TEEN MARIJUANA ABUSE IN MARIN

There is a myth in our Marin culture that marijuana is a harmless natural substance. People believe that youth will grow out of their abuse with few consequences. Actually, marijuana is a powerful psychoactive and addictive substance that keeps teen’s brains from developing during a critical stage that determines their future.

Adolescence is a period of learning new skills that determine becoming a successful independent adult. These include driving, dating, getting an education, socializing, and working. At a time when youth are making important decisions and lifetime habits are being created, marijuana can rob them of motivation, clarity and vital brain structure.

Most youth who have social, academic or addiction problems begin using drugs and alcohol between the ages of 12-17 years old. Marijuana can also endanger our children’s lives and futures; 40% of all car accidents involve marijuana.

The Adverse Effects of Marijuana Abuse

• Loss of a sense of time — Easily bored leading to poor school performance.
• Marijuana impairs tracking ability (the ability to follow a moving ball).
• Sedation, impairment of judgement, and short-term memory loss makes it difficult to perform tasks that acquire multiple and interactive action such as driving a car, playing sports.
• Marijuana also causes a temporary disruption of the secretion of the male hormone testosterone. That might be critical to a user with a hormonal imbalance or somebody in the throes of puberty and sexual maturation. It also leads to a slight decrease of organ size in males.
•  Damage to lungs and breathing passages — 1 joint equals 14 to 16 cigarettes.
•  One great concern about marijuana is the discovery that it persists in the body for up to six months after a single joint is smoked even though the major effects are over within 4 to 6 hours after smoking. These residual amounts may disrupt psychological functions for a longer period of time through their effect on brain neurotransmitters.
•  Marijuana has been shown to slow learning and disrupt concentration. It has a specific effect on short-term memory and greatly impairs the ability to retain this information. Long term memory is not impacted as much and this is why some students can smoke and do OK in school for some period of time, relying on their long-term memory to get by.
•  Clinicians are now using the term “Amotivational syndrome” to describe the apathy and lack of motivation that chronic users exhibit.
• Chronic marijuana usage often develops for one of two reasons; as a shortcut to acquire a pleasing physical sensation or to counteract boredom or emotional pain.
• This avoidance of uncomfortable “growthful” situations impairs and delays emotional and psychological development and maturation.
• Marijuana is a “gateway” drug. Once this psychedelic is seen as “safe” it is natural to experiment with the other psychedelics, LSD, MDMA (Ecstasy), and Mushrooms. This is usually followed by the use of nicotine and even an openness to experiment with the “hard” drugs.

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Excerpted from Uppers. Downers. All Arounders. Physical and Mental Effects of Psychoactive Drugs by Darryl S. Inaba, Pharm.D. (2nd Edition)