuropsychological effects of cannabis. We think it’s important because it is linked to how someone functions in life.”

The findings were published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Read more.

 

3) Growing up high: Neurobiological consequences of adolescent cannabis use - (2019)

Furthermore, adolescent THC exposure also caused affective and cognitive abnormalities including deficits in social interactions, memory processing and anxiety regulation… Adolescent cannabis use is associated with behavioral changes related to reward and motivation in humans. Paradoxically, this use has both been suggested to increase motivation for other drug use (the gateway hypothesis) and a potential "amotivation syndrome" in which individuals are less willing to expend effort to receive a reward. For more https://medicalxpress.com/.../2019-05-high...

Growing evidence even this year continues the alarm…

4) Younger age of first cannabis use or prescription drug misuse is associated with faster development of substance use disorders: A new study shows that in the time after first trying cannabis or first misusing prescription drugs, the percentages of young people who develop the corresponding substance use disorder are higher among adolescents (ages 12-17) than young adults (ages 18-25). In addition, 30% of young adults develop a heroin use disorder and 25% develop a methamphetamine use disorder a year after first using heroin or methamphetamine. These findings, published in JAMA Pediatrics, emphasize the vulnerability of young people to developing substance use disorders

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5) Cannabis Use Impact on Adolescence Neurodevelopment https://www.dalgarnoinstitute.org.au/.../Adolescent... Conclusions and Relevance Results suggest that cannabis use during adolescence is associated with altered neurodevelopment, particularly in cortices rich in cannabinoid 1 receptors and undergoing the greatest age-related thickness change in middle to late adolescence."

"Cannabis is a commonly used psychoactive drug, particularly among adolescents and young adults. Relative to the general population, past-year prevalence rates of cannabis use are greatest among teenagers, and more than one-third of 12th graders in the United States report using cannabis in the past year.1,2 Seventy-eight percent of first-time cannabis users are between the ages of 12 and 20 years."

There is no evidence on cannabis leading in any positive direction in relation to brain development and short and long-term brain health – none. Yet the continued push in attempting to focus on any tiny ‘beneficial’ outcome from cannabis use, no matter how small, is relentless.

Of course, the discounting and discarding of all such growing research above is further evidence of a market – not science and health – driven ‘medicinal mantras’. This alone should be alarming the gate-keepers of public health in our municipalities, communities and nations.

Communication Team, Dalgarno Institute