Cannabis and the Adolescent Brain

For some time, people have known that using cannabis during adolescence increases the risk of developing cognitive impairment and mental illness (e.g. depression, anxiety or schizophrenia) later in life. Importantly however, the mechanisms responsible for this vulnerability are not well understood. A new study, published in Brain, shows that long-term cannabis use that starts during adolescence damages the neural pathways connecting brain regions, and that this may cause the later development of cognitive and emotional problems.

Ron’s Remarks: I think most parents get the fact that marijuana use is bad for teenagers. Unfortunately, I think some parents might consider it just “experimentation” and don’t take any action for this behavior. Each parent must decide for themselves how to deal with this but this research reiterates the realities of drug use on the brain. How have you dealt with teenager drug use/abuse?