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Fiction: Marijuana is not an addictive drug.
Fact: Marijuana is both a psychologically and physiologically
addictive substance.
Studies show that THC, the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana, causes
dopamine levels in the brain to rise, disturbing the brain's natural reward
system and opening the door for dependency problems. This puts marijuana on the
list of addictive drugs. In fact, research by the National Institute on Drug
Abuse (NIDA) finds that roughly one in 10 persons who use marijuana will become
addicted to the drug.
While most people across the world, including most students, do not use
marijuana, its relatively greater use compared to other substances makes it the
illicit substance with the highest rate of dependence, according to NIDA. In
2011, over four million Americans met clinical criteria for dependence or abuse
of marijuana, more than twice the number for prescription pain relievers and
four times the number for cocaine.
Not only is marijuana a potentially addictive drug, it has been shown to be
more addictive in adolescence than in adulthood.
Due in large part to the developing brain, people who start using marijuana
during adolescence raise their risk of addiction to from one in 10, to one in
six.
Fiction: When someone stops using marijuana, there are no
withdrawal symptoms.
Fact: There are withdrawal symptoms from marijuana, and they can
be intense.
For those that develop an addiction to marijuana, refraining from use is
likely to cause mood swings, depression, sleep disruptions, anxiety, appetite
disturbances, tension and irritability.
People dependent on marijuana are additionally likely to experience a
significant loss in energy and a progressively decreased ability to tolerate
discomfort. These symptoms promote more marijuana use, which then leads to
further nullification of emotion, increased confusion and further avoidance of
discomfort by smoking more of the substance.
This pattern of marijuana addiction - that of use, discomfort and increased
use - was modeled by a study team from Australia and the United States. These
researchers found that marijuana withdrawal is clinically significant and
associated with impairments to normal daily activities. The research team also
found that the greater a person's withdrawal symptoms, the more likely the
person is to relapse, despite his or her stated desire or intention to no longer
use marijuana.
The compulsive and repetitive use of a substance despite negative
consequences such as these, due in large part to persistent psychological and
physical withdrawal symptoms, is the hallmark of the disease of addiction.
Fiction: Marijuana is harmless because you can't "smoke yourself
to death."
Fact: Marijuana use can substantially deplete the quality of life
and future well-being of adolescents.
Irreversible health risks of marijuana use, especially for younger people,
do exist. In 2008, nearly 400,000 marijuana-related emergency room visits in the
United States were reported. Marijuana-induced psychotic episodes and
marijuana-related car accidents, which put the mental and physical health of the
patients and others at risk, were the cause of most of these hospitalizations.
In fact, according to the British Medical Journal, marijuana intoxication
doubles the risk of a car crash in the general population, making use of the
substance even riskier for new drivers.
The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) also states that
marijuana can cause problems with concentration and thinking. Many studies about
the teenage use of marijuana back up the ONDCP's claim.
One such NIDA-funded study at McLean Hospital found that college students
who used marijuana regularly had impaired skills related to attention, memory
and learning 24 hours after they last used the drug. A second study at the
University of Iowa College of Medicine found that long-term daily users of
marijuana showed deficits in mathematical skills, verbal expression and memory.
Again, these effects are likely to be especially problematic during teens' peak
learning years, when the brain is still developing.
Death is by no means the only measure one should use to determine if a drug
affects well-being. Considering the great variety of serious health consequences
marijuana can impose on an individual, and particularly a teen, marijuana is not
harmless by any stretch of the imagination.
Use of marijuana for medicinal purposes does not change the fact that the
recreational use of marijuana among teenagers is so risky.
Fiction: The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes suggests that
recreational use poses no risk.
Fact: Recreational use of marijuana among teenagers is always
risky.
In a medical setting, patients must weigh the potential dangers of a
substance's side effects with the potential medical benefits the substance might
produce in relieving their disease symptoms. This risk-benefit analysis allows
patients to make informed decisions about whether or not they are willing to put
certain pieces of their health at risk in order to benefit others through the
use of a substance. These health-based decisions, often made by patients with
debilitating and terminal diseases, are almost always very difficult.
Outside of a medical setting, of course, substances have no medical
benefit. All that remains is risk. Use in these circumstances provides no
medical benefits, is often illegal, and is likely to harm health rather than
help it. Use of marijuana for medicinal purposes does not change the fact that
the recreational use of marijuana among teenagers is so risky.
Fiction: Marijuana is natural; it's an herb.
Fact: Marijuana disrupts natural brain function like other drugs
derived from a variety of sources.
A large variety of addictive substances, from the nicotine in tobacco to
the opium in poppies, derive from natural sources. The introduction of these
addictive substances within the human brain and body systems, regardless of
their source, can lead to negative health consequences including an unnatural
dependence on these drugs.
The body does not know or care whether a drug is man-made or grown in the
ground. Marijuana use can lead to memory loss, impaired motor skills, slowed
social maturation and substance dependence - not natural conditions of a healthy
teen.
Fiction: Marijuana is better for your lungs than
cigarettes.
Fact: Marijuana and tobacco smoke contain many of the same toxic
compounds.
Marijuana smoke and tobacco smoke are actually rather similar. Benzopyrene,
a known carcinogen, is found in both, but in greater concentrations in marijuana
smoke. Marijuana smoking has not yet been unequivocally linked to lung cancer,
but there is a greater risk of DNA damage, a precursor to cancer, for a
marijuana smoker than a tobacco smoker. Marijuana smoke typically is inhaled
more deeply into the lungs and held in four times as long as tobacco smoke,
giving toxins greater access to the cardiovascular system. One study showed that
a marker for carbon monoxide in the blood was five times higher after an
individual smoked a marijuana joint than after the individual smoked a tobacco
cigarette of comparable size.
Marijuana contains over 400 chemicals, and smoking marijuana elevates heart
rate, suppresses the production of hormones regulating the reproductive system,
and unequivocally impairs lung function. All use equals risk, and the healthiest
environment for teen lungs is a smoke-free one.
Fiction: "Everybody" is using marijuana.
Fact: Everybody is not using marijuana. Relatively speaking,
hardly anybody is.
Despite the fact that marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug by
students, the majority of teens worldwide have never used marijuana at all, even
once in their lives. According to the most recent Monitoring the Future Survey,
66% of U.S. 10th-grade students have never used marijuana during their lifetime,
and among European students participating in the most recent European School
Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD), 83% have never used the
drug.
Regular use of marijuana is even more rare among students. Only 17% of U.S.
10th-grade students, and just 7% of European 15- to 16-year-olds reported having
used marijuana in the past month.
Students can rest assured that when they make the choice not to use
marijuana, they are in the healthy majority of their peers.
...the majority of teens worldwide have never used marijuana at all, even
once in their lives.
Fiction: Marijuana cures cancer. It must be good for
us.
Fact: Smoked marijuana does not cure cancer; it is, in fact,
carcinogenic.
While there are a handful of laboratory studies exploring how some of the
chemicals within the marijuana plant may have an influence on tumor growth in
animals, these studies are both experimental and inconclusive. To date, there is
no evidence that marijuana cures cancer. Most likely, students with the
misperception that marijuana cures cancer will not have seen these studies.
Instead, students may have heard that some cancer patients use medically
prescribed marijuana to ameliorate the grueling chemotherapy process. These
students then jump to the conclusion that, instead of reducing the side effects
of a cancer treatment process in these patients, marijuana is what is curing
their disease.
In fact, the American Cancer Society has been very clear that it does not
advocate the use of inhaled marijuana for anyone, nor does it advocate the
legalization of marijuana. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has made
similarly clear statements, asserting that smoking marijuana increases an
individual's risk of coming into contact with cancer-causing agents.
Fiction: Marijuana is a "soft" drug that will not harm a student's
mind like a "harder" drug would.
Fact: Marijuana is associated with mental health problems,
including psychosis.
Multiple peer-reviewed research studies have linked adolescent marijuana
use to psychosis later in life. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry (AACAP) stated in a policy paper that "adolescents are especially
vulnerable to the many adverse developmental, cognitive, medical, psychiatric,
and addictive effects of marijuana."
Of great concern to the AACAP is that "adolescent marijuana users are more
likely than adult users to develop marijuana dependence, and their heavy use is
associated with increased incidence and worsened course of psychotic, mood, and
anxiety disorders." The AACAP feels that the medicalization of smoked marijuana
in some areas of the world has distorted the perception of the known risks of
this drug.
Any drug use comes with risk, and the riskiest addictive, psychoactive
substance for young people to use is the substance they perceive to be harmless,
and are therefore willing to use over the long term while their brains and
bodies are still undergoing critical development.
Fiction: Marijuana use is cool.
Fact: Teenagers disapprove of their peers' use of
marijuana.
As Prevention Specialists who spend a great deal of time with students, we
are no longer surprised when middle schoolers know all of the lyrics to popular
songs that promote the use of intoxicating substances as the key to fun,
prestige, self-expression and/or social acceptance. Pop culture may have the
effect of making marijuana and other drugs sound cool to teenagers, but we know
from research that the many consequences of marijuana use are anything but cool.
Though students may enjoy the media they consume, drug references and all, they
do not actually approve of teenage marijuana use.
At an FCD client school in Colorado, we asked students whether they would
approve or disapprove of their friends' use of marijuana. While 10% of students
said they would approve if their peers used marijuana regularly, 60% of students
said that they would disapprove, with most of those students saying that their
disapproval was "strong." Within other school communities across the United
States and internationally, students are even more quick to disapprove of peers'
marijuana use. So while adults may be marketing messages to youth that smoking
marijuana is acceptable, most youth feel it is not.
Teenagers disapprove of their peers' use of marijuana.
Fiction: If marijuana was dangerous, I would not see ads for
marijuana shops where I live.
Fact: Dispensaries and "pot shops" are for-profit businesses
employing consumer marketing strategies.
Advertisements for marijuana products do not have to be backed up by an
evidence basis, nor will one see any warning labels on marijuana products as
have been imposed by regulators of the alcohol and tobacco industries. However,
like other industries, the marijuana business will utilize consumer marketing
strategies that encourage people to become loyal to their product.
Additionally, in the U.S., the signs a student may see around town
promoting marijuana use may not be connected to a particular shop or product,
but may be instead endorsing a ballot measure within the next voting cycle. In
this case, the assertions that political ads make about a marijuana measure are
considered political propaganda and likewise require no evidence basis under
free speech laws.
Just as adults have taught students to become media literate about other
industries, teachers and parents can help students to see the underlying
economic and social interests of marijuana advertisements, lobbying efforts and
enthusiast groups.
Fiction: Marijuana is healthier than alcohol.
Fact: Given the risks of alcohol and marijuana, neither substance
is patently "healthy."
The marijuana-versus-alcohol debate is a false dilemma. Students need not
chose between two addicting, psychoactive substances to gain maturity, have fun,
make friends, feel okay with themselves, or get excited about their
futures.
Even if students did need to chose, marijuana carries many of its own
risks, especially for teens. A 2009 peer-reviewed article in the journal
Addictive Behaviors found that young people who first used marijuana in
adolescence were twice as likely to suffer emotional problems, and seven times
as likely to suffer physical problems, as people who first used the substance as
adults.
At FCD, we embrace a health perspective and are very strong proponents of
delayed use. Dozens of peer-reviewed studies show that the younger a person
begins using a substance, the more likely he or she is to have a problem at some
point with addiction.
This is the reality - all use equals risk, and early use predisposes a
person to addiction. The way out of the marijuana-versus-alcohol dilemma is not
to pick one's poison, but to encourage delayed use through strong support
structures for youth, including solid, community-wide prevention education and
substance-free alternatives for student recreation, stress relief, peer bonding
and identity exploration.
The Good News When Marijuana Is In the News
In the midst of changing laws and cultural messages, young people's
confusion about marijuana use is understandable, and the need to provide them
with health-based information is critical.
The good news is that many students crave the truth about their health and
their wellbeing.
The even better news is that we as adults, so long as we are clear about
the potential harm of adolescent marijuana use, can help our students and our
communities fully understand the risks.
We hope this article has prepared you with facts you can use when you're
faced with some of the common misperceptions and myths surrounding adolescent
use of marijuana.
Authors
In addition to his role as an FCD Prevention Specialist, which he took on
in 2010, Mike Connolly is also the Executive Director of Valley Partnership for
Drug Prevention in Aspen, and has served on the Board of The Children's Health
Foundation. Mike is also a part-time stock trader, an on-air personality for NRC
Broadcasting, and a competitive cyclist and avid skier.
A 30-year FCD veteran, Renee Soulis has served in a variety of positions
for the organization, including health educator, scheduling director, curriculum
coordinator, education director, director of client relations, and her current
positions as a Senior Prevention Specialist and Regional Officer. A graduate of
George Williams College in Chicago, Renee earned a BA in humanities with a
concentration in group dynamics. She has authored articles and papers on
prevention education topics and has presented at conferences around the world.
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