ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill. — A brain that is still in development will develop differently if exposed to marijuana. That’s why, as many states begin to legalize marijuana use for adults, the American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its warnings against use by children and adolescents.
Dr. Leslie Walker-Harding, chair of pediatrics and medical director at Penn State Children’s Hospital, advises parents to educate themselves as they decide whether or not to support the changes in the law or allow their children to use marijuana.
Know the facts
“The difference with children and teenagers versus adults is that young people are still making connections in their brains that they’re going to have for a lifetime,” she said.
“If you’re an adult, once you stop using marijuana, your brain will go back to its baseline,” Walker-Harding said. “Kids don’t have a baseline yet.”
Long-term problems
She notes marijuana use can impair problem-solving ability, distort time, slow reaction time, alter perception, lower IQ and affect short-term memory in a developing brain.
Additionally, an individual’s reaction to marijuana is unpredictable. If a person has a family history of mental health issues, such as schizophrenia or anxiety, drug use can trigger these disorders prematurely.
It is addictive. And, Walker-Harding said, despite what you may read on the internet, marijuana is addictive.
“There is no controversy in the science about it being addictive. It hits the reward center just like any other drugs of abuse,” she said.
In fact, four out of 10 children who use marijuana will develop a substance abuse disorder compared to one in 10 adults.
More potent
Today’s marijuana is much more potent than in the past and the levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels vary from source to source.
The fact is industry is moving faster than the science, she added. The current available research is based solely on adult use of much weaker marijuana.
The THC levels in the drugs used in research were 10 to 15 percent, while today some strengths are as high as 80 percent.
Medical use
Adults have used marijuana to address a number of health concerns, including chronic pain, nausea, neuromuscular conditions and even glaucoma. However, there is no evidence that marijuana helps any particular condition in children and adolescents.
“The laws and politics around that have nothing to do with the science of medicinal marijuana use in children. We need to advocate for much more research on marijuana for kids. Currently, some research is finding it may be promising with certain kinds of very hard to treat seizures,” Walker-Harding said.
Set an example. Parents who allow teens to use marijuana or even alcohol in their home — thinking it’s a way to control something they’re going to do anyway — set them up for problems outside the home.
“If you teach your kids that this is OK, they will push the boundaries. They’re not going to take just a small drink of wine or beer when they’re out with friends. They’re going to drink much more so it’s the same with marijuana,” Walker-Harding said.
“Research shows they tend to use more than they would have had they not been exposed by their parents.”
Additionally, if they see you using marijuana, they’ll want to do the same.
Talk to your children
“The most powerful thing you can do as a parent is tell your child ‘I don’t want you to use drugs or alcohol,'” she said.
A parent who uses marijuana needs to clearly convey that it is not for use by children whose brains are still developing.
Parents who are consistent with rules and boundaries have children who do better.
“Conventional wisdom is kids will do what they’re going to do and you can’t make a difference,” Walker-Harding said. “But in reality, parents have the biggest impact on their kids.”
If prohibitionists really want to protect families from a drug proven to destroy lives and families, then they should be up in arms, protesting the legality of booze.
Alcohol is the number one cause for traffic fatalities and domestic violence by a huge landslide.
Alcohol is also infused into literally a ton of deserts and fruity drinks that “The Children” find appealing.
Why doesn’t the much more harmful yet perfectly legal use of alcohol concern you prohibitionists more than relatively benign marijuana? It should.
Regarding “The Children”,
Let’s not use “The Children” as an excuse to prohibit and criminalize adult use of a natural plant far less dangerous than perfectly legal alcohol because nobody condones child use, and this is about allowing adults only to choose marijuana.
It’s our responsibility as parents by to educate our children on drug use. It’s not the government’s job to force Draconian Marijuana Laws upon every adult citizen under the guise of protecting “The Children”.
What message are we sending our children when it is easier for them to obtain marijuana now with it being illegal than it is for them to buy alcohol?
It doesn’t take the intellect of a genius to understand that stores card kids for I.D. Thugs and gang members do not. They also push the real hard drugs on children. Stores do not.
Marijuana legalization will make it harder for children to obtain it.
What message does it send our children when several Presidents of The United States themselves, alongside a long list of successful people openly admit regular pot use at one time or another in their lives?
While we tell our kids how it will ruin their futures, and then ensure so, by allowing our government to to jail our children and give them permanent criminal records when they get caught with a little Marijuana. Especially, if they are the wrong skin color or from the “wrong neighborhood”. Which in turn, ruins their chances of employment for life.
The Prohibition of Marijuana is the wrong message to send our children while we glorify, advertise and promote the much more dangerous use of alcohol like it’s an all American pastime.
The worst thing about marijuana and our children is what happens to them when they get caught up in the criminal justice system due to it’s prohibition.
Protect “The Children” and Our Neighborhoods Through The Legalization and Regulation of Marijuana Nationwide!
It’s too late: 100 million of these kids grew up, and as adults now we know these lies are all just that.