Every parent knows the challenges that come with raising a child going through adolescence. It’s a period during which many youths cope with anxieties related to peer pressure, schoolwork, family life, or other personal struggles.
It is also a time when young people’s brains are still developing, a phase that usually lasts until they are about 25 years old. Dr. Miriam Mandel describes the teen brain as a “huge construction site,” the kind of workplace where marijuana use is best avoided.
Dr. Mandel, a board-certified pediatrician in Ohio says teens using recreational or street marijuana may experience cognitive and behavioral problems, including memory lapses, brain fog, insomnia, major depressive disorder, anxiety, and or paranoia. She warns that those using cannabis with high-potency THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) are at risk of psychosis, such as schizophrenia, which she says typically emerges during the adolescent years.
While frequent pot use is not good for youths’ behavioral health and can cause depression, “there are no statistics to support there is actual marijuana causing suicide,” says Dr. Lyn-Lassiter, a qualified medical marijuana and a licensed emergency medicine physician practicing in South Florida..
However, Dr. Mandel said there are studies showing a correlation between “chronic” marijuana use and suicide.
“This chronic use may start a slow creeping anxiety and/or depression, and they may need more marijuana to satisfy their anxiety relief. We know there's a much stronger correlation between suicide and depression, so the studies are not saying that marijuana is a cause of suicide, it's correlated,” she explained.
Both doctors encourage parents to educate themselves — and their children — on marijuana and recommend the National Institute of Drug Abuse’s website, https://nida.nih.gov, as a good resource for information.
“If a lot of these kids in high school and college knew some of the risks that they're doing to their developing brain, such as how marijuana lowers their IQ, changes their concentration, increases their risk of mental health issues, and greatly affects their attention, they wouldn't do it,” Dr. Mandel says.
