C.Martel
25th July 2017, 05:12 PM
Those adolescents whose marijuana consumption climbs rapidly through their teen years – rather than those who smoke the same amount – face greater risk of suffering from depression, mood problems and low educational achievement, a new study says.
"We expected to see that the young men who had a high, consistent level of marijuana use would have differences in brain function. However, it turned out that those who had an increasing pattern of use over their teens had the biggest differences,"said Erika Forbes, of the University of Pittsburgh, the lead author of a study published in the journal Addiction on Tuesday.
Researchers surveyed 158 male participants already part of a study examining poor social outcomes at the age of 20, asking them to describe when they first started using marijuana, and to record how much they had smoked each year. They were also asked about their educational prospects and psychological wellbeing. The test was repeated at the age of 22, when the outcomes were clearer.
In this case, cannabis consumption could be a symptom rather than a cause of unhappiness and underachievement, or perhaps both are caused by an unexamined variable, such as poverty, lack or prospects, a difficult family situation, or a concomitant use of other drugs, for example, alcohol.
https://www.rt.com/news/397499-cannabis-depression-education-teens/
"We expected to see that the young men who had a high, consistent level of marijuana use would have differences in brain function. However, it turned out that those who had an increasing pattern of use over their teens had the biggest differences,"said Erika Forbes, of the University of Pittsburgh, the lead author of a study published in the journal Addiction on Tuesday.
Researchers surveyed 158 male participants already part of a study examining poor social outcomes at the age of 20, asking them to describe when they first started using marijuana, and to record how much they had smoked each year. They were also asked about their educational prospects and psychological wellbeing. The test was repeated at the age of 22, when the outcomes were clearer.
In this case, cannabis consumption could be a symptom rather than a cause of unhappiness and underachievement, or perhaps both are caused by an unexamined variable, such as poverty, lack or prospects, a difficult family situation, or a concomitant use of other drugs, for example, alcohol.
https://www.rt.com/news/397499-cannabis-depression-education-teens/