Teen cannabis use linked to permanent brain damage: The Church of England Newspaper, September 9, 2012, p 5, September 12, 2012
Posted by geoconger in Church of England, Church of England Newspaper, Youth/Children.Tags: cannabis, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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Cannabis use by teenagers leads to permanent brain damage, a study published in Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences reports.
Teenagers who smoked pot on a daily basis were found to have a significant neuropsychological decline that persisted even after they stopped using the drug. Researchers from Duke University, King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, and the University of Otago found that early-onset regular pot users had IQs 8 points lower than their counterparts who never smoked or started after they were 18 years of age.
The study examined data on 1,037 New Zealanders who were tracked by researchers from birth to age 38. Cannabis usage was measured at ages of 18, 21, 26, 32 and 38, while tests for intelligence, memory and attention were given at the age of 13 and at the age of 38.
The study found that heavy and regular cannabis use was linked to neuropsychological decline across virtually all domains of functioning with the greatest damage found among those who began smoking marijuana before the age of 18.
The “findings are suggestive of a neurotoxic effect of cannabis on the adolescent brain and highlight the importance of prevention and policy efforts targeting adolescents,” the report said.
In a 2001 submission to Parliament, the Church of England’s Board for Social Responsibility urged the decriminalization of cannabis arguing the current laws:
It leads to disrespect for the law among young people; it is enforced in a random manner; there is no link between cannabis and the use of hard drugs except for a tiny minority … Indeed the criminalisation of cannabis makes the association with hard drugs perversely more likely. Legislation is being used here to govern morality, and the indication is that it sets up greater problems in the future. We do take seriously the point that young people may be encouraged to use cannabis more heavily if this legislative change takes place, and we believe that even greater drug education is necessary in schools and with young people.”
However, drug education programmes warning of the harmful effects of cannabis appear not to be working. Study leader Madeline Meier of Duke University observed that persistent cannabis use among American high school students is higher than it has ever been, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The Church of England’s 2001 submission noted that “Alcohol inebriation has long been associated with violence in some cases, and it is possible that cannabis abuse could sometimes have harmful effects. However that is a matter for personal responsibility, guided by moral imperatives. Abuse, which is a sin, is not necessarily a crime: adultery is wrong, but it is not a crime. Murder is both a sin and a crime, by definition. We believe that it is time to decriminalize the possession of cannabis.”
First printed in The Church of England Newspaper.
Conger 