Keeping Teens off the Marijuana Bandwagon

Keeping Teens off the Marijuana Bandwagon

The conversation about marijuana is not dying out. Medical, recreational, legal or illegal, it is part of the buzz in state legislatures and professional sports. Despite the cries of ‘it’s harmless,’ the medical studies continue to show that the earlier you start smoking marijuana, the worse it is for your brain development. Another new study shows that high school students considered low risk for using drugs—nonsmokers, religious students and those with disapproving friends–said they would use marijuana if it were legal.

The arguments about marijuana addiction continue as well. Numerous studies have shown how regular marijuana use (once a week or more) can change the developing teen brain, causing problems with memory and problem solving. Some changes can be permanent, like the loss of IQ points that did not return even if they stopped smoking. In other words, the teen brain is vulnerable and those years are about the worst to use a drug that can affect brain development.

That may be something baseball player Jon Singleton can attest to. Singleton is a top prospect for the Houston Astros. He served a 50-game suspension last year after he tested positive for marijuana twice in 2012. Even after the second test, when he knew he was likely to get suspended, Singleton kept smoking.

While first calling it a lapse in judgment, Singleton later admitted he’s addicted to marijuana and sought treatment. In an interview with the Associated Press, Singleton said that growing up, about 80 percent of his friends could get marijuana within an hour. It was available and made him feel good. Going to addiction treatment made him realize that he needed to work on the issue for himself. Now clean a year, Singleton is doing well in spring training and hopes to make the big league squad.

So the conversation with teens should start early and continue. It can be difficult, with marijuana legal in some places, medical in others and with each new opinion poll, considered less and less of a problem by more and more people. Regardless, it’s clearly not good for teen brains, that last time when the physical development of the brain can make a huge difference.

If marijuana is a problem, or has led to other drug problems for you or a loved one, Recovery Connection can help. Call us at 866-812-8231 for a recommendation about treatment. We can help.