“marijuana May Hurt the Developing Teen Brain”

Miranda Donlin

“Marijuana May Hurt The Developing Teen Brain”

Neighmond, P. (2014, March 03). Marijuana May Hurt The Developing Teen Brain. Retrieved February 25, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2014/02/25/282631913/marijuana-may-hurt-the-developing-teen-brain

Quotes and Notes: This article describes the effects of marijuana use and how it can have a negative impact on the development of the teenager’s brains judgement, critical thinking and memory processes. (Lisdahl) Krista Lisdahl, director of brain imaging and neuropsychology lab at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, states that a child’s brain is larger and during the teenage years the brain connections that were not being used are eliminated and the brain becomes “faster and more efficient” (Lisdahl). Krista Lisdahl reports students that regularly use marijuana has an average of one point grade lower than non-using students.

A Duke University study showed that regular use of marijuana starting during the teenage years and was continued for many years lost about eight IQ points from childhood to adulthood. The younger they were when they started using marijuana the higher the IQ decline. They also found that they did worse in tests of memory and decision-making than adults who hadn't smoked pot. Also, discussed in this study was that the higher decline in IQ, decision making, and memory testing results of the studies were among heavy marijuana users and there may be variables that cause of the heavy use such as subtle emotional differences, and cognitive functioning differences.

Dr. Gregory Tau a psychiatrist and drug abuse researcher at Columbia University says, A recent federal survey study shows 60 % of teenagers think that marijuana use is safe and 28% of teen-agers have used marijuana. Due to the potential negative effects of marijuana use on a developing brain more funding is needed for better-designed long-term studies about marijuana risk.

Major Problems Addressed by Article:

1. Potential IQ decline

2. Potential in disruption of critical thinking development

3. Potential problems in memory process

Connections to Class/ Implications for People Working with Children/ Adolescents

The changes from a normal cognitive development (changes in problem solving, memory, language, reasoning, and other aspects of thinking) in the thinking process is disrupted with the regular use of marijuana; resulting in the teenager making poor choices, having memory issues, and poor problem solving abilities. Influence from peer students, or family members (social transmission) can affect whether a student will or will not use marijuana. Adults may recognize signs from a decline in student’s