Study: Teen Marijuana Use Has No Link To Mental Health Problems
Chronic marijuana use as an adolescent has no link to mental or physical health problems later in life, according to a new study conducted over the past 20 years.
Published by the American Physiological Association, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Rutgers University divided participants into four groups from their teenage years onward.
One group almost never smoked marijuana, one used it mostly in their teenage years, another started using in adulthood and the final group of subjects started using marijuana early and continued into their adult years.
There had been some evidence to suggest that regular marijuana use among teenagers was linked to mental problems such as depression and schizophrenia. Indeed, lead researcher Jordan Bechtold was expecting to find similar results and said what they discovered was “a little surprising.”
The study found that “chronic marijuana users were not more likely than late increasing users, adolescence-limited users, or low/nonusers to experience several physical or mental health problems in their mid-30s.”
In fact, there were no significant differences between marijuana trajectory groups in terms of adult health outcomes, even when models were run without controlling for potential confounds. The researchers found no link between teen marijuana use and lifetime depression, anxiety, allergies, headaches or high blood pressure.
The study also breaks new ground in that it was able to track 408 subjects as they grew up, rather than looking back on marijuana use retrospectively to find a link with current health problems. All the subjects were male and the study controlled for factors such as cigarette smoking and socioeconomic background.
Although the researchers caution that a single study shouldn’t be looked at in isolation, they argue it should contribute to debate surrounding marijuana legalization. Washington, Colorado, Alaska and Oregon have already legalized recreational marijuana use and campaigners are hoping to push the reforms nationwide.
“Everyone wants to prevent teen marijuana use, but we don’t need to exaggerate its harms and arrest responsible adults in order to do it,” Mason Tvert, communications director at the Marijuana Policy Project, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Hopefully, this study will lead to a reevaluation of the tactics that are being used to discourage teens from trying marijuana,” he added.
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Filed under: General Problems
Yes, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Successful people like President Obama, Michael Phelps, Carl Sagan, Morgan Freeman, and Bill Gates are not proof that pot use during teen years can help you become successful.
To quote one of my Harvard-educated medical internal medicine attendings (after my clinical practice started in 1976 – am I an old fart, or what??), “the most dangerous thing in the world is a medical student or resident with a just-off-the-press article.”
You’re jumping to conclusions. I’d think that you of all people would learn that study conclusions – no matter how “sexy” doesn’t define the final word on a subject. I remember when diethylstilbestrol was routinely given to pregnant women to prevent premature births – do you still endorse that? When I was an intern, “GIK” (glucose, insulin, potassium) was routinely given to post-MI patients to preserve tissue – do you still endorse that? I remember when Syrup of Ipecac was routinely given to kids who ate something they shouldn’t have eaten – do you still endorse that?
Wake up a little, and stop acting like ABC news with some sensational breaking story. Do a little research and recognize how many study conclusions are later withdrawn by their authors – and I don’t mean intellectually dishonest studies…
Regards,
John
No study is perfect.. no conclusion is perfect… how many times have we found out that the Brand Name Pharmas have withheld data or massage data to get a new drug thru the FDA process.. new drug testing is done on pretty pristine group and then when it gets out in the real world.. all too often it starts hitting the fan… who would believe the FDA would approve a blood thinner that has no ANTIDOTE .. we now have three non-warfarin blood thinners on the market and the attorneys are circling. Because of the Harrison Narcotic Act 1914.. the DEA is resisting/prohibiting as much research on MJ as they can get by with.. A law that was passed when docs were still “blood letting”. IMO.. if it wasn’t for that law passed based on racism and bigotry… there would have been untold research on the potential benefits of some of the fractions of MJ.