Monday, November 15, 2010

Early Marijuana Smokers are at Higher Risk

The article I found this week was about the negative effects marijuana has on teen that started smoking regularly before the age of 16. A study was done with 35 chronic marijuana smokers who were 22 years old with similar education and income. Twenty of them had started smoking marijuana regularly before age 16 and fifteen of them started smoking regularly at age 16. The participants completed an assessment of executive function test that showed participants who started smoking marijuana before 16 scored significantly lowered than those who started smoking later. The results from the test were discussed at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego. This information was alarming because teenagers brains are not fully developed as a result those who started before 16 were experiences negative effects of marijuana. The test also showed that those who started smoking earlier smoked more than twice as often then those who started later. The article was interesting because I always knew there were negative effects to smoking marijuana but I never knew how serious they could be. The earlier smokers reported smoking 14.7 grams a week and the later smokers reported 5.9 grams a week. Those amounts seemed to be extremely high, but that might just be because I do no smoke and I don’t know the actual amounts of marijuana people smoke. The information in this article was informative and if more people were aware of the negative effects it could have on the brain maybe teens would think twice before using the drug. If you would like to read the whole article click here: Risks of Marijana
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3 comments:

  1. Cherish CarlinNovember 28, 2010 at 12:44 PM

    This was very interesting for me to read as I was shocked when I heard when certain people starting smoking marijuana. I feel as though I was very naive through my beginning high school years and although I knew it was around I didn't realize how common it was until my senior year. I find that the kids that started smoking when they were younger definitly smoke way more than ones that started later on. Since it became so natural at such a young age it just becomes more and more acceptable to them but I think when you start when you are more mature you have a better understanding of how to make sure it doesn't get out of hand.

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  2. Brett MalletteNovember 29, 2010 at 9:23 PM

    I am not sure if smoking before 16 was the reason they scored lower or the fact that they may have been doing other drugs as well. From my experience most the people I knew who smoked marijuana before the age of the 16 were open to experimenting with other drugs earlier on. The fact thatthe kids who started smoking before age 16 are also now smoking 14.7 grams a week may also have something to do with the way they scored on their tests or any other findings the society for neuroscience found.

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  3. AnonymousNovember 30, 2010 at 12:17 PM

    I feel like I have a lot to say of this matter. From my experience, smoking before 16 was significant to their school work and lives. Test scores were lower not due to the weed but due to the amount of time not studying but smoking. However, today I do not participate in smoking and haven't for years now and I feel like it has helped a lot with my school work. I like to see people bring this matter up and teach kids why not to smoke. Though I have never been around heavy users, those numbers seem very high.

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