Negative Effects of Marijuana on Youth

The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) hosts National Prevention Week each May so schools can participate in prevention-themed activities before summer, when substance misuse escalates. The Youth Council of the Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County is participating by writing blog posts this week. The NPW week focus for Thursday, May 19 is Prevention of Illicit Drug Use & Youth Marijuana Use.

Losing Potential to Pot

It was a new school with new people. Shelly didn’t know anyone as she walked into her chemistry class. The teacher, having forgotten to print out some syllabi, left to go to the copy room. That’s when the students in the class fixated on a student in the back row. The boy (named Mike, as Shelly later learned) smiled widely as he bent down into his backpack to reveal a large amount of pot enclosed in plastic wrap. Shelly couldn’t believe her eyes!

Shelly turned back to face her desk and tried to distance herself from this event as hard as possible. During the school year, Mike would frequently come to class 30 minutes late with bloodshot eyes, never have his homework, or a pencil to take notes with. Yet, surprisingly, he often had good marks on his papers. All the while, Shelly heard that Mike was selling, holding, and using marijuana.

Shelly wondered if Mike’s good grades kept his parents and others from worrying about him. But she thought, if this kid was smart besides all that, what could become of him if he focused all his energy to school and not the drug?

For a majority of students the changes that take place in the brain when a person uses marijuana on a daily basis or heavily every weekend can cause serious health problems and affect a person’s daily life, especially in school, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

“Students who smoke marijuana tend to get lower grades and are more likely to drop out of high school than their peers who do not use,” according to NIDA. “The effects of marijuana on attention, memory, and learning can last for days or weeks. These effects have a negative impact on learning and motivation. In fact, people who use marijuana regularly for a long time are less satisfied with their lives and have more problems with friends and family compared to people who do not use marijuana.”

Marijuana use is also associated with:

• Increases in negative behaviors to hide use from parents such as lying about activities, not joining family events, and stealing to buy drugs
• Use of Febreeze, scented dryer sheets, other air fresheners to cover marijuana odor
• Reduced interest in athletics, extra-curricular activities, exercise, or outside pursuits
• Poly-drug use with alcohol, painkillers, or stimulants
• Change in friendships with loss of old friends
• Impaired driving due to changes in perception

A new award-winning documentary, The Other Side of Cannabis: The Negative Effects of Marijuana, premiering in Virginia this week also shows that “smoking marijuana daily can lead to severe mental health effects, particularly for adolescents and young adults whose brains are still forming. There is growing evidence that marijuana, like many substances, can become addictive.”

The Other Side of Cannabis: Negative Effects of Marijuana on Our Youth will be presented by the Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County this Thursday, May 19th at 7 p.m. at Angelika Film Center & Café at Mosaic in Fairfax. A panel discussion featuring local experts and law enforcement will follow the screening and update the community on new hazards. More information and a limited number of tickets are still available online: $10 (plus handling fee) for adults, youth under 18 free at http://upcfilmosc.eventbrite.com.

To handle the overflow, a second screening has been added for Monday, May 23, 7:30 p.m. at the George Mason Regional Library, located at 7001 Little River Turnpike in Annandale. Reserve tickets here.

The author is a junior at Centreville High School and is a member of the Youth Council of the Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County.

The Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County is a nonprofit organization with more than 60 community partners working together to keep youth and young adults safe and drug-free. Visit http://www.unifiedpreventioncoalition.org and http://www.facebook.com/unifiedpreventioncoalition. Follow the group on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/keepyouthsafe