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Abstract
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Krista Lisdahl has been studying cannabis use among adolescents for two decades, and what she sees makes her worried for her teenage son.
"I see the data coming in, I know that he is going to come across it," she says.
As a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she sees plenty of young people who have come into contact with the drug to varying degrees, from trying it once at a party to using potent preparations of it daily. The encounters have become more frequent as efforts to legalize cannabis for recreational use intensify around the world. In some of her studies, around one-third of adolescents who regularly use cannabis show signs of a cannabis use disorder -- that is, they can't stop using the drug despite negative impacts on their lives. But she wants more conclusive evidence when it comes to talking about the drug and its risks to young people, including her son.
Deciding what to say is difficult, however. Anti-drug messaging campaigns have dwindled, and young people are forced to consider sometimes-conflicting messages on risks in a culture that increasingly paints cannabis and other formerly illicit drugs as harmless or potentially therapeutic. "Teenagers are pretty smart, and they see that adults use cannabis," Lisdahl says. That makes blanket warnings and prohibitions practically useless.
It's now a decade since the drug was officially legalized for recreational use by adults aged 18 and older in Uruguay, and aged 21 and older in the states of Colorado and Washington. Many other states and countries have followed, and researchers are desperately trying to get a handle on how usage patterns are changing as a result; how the drug impacts brain development; and how cannabis use correlates with mental-health conditions such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia...
Language: en |