MARIJUANA
Impacts On THE ADOLESCENT BRAIN
Written By Roger Morgan, Take Back America Campaign
Several moms have told me recently that their friends smoke pot with their kids, adamant that in
moderation it’s not a big deal. Pot smokers are hardly objective about the issue, so rather than
belabor the issue regarding adult use of marijuana, let’s just address the impacts on the adolescent
versus the adult brain, because there is a difference.
The brain is not fully developed until age 25, or later. Until then, even in small quantities and
particularly during adolescence, marijuana can cause PERMANENT brain damage, psychosis,
birth defects, addiction and suicidal depression. It adversely impacts memory, motivation,
maturation and cognition … in short, the ability to adsorb and retain information. It can lead to
testicular, head, neck and other forms of cancer. It impairs motor skills and judgment,
contributing to traffic accidents and death. It doesn’t kill by overdose, but it is a gateway drugs
that lead to 3,400 overdose deaths monthly; and overdose isn’t the only cause of death, nor is it
the only adverse outcome of smoking pot.
Here are few findings from scientific research that should give parents cause for concern:

Cannabis may affect the adolescent brain (permanently altering) its development
trajectory.1 Age 14 to 16 is a critical period because the brain is going through a major
development period.

Young people who smoke pot are 6 times more likely than others to develop psychosis, 3
times more likely to have hallucinations, and 4 times more likely to have delusions. Side
affects can appear years after they quit.2

“…..marijuana, particularly in teen boys, leads to measureable increase in the future
development of schizophrenia.”3

Teens who smoke marijuana at lease once a month are three times more likely to have
suicidal thoughts than are non-users.4

A website Schizophrenia.com reported that:
- A Dutch study showed teenagers who indulge in cannabis as few as 5 times in their
life significantly increase their risk of psychotic symptoms.
- A Melbourne study found that regular use of cannabis by adolescent girls could trigger
long-term depression, and for those vulnerable to psychotic disorder, even a small
amount of cannabis could pose a threat.
1
Dr. McGrath, University of Queensland
Pickford, Dr. Mary, Harvard Medical School, March 2010
3
Patton, G.C. et al (2006) Cannabis use and mental health in young people. British Medical Journal.
4
Office of National Drug Control Handbook 2008
2
1

17% of young people who start smoking marijuana before age 18 will become addicted to
it, versus 9% for those over 18.

“In twenty years of research on human cells, I have never found any other drug, including
heroin, which came close to the DNA damage caused by marijuana.”5 (Miroshima). He
goes on to explain that normal human cells have 46 chromosomes. He discovered that
one-third of “weekend smokers” who average just two joints a week had only 20 to 30
chromosomes … about the same as a frog.

Pot smoking during pregnancy leads to 44% still births compared to 12% normal;’6 and
results in smaller head size, cardiac murmurs, small eye openings, broad low nasal bridge
and low set ears; the course of labor is hazardous and 41% of the babies required oxygen
resuscitation at birth.7

Lab tests showed subtle developmental abnormalities in THC exposed offspring
stemming from various organ systems and tissues, and all showed deficits in attention
and over-concentration on different stimuli in the environment … the kind of deficits in
behavior which indicate that the central nervous system has been affected.8

Cannabinoids are mutagenic, meaning they can transmit abnormalities across
generations, stemming from paternal use of marijuana. In one case a controlled
experiment with mice produced a baby that was born with no skull and the backbone was
outside the body. The parents or grandmother never received THC; just the grandfather.9
The research that produced these findings was done in the 1970’s, and compiled in a booklet
written by Peggy Mann, when the potency of marijuana was ½ to 3%. The THC content of
today’s pot ranges as high as 27%, and the deleterious effects are significantly worse.
Since all Americans reap the rewards for a child that gets to adulthood safe and drug-free, or pays
he price for failure to do so, if you are a parent encouraging your child to smoke pot, for his or
her benefit and ours, we would like to ask you to stop.
_____________For the full Peggy Mann booklet in pdf format, click here ________________
5
Miroshima, Dr. Akira. Part KK, Report on Research, Marijuana and Cellular Damage, Page 11.
Sassenrath, Dr. Ethel at the Primate Research Center at UC Davis.
7
Dalterio, Dr. Susan, University of Texas Medical School, San Antonio.
8
Sassenrath, Dr. Ethel at the Primate Research Center at UC Davis.
9
Dalterio, Dr. Susan, University of Texas Medical School, San Antonio
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