In 2013, more high school seniors regularly used marijuana than cigarettes as 22.7 percent smoked pot in the last month, compared to 16.3 percent who smoked cigarettes. Sixty percent of seniors don 't see regular marijuana use as harmful, but THC (the active ingredient in the drug that causes addiction) is nearly five times stronger than it was 20 years ago. One-third of teenagers who live in States with medical marijuana laws get their pot from other people 's prescriptions. The United States represents 5 percent of the world 's population and 75 percent of prescription drugs taken. Sixty percent of teens who abuse prescription drugs get them free from friends and relatives. The purpose of this study is to explore drug use in adolescent …show more content…
How does drug use affect teens? Drug abuse causes serious health effects at all ages. This is particularly true for teens abusing drugs as they are truly at risk of negative consequences. Young people who abuse drugs are prone to struggle with addiction later in life and are more likely to have permanent irreversible brain damage. Drugs among teens result in serious mental disorders or permanent irreversible damage to the brain and/or nervous system. Brain damage among teens includes brain shrinkage, impaired reasoning, perceptions, intuition, and decreased socialization, and changes in sexual desire. Teens using drugs are more prone to be involved in car-related injuries or death. Four to 14 percent of drivers who are injured in traffic accidents tested positive for THC—the key drug in marijuana.
Literature Review
In an article written published in Clinic EEG Neuroscience in January 2009, The Influences of Substance Use on Adolescent Brain Development, much of the neurodevelopment occurs during adolescents. It is a unique and critical period of time in development. When adolescents use alcohol and marijuana research has shown abnormalities in the brain function levels. Studies were done suing neuropsychological assessment and structural and functional imaging to show the relationship between
Hall & Degenhardt explain in this article how marijuana has caused adverse health effects on non-medical cannabis usage in the United States. This article observes how the younger generation has caused an epidemic in the high income countries. These two authors researched through the past 10 years that the young generation that use marijuana for non-medical reasons cause problems and obstacles in their adulthood. They used several studies and observed the fact of public health’s
What is Marijuana? The marijuana affects the brain development on teenager. Also affect the function at school, work, and social life of the teenagers. The marijuana increases the risk of mental health issues. The sadistic show that the used of marijuana increase every years. Marijuana affects the teenager and also their families.
Three decades from now, T.L.O., a student at a New Jersey High School was caught smoking in a school restroom, and was brought to the assistant principal’s office. The 14-years-old teenager denied smoking, so the assistant principal persisted in searching her purse and found cigarettes, and rolling paper which is associated with marijuana (T.L.O. vs. New Jersey). Nothing has changed since then. If you look a little closer, you can see teenagers lying around doing drugs here and there. They are no longer determined to succeed in life; instead all they can think about is where the next supply of cocaine will come from. What has our future come to? Research done by scientists and other professionals provide evidence that substance abuse by teenagers is an ever-growing problem due to teen’s poor judgement, it’s irreparable damage, and inability to compete with drug addiction.
Research has found that teenagers who used cigarettes were twelve times more likely to graduate to marijuana use. A similar study conducted by Denise Kandel (1992) revealed that use of marijuana affects dopamine levels in the brain in a similar way to nicotine. Cigarette smoking facilitates consumption of other substances. Smoking cigarettes initiate juveniles into the sensation of drug inhalation, which desensitizes them from the feeling of smoke clouding their lungs. This paper finds that marijuana pervades the life of a juvenile tobacco smoker. Teenagers who smoke cigarettes
In addition to increase public health problems, legalizing marijuana will lead to increase use of the drug among youngsters. Despite the regulatory approaches, legalizing marijuana has the inevitable effect of increasing the availability and consumption of the drug. Under the current prohibitions, the rate of consumption of marijuana among teenagers is already high; however, the rate of use would greatly increase if the drug was legitimately available to the population. For instance, despite the prohibitions against distribution of alcohol to teenagers, many youngsters who are under the legal age drink alcohol today. Similarly, high percentages of the young population are currently smokers even though the law prohibit them from buying cigarettes. Therefore, it is expected that the usage of marijuana among teenagers would increase if marijuana was legalized. Notably, the marijuana use will impair the development process of teenagers, which will negatively affect their health in later life. Thus, the increased use of marijuana among teenagers is a great concern. It will contribute to great dangers on the health of the youths.
There has been an extensive amount of research done on risk factors and marijuana use. Among adolescents the vast majority of the research has identified five major risk factors associated with adolescent marijuana use, family relations (parent-child attachment), peer associations, substance abuse programs, gender, and race. Some researchers have found that the family is the best predictor of adolescent marijuana use, while others claim that peer associations are predictors of adolescent marijuana use. Others believe that substance abuse programs are the key to deterring adolescent drug use. The final groups of researchers believe gender and race are the underlining predictors. The following studies will give a quick overview of the prior research on risk factors and adolescent marijuana use.
Adolescence, usually defined as individuals between the ages of 12 and 20, is a period of transition, brain development and challenges1, 2, 3. Adolescence is the peak time to engage in risk taking behaviors2. Substance use is a common occurrence among adolescents. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse has identified adolescent substance use as one of the United States’ top public health concerns4. In fact, an individual’s chance of becoming a cigarette smoker drastically declines if smoking is not initiated by the time the individual is 18 years old. Alcohol and Marijuana are the most commonly used substances among adolescents1,2,3. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Study, the Center for Antisocial Drug Dependence, Monitoring the
Youth is a time when individuals experiment with and get into trouble with psychoactive substances, including nicotine-containing e-cigarettes. In 2014, 44.4% of 12th-graders had ever used marijuana/hashish, and 35.1% had used in the past year; 41.4% reported being drunk in the past year. Users of one type of psychoactive substance are more likely to use others, like caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, THC or prescription
One of the biggest issues since legalization of marijuana in Colorado is the effect it has on our youth and future generations. In a report posted regarding the cause and effect on teenagers using marijuana Krista Lisdahl, director of the Brain Imaging and Neuropsychology lab at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, talks about the changes in the THC levels from the seventies to now. She also talks about how through modern technology it is possible to physically see the difference in the brain when a teenager is
In 2011, 36.4% of high school seniors in the United States reported using marijuana within the past year, 22.6% within the past month and 6.6% on a daily basis. By comparison, daily use of tobacco was reported to be 10.3% of 12th graders (Tashkin, 2013, p.
In order to pay for drug use, teens engage in criminal behavior, motor vehicle theft, and breaking-and-entering offenses (University of Washington ADAI). Teen Marijuana users need money to pay for drug use, and in order to obtain money, teens engage in problematic behaviors. There are also legal aspects when selling, using, or possessing marijuana, involving fines, jail time, and possibly a criminal record (Teens Health 2). Teen marijuana users’ problematic behaviors involving the law can lead to consequences, sometimes with the potential to damage the teen’s future. Laws against growing, possessing, and selling marijuana exist in all states but Washington and Colorado (2). Over 7.2 million Americans have been arrested on marijuana charges since 1990, many of which were teenagers (NORML). Marijuana association damages the lives of many teens who get caught engaging in marijuana associated problematic behaviors. The problematic behaviors associated with teen marijuana use can potentially damage not only a teen’s future, but also society.
The topic that we will be exploring in our presentation is marijuana usage in teens, specifically high school students. We will examine previous survey results within our high school pertaining the marijuana use amongst our students. Along with this, we will also look over other high schools’ data to compare and come to a conclusion of the use among teens. We will then analyze the general trends in the past few years to explain the benefits as well as risks of smoking weed. Marijuana has become and is becoming generally accepted and in some cases legalized in our society, due to this, younger generations have easier access to the drug. That is only one factor that plays a role in this problem, the next is the mentality of the youth. Both these
It seems every decade marijuana studies show that it has no side effects on users, in turn it become more available like when some states in America had legalized it. Dr Kevin M. Gray believes that the only side effect of smoking weed is the physical addictions it causes, he believes that over 51% of all teens have used weed at least once and the biggest problem we are facing with this rapidly growing drug use is only addiction. Dr Marshall M. Gay believes that the health effects of weed isn’t that much as smoking cigarettes and doesn’t see it a threat to people’s health. “More than half (51%) of adolescents reported that marijuana is fairly or very easy to obtain.2 this ease of availability may have contributed to a recently reported "reverse gateway" from cigarettes use to marijuana”. The more ignored belief is that marijuana can lead to a variety of developmental, mental and physical side effects. The effects of smoking weed can extend to those of smoking cigarettes “studies show regular marijuana use can lead to many of the same
Among adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, 9.8 % are estimated to be current users of illicit drugs, with 4.9 % using drugs other than marijuana. Nearly three quarters of students have started to drink alcohol and nearly half (47%) have tried using an illicit drug (not including alcohol or tobacco) by the senior year of high school.” (Hassan, Harris, Sherritt, Van Hook, & Brooks, 2009)
Marijuana is one of the most commonly used drugs in the Nation and the world. In an article by Gray (2007) he states that “42% of high school seniors have tried marijuana, 18% have used it in the past 30 days, and 5% use it daily. Among adolescents aged 12 to 17, 3.6% met criteria for cannabis use disorder (abuse or dependence) and 2% met criteria for cannabis dependence”. Gray (2007) also explains how easily adolescents say it is to obtain marijuana these days. The article also states that there is evidence to prove that marijuana use may lead to “hard” drug use, academic failure, and more. With those who use marijuana chronically it may lead to impairing of the immune