as a Risk Factor for Physical and Mental Health Problems in Young Adult Men.
Psychol Addict Behav. 2015 Aug 3. [Epub ahead of print]
Friday, August 14, 2015
Chronic marijuana use in adolescents
Bechtold J, Simpson T, White HR, Pardini D. Chronic Adolescent Marijuana Use
as a Risk Factor for Physical and Mental Health Problems in Young Adult Men.
Psychol Addict Behav. 2015 Aug 3. [Epub ahead of print]
Some evidence suggests that youth who use marijuana heavily during adolescence may be particularly prone to health problems in later adulthood (e.g., respiratory illnesses, psychotic symptoms). However, relatively few longitudinal studies have prospectively examined the long-term physical and mental health consequences associated with chronic adolescent marijuana use. The present study used data from a longitudinal sample of Black and White young men to determine whether different developmental patterns of marijuana use, assessed annually from early adolescence to the mid-20s, were associated with adverse physical (e.g., asthma, high blood pressure) and mental (e.g., psychosis, anxiety disorders) health outcomes in the mid-30s. Analyses also examined whether chronic marijuana use was more strongly associated with later health problems in Black men relative to White men. Findings from latent class growth curve analysis identified 4 distinct subgroups of marijuana users: early onset chronic users, late increasing users, adolescence-limited users, and low/nonusers. Results indicated that the 4 marijuana use trajectory groups were not significantly different in terms of their physical and mental health problems assessed in the mid-30s. The associations between marijuana group membership and later health problems did not vary significantly by race. Findings are discussed in the context of a larger body of work investigating the potential long-term health consequences of early onset chronic marijuana use, as well as the complications inherent in studying the possible link between marijuana use and health effects.
as a Risk Factor for Physical and Mental Health Problems in Young Adult Men.
Psychol Addict Behav. 2015 Aug 3. [Epub ahead of print]
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One of the first two states to legalize recreational marijuana is taking steps to keep teens from using the drug.
ReplyDeleteColorado, in its second public service campaign since pot became legal at the start of 2014 for people over 21, was careful this time to not vilify the drug. Instead, after Health Department officials talked with more than 800 minors through focus groups, school visits, and phone interviews to help craft the campaign, the ads seek to send the message that marijuana use early in life can stymie a child’s potential.
Called the "What's Next" campaign, the ads show active kids and reminds them that their brains continue to develop until they're 25. The ads say that pot use can make it harder for them to pass a test, land a job, or pass the exam for a driver's license.
The state Health Department faced backlash last year for its first effort, called "Don't Be A Lab Rat," which marijuana activists said recycled Drug War-era scare tactics. That youth anti-pot campaign included erecting human-sized rat cages outside schools and libraries. Some Colorado teens used the installation art as an opportunity to criticize the campaign by photographing themselves smoking pot inside the cages, then posting the images on social media.
The new campaign aims to strike a different tone.
One ad shows a teen girl playing on a basketball court and the tag line, "Don't let marijuana get in the way of ambition." Another ad shows a boy playing on a drum set with the tag line, "Don't let marijuana get in the way of passion."
The Health Department said that its research showed that teens "want credible information to make their own health decisions and don't respond to 'preachy' messages or scare tactics," in a news release for the newest campaign...
Since the drug became legal, Colorado has ramped up efforts to regulate its sale, and keep it out of the hands of minors. Just three months after recreational pot was legalized, the governor signed into law a widely supported policy extending the same packaging requirements to medical marijuana products that already exist for recreational ones.
"Keeping marijuana out of the hands of kids should be a priority for all of us," said Governor Hickenlooper, before signing the bill.
Critics of the rolling back of marijuana policy are still skeptical that PSAs and public education are effective in keeping kids away from recreational pot use as it becomes easier and easier to access.
"Any steps to reduce access to kids and make it less likely kids will use marijuana is laudable, but I think will ultimately be unsuccessful in the framework of legalization," says Kevin Sabet, the cofounder of Project SAM and director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida, in an interview last year with The Christian Science Monitor. "Because legalization by definition is the commercialization of marijuana and companies only make money off heavy users, they have to target young people as part of a successful business model."
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2015/0820/How-is-a-pro-pot-state-like-Colorado-keeping-teens-away-from-marijuana
Courtesy of: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/PublicHealth/53170?isalert=1&uun=g906366d4461R5793688u&xid=NL_breakingnews_2015-08-21
How cannabis use might affect the brain of young people is the subject of two major studies published this week.
ReplyDeleteOne study finds no significant effect of cannabis use on brain volume, but rather hints that the brains of users may be smaller to begin with.
The other study suggests that marijuana may alter brain structure in young men at high genetic risk of developing schizophrenia, which can be triggered by cannabis use.
Both studies were published online August 26 in JAMA Psychiatry.
In a related editorial, David Goldman, MD, of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rockville, Maryland, cautions that it "would be wrong to conclude that it is safe to use cannabis" or that it "would be safe for people with the right genetic makeup or women, in particular, to use cannabis."...
In the second study, researchers asked whether cannabis use influences brain maturation differently in adolescents with low vs high genetic risk for schizophrenia, as estimated from 108 genetic locations identified by the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium.
The researchers observed a negative correlation between cannabis use in early adolescence (by age 16 years) and cortical thickness in male participants with a high polygenic risk score. This was not the case for low-risk male participants or for the low- or high-risk female participants.
"Our findings suggest that cannabis use might interfere with the maturation of the cerebral cortex in male adolescents at high risk for schizophrenia by virtue of their polygenic risk score," the authors write.
The researchers observed a negative correlation between cannabis use in early adolescence (by age 16 years) and cortical thickness in male participants with a high polygenic risk score. This was not the case for low-risk male participants or for the low- or high-risk female participants.
"Our findings suggest that cannabis use might interfere with the maturation of the cerebral cortex in male adolescents at high risk for schizophrenia by virtue of their polygenic risk score," the authors write.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/850180?src=wnl_edit_medn_wir&uac=60196BR&spon=34&impID=807387&faf=1
David Pagliaccio, Deanna M. Barch, Ryan Bogdan, Phillip K. Wood, Michael T. Lynskey, Andrew C. Heath, Arpana Agrawa. Shared Predisposition in the Association Between Cannabis Use and Subcortical Brain Structure. JAMA Psychiatry. Published online August 26, 2015.
Leon French, et al. Early Cannabis Use, Polygenic Risk Score for Schizophrenia and Brain Maturation in Adolescence. JAMA Psychiatry. Published online August 26, 2015