The global attitude towards cannabis has been changing, leaning more towards the exploration of its possible medicinal uses and its legalization. Eight countries, including Canada, Uruguay, Mexico, and Thailand, and 22 US states have legalized recreational marijuana, and some 50 countries have legalized it for medical use. And many other countries are currently pushing their laws in that direction.
But, just like tobacco and alcohol, legalization doesn’t mean the drug isn’t harmful. Marijuana is also one of the most widely used substances among adolescents around the world. In the United States, more than 2.5 million adolescents use cannabis occasionally, according to researchers at Columbia University in New York, and cannabis use among young people has increased in recent decades.
For this reason, the trend towards legalization and medicinal use has set off alarm bells, especially due to the possible risks to the health of adolescents.
Marijuana could be behind 30% of schizophrenia cases in young men https://t.co/eYaJR9HTUv
– The Opinion (@Real America NewsLA) May 5, 2023
A developing brain
Although it can be difficult to know when adolescence ends, it is clear that it is a period of time that involves many biological changes, including various changes in the brain.
During this phase, areas of the brain related to managing emotions, reactions to stress, rewards and motivation, decision making, thinking before acting, impulse control and reasoning develop and refine. to name just a few aspects of behavior.
All of these changes and pressures can make teens more prone to mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression., which can lead them to use substances like marijuana to cope, according to the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The problem is that marijuana use can also, in the long term, make those mental health problems worse.
Facts about cannabis and depression
One study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in early May, focused on adolescents who used cannabis occasionally in the past 12 months. The study analyzed responses from nearly 70,000 teens to the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
The research revealed that compared to non-users, those who used marijuana but did not meet the addiction criteria had two to four times as many mental health problems, including depression, suicidal thoughts, slow thinking and difficulty concentrating.
That could suggest a link between marijuana use and mental health problems, but it’s not yet clear whether use is a direct cause of psychological conditions.
Another recent study published in JAMA Psychiatry found that Marijuana use in adolescence was also associated with an increased risk of developing depression and suicidal thoughts later in life.
However, a 2022 study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology showed that adolescents who used cannabis were not more likely to develop mental health problems, such as depression or anxiety, compared to adults who used cannabis. Only adolescents with cannabis addiction showed worsening mental health.
Is cannabis the cause?
Correlation does not equate to causation, so it is difficult to know whether adolescent cannabis use is the cause of a higher incidence of depression and other psychological problems, or whether adolescents with these problems are more likely to use cannabis.
More research is needed to find out if cannabis causes mental health problems in adolescents.
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