The Effects of Weed on Teenage Brains

When a person is smoking cannabis, one of the plant’s chemicals known as THC, passes from the lungs into the bloodstream and then to the brain. If that brain is exposed to a lot of THC, but still immature, the part responsible for controlling emotions may never reach its full potential. This can have long-term consequences and effects on one's measurable intelligence, learning and judgment. But there are also other reasons why teens should not consume weed.

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COLLABORATORS
Script: Jonas Koblin
Artist: Pascal Gaggelli
Voice: Matt Abbott
Coloring: Nalin
Editing: Peera Lertsukittipongsa
Sound Design: Miguel Ojeda
Production: Selina Bador
Fact-checking: Ludovico Di Chanaz

SOUNDTRACKS
Cheeky Plum Fairy - Shaun Frearson
Magical Keys - Studio Le Bus

DIG DEEPER with these top videos, games and resources:

Watch this 16-minutes documentary: High School: Marijuana in an American Public High School. Smoking pot has become almost a norm at this Portland high school.

Learn about Teen Brain Development with this short explainer video.

SOURCES
Understanding the Teen Brain

Persistent cannabis users show neuropsychological decline from childhood to midlife

Continued cannabis use and risk of incidence and persistence of psychotic symptoms: 10 year follow-up cohort study

Adolescent Initiation of Cannabis Use and Early-Onset Psychosis

CLASSROOM EXERCISE
To learn more about suggested classroom activity on this topic, check out our website!

CHAPTER
00:00 Introduction
01:14 THC effect on brain
01:34 Adult vs Teenage brain
03:30 Conclusion
03:56 What do you think?
04:13 Sponsor credit
04:20 Ending

#teens #weed #brain #sproutslearning

[jacobmattes]

as a teen who always had a 4.0 gpa and has been a daily weed smoker since age 14, there are definitely effects on the short-term memory, the way emotions are handled, and very slight speech impediment. Other than that, I am a very functional, still intellectual human… Effects vary person to person with anything.

[brianharris]

Alcohol is a more damaging and pernicious drug.

[cmental]

i started smoking weed DAILY at 14-19 years old. I got straight A’s but… I noticed I was making much poorer choices outside of school. It definitely impacted me in a negative way. Should’ve waited til I was 20 or something. I’m now in the military and getting my bachelors degree!

[itsjustrain]

People hate science when it goes against their personal beliefs/lifestyle.

[davidcisneros]

im 17. im just a senior in high school, and this is the video i needed to stop my daily abuse of weed. thanks

[bgaona]

Thanks for putting it out there so honestly. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find this information when the entire rest of the world seems to want to gloss over the dangers as if they weren't there!

[maenad]

The effects on THC on developing adolescent brains is so confusing for me to study because so many of the things commonly called “known/likely effects” are pulled from studies were done on rodents 😣

[unluckyboiYT]

I am 16, and for me personally cannabis has given me my life back. It gives me the motivation to take care of myself and my responsibilities and its gotten me off all the meds I was on (I was on adderall, xanax, abilify for depression, and zoloft) It all just depends on how you use it, if you are irresponsible and smoke excessive ammounts it will definitely make you lazy and affect your academic abilities. But if you have the discipline to control your consumption it can have a very positive impact on your life.

[thebarrochannel]

I did try it as a teen, 15, and smoked till 19. I wished I didn’t. It’s all true. I stopped at 19 cause it wasn’t doing me good. And then I started smoking again @ 35, I’m 41 now, and it’s much better now as an adult. Kids should wait till 25. No joke.

[erinnharrison]

My grandmother died summer of 2021, when I was 17. I started smoking a lot more to help my mental health. I ended up with psychosis and in the hospital diagnosed with bipolar. I only use it once and a while now-just don’t use it to suppress emotions use it while in a good state of mind

[arise]

I'm 16. I have been smoking weed fairly regularly since I was 15. Over the month of June, and most of July 2023, I took a tolerance break. Beforehand, I was high almost every day for probably a month or two. The tolerance break was super easy for me, I didn't have any withdrawal symptoms or anything like that. My emotions stayed relatively the same, some differences but not huge. I had a harder time controlling anger, but it wasn't so bad to the point where it was breaking things, it was just me getting agitated easier. Other than that, every other emotion was well under control.

I will say, it definitely does effect short term memory, but after a couple weeks of being sober my memory comes back to normal. I'm also in band in highschool, as well as jazz band, so I can't really get high every day like I want to. I'd say, if you are my age and you want to get high, do it every two-to-four days to keep your sober mind well. It may be different for other people, but personally, weed hasn't really effected my professional life as much as some sources would like to say.

Stay responsible, don't drive while under the influence of ANYTHING, and take care of yourself!

[nbdtb]

I started smoking at 17 and stoped a couple of months ago, I am about to turn 20. I noticed a lot of the bad effects that you explained in the video, ex I was feeling depressed, kinda like I wasn't myself without being high. But I believe that weed helps with PTSD, for that same reason that makes your memory slightly worse. Learning the effects of SMOKING marihuana definetly opened my eyes and it is the main reason I stopped now.

I didn't only struggle with depression cause of marihuana but it definetly made it worse, I am now seeking a relationship with God and want to build a strong relationship with Him.

Stay Blessed Everyone!

[kinnaridoshi]

Beautiful illustration and apt write up.. I am a psychiatrist myself and I loved the video. The importance of prefrontal cortex is very nicely depicted!!

[rosalesarciniegamiazurisad]

It is so true. I always considered myself a girl with a desire to learn, I read and I liked philosophy, I liked to think and form critical opinions since I was 13. At 13 I tried marijuana, at 14 I smoked from time to time (not so often) at 15 the same, rarely. It was at 16 that I found myself emotionally vulnerable and started smoking much more often, in my 17's I increased my dose, I smoked almost daily, 8 months ago I turned 18, and during all those months I also smoked almost daily, just 4 days ago I decided to quit smoking, I am in the process of leaving the thc aside and go back to my life before. I felt all those effects; I became more impulsive, I felt that I didn't think like before, I felt silly and empty for several months, I noticed immediately how my way of expressing myself was minimized, my speech became smaller. Memory is definitely affected, and the times I didn't smoke I felt procrastinating and unmotivated. I just want to see how my mind refreshes after the first month (that's where I'm at). Now, I regret all the lost time where I could have been gaining a lot of knowledge instead of doing smoking sessions. Excellent video, understandable, accurate and grounded.

[ryanchristini]

i started smoking at 13 to deal with the trauma im 17 now and ill I can say is this. cannabis used at the right time and place is a beautiful and very social drug but the addiction is what will make cannabis a big problem im a daily smoker and have been battling addiction with it for about 2 years ive noticed changes in my motivation memory and the edgarness to try new things however i think cannabis has improved my mental health dramatically it gave me a new perspective on life and mad me realise i was taking things way to seriously im now free from my trauma and trying to limit how much i smoke but at the end of the day it is a lot better then alcohol if used in moderation

[VOiDED]

Im 17 and stoned out of my mind watching this, anyone else?

[cason]

I had multiple highs where I really looked at myself and really thought about my future, and when I did I was really getting scared as I was not doing well in school (prior to doing any kind of substances) and it motivated me a LOT, and now I'm into the university I've wanted to go to since I was like 9 and my grades are way higher, even making honor roll last year. I think you need to be in a certain mental state to be using weed, as when I was going through some bad times and continued using it, things got worse, but when I stopped and let myself heal a bit, the highs were a lot nicer.

[distrologic]

I have been using cannabis since I was 16, I am 24 now. The most damaging effects I had came from the tabacco however, as it was so addictive. At some point I noticed, I don't really want to inhale smoke into my lungs, its uncomfortable, even before the high from the cannabis kicked in (it takes about a minute to really start), and I realized it was really only the tabacco I was even going outside for. I started decreasing the amount of tabacco in the joints and soon I left it out completely. Because I still had the whole procedure of going outside and smoking something, I didn't get a lot of withdrawal from the nicotine. I put much less weed into the joints because it was enough, until they got hard to smoke, it was literally 0, 05 grams in a blunt (usually I used around 0, 2-0, 3 in joints), and I felt much better. Often I didn't even feel like going outside and just didn't smoke. For the past years I have mainly used butter infused with cannabis if I wanted to get high, its much more convenient and doesn't harm the lungs. It is also even less habit-inducing because it just takes a second to swallow a piece of butter.

So to sum it up, I think tabacco is much worse and makes cannabis worse too, because most people consume it together to make the weed easier to burn and to thin out the dose. If we had better products, with known THC content and edibles, everyone would be consuming less and more healtily, even if more people chose to use it.

About whether the THC affected me negatively, I could definitely notice that I was more "cloudy" in my head when I used cannabis, I also spent my time doing few productive things, because I spared the time to be high at home, watching videos, sleeping, eating, etc. This was even worse when I was also addicted to the tabacco, because I wanted to get high/smoke every day. Afterwards I hated myself for not doing anything productive. That went away with the tabacco. Still, cannabis makes you think and think and think about stuff and you rarely come to action. I picked up programming during that time though, which worked okay because I didn't have to interact with people and could just think about algorithmic problems and stuff. But even then, you get tired more quickly than when sober. In the beginning I am very motivated and inspired but in the end I lose focus too often to pull through. But I have gotten some nice ideas from it I believe, I think it does make people think more outside the box, in new ways and gives them a new perspective. I wouldn't say it is only bad.

I have run out of butter and haven't made any new since a few weeks now, and I don't feel any negative effects anymore. I think about getting more from time to time, but I just didn't feel like calling someone up yet, because I also want to try and stay sober for a while longer.

[zegermeyvisch]

I'm 16 years old now and last year I smoked everyday with my friends, it was such a good year, I laughed alot and had a great time. I tried to quit for the first time when i had exams, because i didnt want the weed to affect my concentration for studying. After quitting i tried to maintain it (didnt really work) and i started smoking again, only alot less that before. I can say that weed hasnt really affected me in my mental and I think its just a really good way to release all the stress you get from school or work. Now I smoke 3-4 times a week and im not saying it will never affect me, because it will, i know that for sure. But if you want to have balance in life and still sometimes want to escape reality for relaxation, weed is a good option, just try to keep it in control please because i some of my friends had derealization, and from their experience it wasnt fun at all :)

[aj]

Dawg Id say at least 90% of the ppl watching this rn are teens that are fried asf bc Ik I am😭😭😭