Teenage years are the main time for young people to explore and make mistakes along the way. However, one of those mistakes should not be smoking marijuana. Marjuana is a huge issue globally for teens and goes by many street names such as “weed, hash, pot, mary jane, and grass”. 

These names may sound cool, but the drug is not and is especially damaging for teens. This is because the brain is not fully developed until mid to late twenties, and marijauna reduces cognitive performance.

This means marijuana use has the effects of reducing memory, learning, attention, decision-making, coordination, emotions and reaction time in those who use it. These are some of the most vital functions of your brain, and its long-term effects on one’s life are not worth the high. 

It is said that over 30% of teens in highschool have smoked marijuana before, however the survey that stated this data is outdated and took place before the legalization of marijuana in many states across the nation. This number most likely has increased with the recent law changes.

Although this means marijuana is more accessible, at least it is safer than marijuana on the street. Yet, this does not mean that legal marijauna is safe for teens as it can also lead to risk of addiction and major mental health issues.

Many teens resort to edibles infused with THC to take away the damaging feeling in their lungs of smoking. But, this is not any better as the THC enters their bloodstream and moves up to their brain’s receptors. These receptors are impaired causing a “high” but instead of this impairment going away once the high is over, it subtly lingers for days after.

There even has been studies of teen’s IQ dropping largely when they used marijuana as a teen which correlates to the long term effects this drug can have. Just like adults, there are the additional long term effects of lung cancer, heart attacks and even possible pregnancy complications.

Additionally, Marijuana is known to be a “gateway drug” meaning that it leads to the use of harder drugs that can be severely damaging in adults and especially kids, with some being possibly deadly. 

Marijauna can come in the form of dab pens, wax pens, bud, and edibles. This does not mean all of the chemicals in the product are THC. Recently there has been a rise in fentanyl lacing drugs like marijuana, and even a grain of it can cause an overdose and even die. It is not very noticable and one may not know your source of marijauana was laced till you are dead which is a massive concern.

With all of these teens around the world smoking marijuana, it is a large concern that should be spoken about. Many kids can die from a little mistake of buying unsafe edibles while also damaging themselves regardless of marijuana not having a positive effect on underage teens or most people in general.

For teens who want to quit smoking marijuana, it is similar to caffeine withdrawal and the best way to handle it is by staying busy through physical activity or new hobbies.