Marijuana usage in teenage is not linked to health issues

The researchers found no links to physical or mental health issues – including depression, psychotic symptoms, or asthma – in any group, even those with very high use.

Researchers found that using marijuana during the adolescent stage does not cause extensive health problems during adulthood.

The trial was done by way of a group of research scientists beginning with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Rutgers University, encouraged by Dr Jordan Bechtold, a UPMC copywriter.

They divided the participants of the study into 4 groups. Of course, there has been growing concern over the potential health risks associated with increasing use within the community particularly among teens who will start using marijuana early in life and carry it on for many decades. The percentage per groups are as follows: 46 percent were low or non-users, 22 percent were early chronic users, 11 percent were marijuana users only during adolescence and 21 percent were late-adolescent users, who continued using marijuana.

While researchers expected to find more mental disorders in those who said they were heavy users of the drug in their teens, they actually found no difference in the mental state of the men in the various groups. As a matter of fact, the researchers wrote, no notable differences were seen between the health prognoses of marijuana trajectory groups, despite the absence of possible confounding controls on the models.

Tobacco use and ethnicity were among the factors considered, but the researchers said that they did not make much difference.

Bechtold also adds, “We wanted to help inform the debate about legalization of marijuana, but it’s a very complicated issue and one study should not be taken in isolation”.