What Teens and their Parents Need to Know about Cannabis
What Every Teenager Needs to Know about Cannabis
Downloadable Fact Sheet
Click here: TeenBrainFactSheet
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For Teens, Cannabis is a Dangerous Game
Cannabis-related psychosis, addiction, ER visits: For young users, marijuana can be a dangerous game
Not long ago when Joseph Garbely, chief medical officer for the Caron Foundation, reviewed younger patients starting drug or alcohol treatment on his unit, he usually saw people shaking, sick, and seizing from alcohol or opioid withdrawal. Marijuana was seldom what put them in those medical beds.
Most Teen Hospitalizations Result from Pot
Cannabis Hyperemesis Results in Teen Death
More Teens are Vaping THC Rather than Nicotine

Why aren’t politicians listening?
Tim Trevithick in a 2015 interview says that pro-legalization messages are heard by teens, and they interpret this as drug use is no big deal. This high school counselor explains the many harms he is seeing in the teens he works with.
Watch Video: High School Counselor Says Drug Use is Troubling
New Study: Teen Brain Harms of Cannabis
Canadian Research is Warning to Parents of Teens
Medical Doctors Opine In New York Times
One Joint Can Change Teen’s Brain New Study Finds
One Joint May Be All It Takes To Change The Structure Of The Teenage Brain
Teens today are smoking less and drinking less than they used to – but they are using cannabis more. A little under 35 percent of American tenth graders have tried it at least once as it increasingly becomes their first drug of choice.
Below is a link to the study in the Journal of Neuroscience
Research Articles, Behavioral/Cognitive
Journal of Neuroscience 14 January 2019, 3375-17; DOI:
Grey Matter Volume Differences Associated with Extremely Low Levels of Cannabis Use in Adolescence
Rates of cannabis use among adolescents are high, and are increasing concurrent with changes in the legal status of marijuana and societal attitudes regarding its use. Recreational cannabis use is understudied, especially in the adolescent period when neural maturation may make users particularly vulnerable to the effects of Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on brain structure.
Pediatrician Warns Commercialization of Marijuana is at Cross Purposes with Healthy Teens
Drug Prevention Expert Says Teens Are Misled on Marijuana
https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2019/01/17/teens-hear-all-the-wrong-messages-on-marijuana/
Mom Describes Mental Health Harms of Marijuana
Activist Mom Gives Compelling Interview about Cannabis Legalization
Video Interview with Dr. Sharon Levy
This is very important information that all teachers and parents ought to become familiar with. Dr Sharon Levy is Director of Adolescent Substance Abuse ( Children’s Hospital Bostion & member of Harvard medical school facility in Pediatric Medicine). She is a noted expert in the field.
Effects of Marijuana on Youth
Tell us about your experience with this online video, click here. Dr. Sharon Levy of Boston Children’s Hospital discusses the effects of marijuana on youth with Grand Isle-Chittenden County Representative Ben Joseph.
Teens are Smoking, Vaping and Eating Cannabis
“Unfortunately, the flavors used in vaping can cause irreversible small airway damage, a fact (not appreciated by) most adolescent users who do not yet have abstract thought, or the ability to foresee consequences,” Rome added. “That lack of abstract thought also leads teens to not concern themselves with risk of cancer when smoking cigarettes, marijuana, or any other potential toxin.”
Teens are smoking, vaping and eating cannabis
(Reuters Health) – Adolescents who try marijuana are not just smoking it. Many are also vaping or eating cannabis, a U.S. study suggests. Almost one in three teens have smoked cannabis at least once, the survey of 3,177 Los Angeles high school students found.
Warning to Teens and Parents–BEWARE!
Parent Alert! Your Kid May Be Vaping More Than Nicotine
Insight provides an in-depth look at health care issues in and affecting California. This story can be republished for free ( details). Have a story suggestion? Let us know. By now, many parents know kids are vaping sweet-smelling nicotine – often using devices that look deceptively like pens or flash drives.
You Can’t Deny Marijuana is Dangerous for Developing Minds
4-8-16 Vancouver, B.C. (Huff Post-Parents) The impact of THC on a developing brain can be profound and life-altering. Adolescence is a time of massive brain remodeling, when brain cells (neurons) are pruned and critical connections are made. Most mental illnesses first present during this remodeling phase. A 2016 study reviewed 31 scientific papers and reported compelling evidence that high THC levels found in street pot alters brain structure, size and function, especially for frequent, heavy users. Neurons in brain areas that are rich in cannabinoid 1 (THC) receptors are damaged or destroyed by THC. This includes neurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippo-campus and amygdala. The PFC is necessary for mature adult behavior. It’s the brain’s executive, responsible for organizing, planning, forward thinking and critical thinking. If you have a teenager, you know their PFC isn’t fully developed; for most people that happens by age 25. THC is a neurotoxin — it damages neurons in critical brain areas like the PFC — and the amount of damage is directly correlated with smoking frequency and the age when pot use begins. There must be an agenda behind those who argue that mountains of scientific research is wrong. Perhaps it’s to bolster confidence in their personal use of pot, whether employed for pleasure or as treatment. Perhaps it’s for financial gain, since teens are the largest pot market. There is simply no evidence-based, cogent argument for pot’s social good, especially for teens. No one should tell a parent that pot is safe for their child.
You Can’t Deny Marijuana Is Dangerous For Developing Minds
I have many patients with psychotic illnesses, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Many were vulnerable because of their family history, but some share another important life experience: they smoked pot from an early age. Physicians have not effectively confronted pot-related myths, nor have we adequately educated our patients.
How many more young lives have to derail from using marijuana?
McClean said he spent three weeks in Bellevue Hospital, and now takes medication for his bipolar disorder, which he says was heightened after he decided to quit smoking marijuana weeks earlier.
Model Explains Why He Went On Naked Rant In Times Square
Krit McClean, the male model who was arrested after he stripped naked and threatened police in Times Square on June 30, attributed his bizarre behavior to a “manic episode” in a new op-ed in the New York Post .
Marijuana: a potent disruptor for young users, whose brains are still developing
LA Times, 9-2-16, By:Robin Abcarian “We have a child/adolescent unit that treats kids to age 17, and an adult unit for 18 and older, and we see young people in both age groups who come to the emergency room with florid symptoms of psychosis that appear to be associated with heavy use of marijuana,” said Tom Strouse, medical director of UCLA’s Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital. “Sometimes they have a known, preexisting illness, but many do not.” Marijuana, he said, can cause psychosis. For some, it will be fleeting. But for those with a genetic or biological risk for a chronic illness such as schizophrenia, Strouse said, “heavy marijuana use may hasten or intensify the manifestation, and lead to a worse course than if you never used marijuana at all.”
Marijuana: A potent disruptor for young users, whose brains are still developing
Devan Fuentes made it all the way through San Clemente High School without drinking or using drugs. He vividly remembers the first time he smoked pot. He was visiting a friend at Occidental College, and decided the moment had come.
Bartecchi: Marijuana dangerous, especially for youths
The Pueblo Chieftain, 10-10-16, By: Carl Bartecchi One wonders how long it will take us to recognize and do something about this drug. Studies already have shown that there is a five times increased risk of a heart attack in the 60 minutes after pot use. Heavy pot smoking during ones teens has been related to a loss of IQ points that did not return after quitting as an adult. Long-term use also has been linked to mental disorders such as depression and psychoses, especially in those with a history or a tendency toward mental illness.
Legalizing Marijuana Will Lead to More Addiction – Your Teen 360
In this first installment of Your Teen’s up-close look at legalizing marijuana for recreational use, we caught up with Dr. Joseph Shrand, medical director for CASTLE—a treatment center for adolescents—and instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. So is marijuana a gateway drug? Or not? Again, for some percentage of the population it can be. That is what’s important. We’re not saying that every kid who smokes weed is going to wind up using heroin. That is nonsense. But there is no question that the vast majority of the kids I see here who are on heroin started with weed.
Teenagers and Addictions: One Expert on the Dangers of Legalizing Marijuana
In this first installment of Your Teen’s up-close look at legalizing marijuana for recreational use, we caught up with Dr. Joseph Shrand, medical director for CASTLE-a treatment center for adolescents-and instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Shrand: Just because you put the word recreational in front of it doesn’t mean it’s safe.
“Why are our federal agencies – NIH, NIDA, NIMH, NAMI – still silent as the pot epidemic sweeps across America triggering severe mental health disorders in teens & young adults?” – Moms Strong team
“As physicians, we need to say clearly what is happening and what is not,” says Peter Falkai, a psychiatrist at the Munich Center for Neurosciences at Ludwig Maximilian University. “Looking into the data, clearly yes, the data show increasing risk of psychosis.”
Link between Adolescent Pot Smoking and Psychosis Strengthens
Society’s embrace of cannabis to treat nausea, pain and other conditions proceeds apace with the drive to legalize the plant for recreational use. Pot’s seemingly innocuous side effects have helped clear a path toward making it a legal cash crop, with all of the marketing glitz brought to other consumer products.
County of Los Angeles Kicks Off An Anti-Marijuana Public Education Campaign As 1 in 6 Kids Are Considered Frequent Users of This Drug
New Educational Effort by Teens for Teens, Launched
LA County Campaign Aimed At Keeping Teens From Using Marijuana
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Health officials Thursday kicked off a public education campaign aimed at keeping kids off marijuana, even as one in six teenagers in Los Angeles County are considered frequent users of the drug.
Teens: Pot can trigger psychological disorders
A Portland High School Teenager Film on Cannabis in High School
Weed Documentary (2016) – High School: Marijuana in an American Public High School
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Ex-stoners explain how it damaged their lives.
What are the other side effects of smoking cannabis? | Daily Mail Online
Smoking cannabis can lead to cannabis psychosis, causing you to lose touch with reality. Two men describe how it happened to them.
Teenager has a bad experience after dabbing.
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