Partners in Prevention-Rock County, Inc.
1 Parker Place Suite 107, Janesville, WI 53545
phone: (608) 758.1844 fax: (608) 758.0025
partnersrockcty@sbcglobal.net

Join Our Mailing List

Marijuanna and Teen Use

In Rock County alone, 23% of teens in grades 5-12 have smoked marijuana in their lifetime. Seniors in area high schools have the highest rate of use at 24% in the past 30 days.

If you have outdated perceptions about marijuana, you might be putting your teen at risk. New research is giving us better insight into the serious consequences of teen marijuana use, especially how it impacts mental health. Today’s teens are smoking a more potent drug and starting use at increasingly younger ages during crucial brain development years. Teens who learn about the risks from their parents are less likely to smoke marijuana or use other drugs than teens who don’t. Let your teens know you don’t want them using marijuana.

Many more kids use marijuana than any other illicit drug by far.
Young teens are trying marijuana at a time when their bodies and brains are still developing.
In the past decade, the number of 8th graders who have used marijuana has doubled.
Many people who use marijuana have trouble quitting and experience withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, difficulty sleeping and anxiety.
Marijuana can lead to a host of health, social and behavioral problems at a crucial time in kids’ lives.
Marijuana today is more potent and its effects can be more intense.
Adolescent marijuana users show lower academic achievement compared to nonusers.
Even short-term marijuana use has been linked to memory loss and difficulty with problem solving.

Drug Prevention

For more information please visit

The Anti Drug

Health Hazards from Marijuanna

Effects of Marijuana on the Brain. Researchers have found that THC changes the way in which sensory information gets into and is acted on by the hippocampus. This is a component of the brain's limbic system that is crucial for learning, memory, and the integration of sensory experiences with emotions and motivations. Investigations have shown that THC suppresses neurons in the information-processing system of the hippocampus. In addition, researchers have discovered that learned behaviors, which depend on the hippocampus, also deteriorate.

Effects on the Lungs. Someone who smokes marijuana regularly may have many of the same respiratory problems that tobacco smokers have. These individuals may have daily cough and phlegm, symptoms of chronic bronchitis, and more frequent chest colds. Continuing to smoke marijuana can lead to abnormal functioning of lung tissue injured or destroyed by marijuana smoke.

Regardless of the THC content, the amount of tar inhaled by marijuana smokers and the level of carbon monoxide absorbed are three to five times greater than among tobacco smokers. This may be due to marijuana users inhaling more deeply and holding the smoke in the lungs.

Effects of Heavy Marijuana Use on Learning and Social Behavior. A study of college students has shown that critical skills related to attention, memory, and learning are impaired among people who use marijuana heavily, even after discontinuing its use for at least 24 hours. Researchers compared 65 "heavy users," who had smoked marijuana a median of 29 of the past 30 days, and 64 "light users," who had smoked a median of 1 of the past 30 days. After a closely monitored 19- to 24-hour period of abstinence from marijuana and other illegal drugs and alcohol, the undergraduates were given several standard tests measuring aspects of attention, memory, and learning. Compared to the light users, heavy marijuana users made more errors and had more difficulty sustaining attention, shifting attention to meet the demands of changes in the environment, and in registering, processing, and using information. The findings suggest that the greater impairment among heavy users is likely due to an alteration of brain activity produced by marijuana.

Longitudinal research on marijuana use among young people below college age indicates those who used have lower achievement than the non-users, more acceptance of deviant behavior, more delinquent behavior and aggression, greater rebelliousness, poorer relationships with parents, and more associations with delinquent and drug-using friends.