Review of Marijuana Use in the Adolescent Population and Implications of its Legalization in the United States

Anantha Shekhar

doi:10.4172/2157-7609.1000165

Abstract

With the changing attitudes towards the legality of marijuana in the United States (US), there has been an abundance of rhetoric surrounding the potential societal effects of decriminalized cannabis use. These statements vary in degree from visions of the downfall of our moral and productive civilization, to the elimination of drug crime and a windfall of economic growth. From either side of this divisive issue, there has been a strongly expressed concern of the unknown consequences of a more readily available cannabis supply to the adolescent population, followed by what measures should be taken to curtail this risk. Given this country's unique relationship with mindaltering substances, a great deal of comparisons have been made with alcohol, as it is also a substance of recreation as well as abuse that is currently legal but has also gone through a period of prohibition. This paper looks to examine the validity of this comparison, as well as reviews the current research on the effects of early cannabis use on the adolescent brain.

Highlights

As the United States attitude towards marijuana's legality is changing, there has been no scarcity of rhetoric surrounding the potential societal effects of decriminalized cannabis use
This paper looks to examine the validity of this comparison, as well as reviews the current research on the effects of early cannabis use on the adolescent brain
With the presently changing landscape of marijuana dispensation in the United States, it is prudent to maintain a circumspect approach to the variety of claims surrounding marijuana, or any other substance

Summary

Introduction

As the United States attitude towards marijuana's legality is changing, there has been no scarcity of rhetoric surrounding the potential societal effects of decriminalized cannabis use. From either side of this divisive issue, there has been a strongly expressed concern of the unknown consequences of a more readily available cannabis supply to the adolescent population, followed by what measures should be taken to curtail this risk. Given this country’s unique relationship with mindaltering substances, a great deal of comparisons have been made with alcohol, as it is a substance of recreation as well as abuse that is currently legal but has gone through a period of prohibition. With increasing access to imaging techniques, researchers are looking to determine whether there is a definite structural complex that correlates with cannabis’s interruption of the maturation of neural tissue, or if the brain is more resilient to the neurotoxic effects of marijuana

The Adolescent Brain

Cannabis and Psychosis

Findings

Conclusion