• Question: what does Marijuana do to your brain if you smoke it young?

    Asked by SUH DUDE to Eleni, Hannah, Jenny, Oli, Steven on 11 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Oliver Charity

      Oliver Charity answered on 11 Nov 2016:

      MEME,

      Supposedly it depends if a person is susceptible to mental illness, some people will be fine, others can end up with schizophrenia and psycosis. It’s best to avoid anyway – even if you will ultimately be ok from taking it, it makes you lazy, dumb and overeat.

      Oli

    • Photo: Hannah Bolt

      Hannah Bolt answered on 11 Nov 2016:

      Hi,

      As Oli says, marijuana can cause changes to the brain of anyone that smokes it, and the changes it makes can depend on the person. Working out exactly the effect marijuana is having is a very complicated but scientists have shown that marijuana can cause really negative effects. Some studies have shown people that smoke it in their teenage years can have a lower IQ later in life, and several different studies have shown people that smoke marijuana are more likely to develop schizophrenia or other mental health related illnesses than those who don’t.

      Hannah

    • Photo: Steven Street

      Steven Street answered on 13 Nov 2016:

      Hi SUH DUDE,

      As the others have said, we still haven’t fully understood exactly what the effects are… (which is not a good thing!) As the others have said, studies have shown that people/rats who are exposed to THC at a young age have problems with specific learning and memory tasks later in life. In addition to this, THC can induce structural and functional changes in the hippocampus portion of your brain. It can also alter the reward system in your brain, making you more likely to use other, possibly worse drugs!

      Steve

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