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Public Survey
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I conducted a survey where people could answer questions anonymously. The questions asked about peoples' experience with marijuana during high school and their opinion about it. I received 56 replies from both former high school classmates as well as friends who had gone to high school in the same area, but different school. A few answers surprised me, including one speaking out about how they felt about high school marijuana use. I never really considered people who want to try it once or twice. But it made me reflect on my own curiosity during that time.
“[the use of marijuana during high school is] Unknown, leaning towards okay a few times prior to legal age.”

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Web survey powered by SurveyMonkey.com. Create your own online survey now with SurveyMonkey's expert certified FREE templates.

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Drugs and Peer Pressure
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A spoken word poem describing his sister's passing due to drug use. This is a tragic event that is not uncommon. Although the drug was unnamed, it doesn't matter. Marijuana is still dangerous and can lead to stronger, dangerous substances.
"Don't follow where they lead you, it's not worth the price. You want to be a people pleaser. For your so-called 'friends'?"

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CDC: What You Need to Know About Marijuana Use in Teens
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Lists the negative effects on school and social life as well as its ties to pregnancy and under the influence driving. This reinforces the idea that cannabis use causes damage to the teenage brain. "Marijuana use directly affects the brain — specifically the parts of the brain responsible for memory", learning, attention, decision making, coordination, emotions, and reaction time."

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Teen Substance Use & Abuse
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Explains what substance use and abuse are, along with what substances are commonly abused during adolescence. I liked the example the video used that described a very realistic situation. It's one thing to read it in an academic journal about possible outcomes, it's another to see an example that applies what I learned to real life.
"You start out taking one substance and end up taking something else...a danger is not knowing exactly what it is you're taking and how it will impact you."

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Teen Substance Use & Abuse (Alcohol, Tobacco, Vaping, Marijuana, and More)

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To Use or Not to Use
Does the decision to use cannabis affect brain development in adolescents?
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The teenage brain is going through many changes during development that affects their behavior. Marijuana is a popular drug that teenagers are drawn to due to its accessibility and stress-relieving effects. However, cannabis use during adolescence can damage brain development and cause long-term damage.
"Ever since I could walk, my parents had drilled into me that drugs are "bad" and make you do dumb things. Did my mother honestly believe that I would do something that I knew was "wrong"?

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Risk and Rationality in Adolescent Decision Making: Implications for Theory, Practice, and Public Policy:
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Describes drug misuse that typically starts in adolescence. States what a good intervention program would teach, emphasizing making healthy decisions. Discusses research on impulsivity and a few theories on adolescent risk-taking. This supports my claim that teenagers typically exhibit more risky behavior than adults. It discusses the idea that cannabis can harm important parts of the brain involved in decision-making.
“...behavioral willingness is an even better predictor of susceptibility to risk-taking—and has unique explanatory power—because adolescents are willing to do riskier things than they either intend or expect to do.”

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Marijuana matters: reviewing the impact on cognition brain structure and function, & exploring policy implications and barriers to research:

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Describes the neurological effects cannabis has on cognition, brain function, and brain structure. Discusses the varying effects it has according to frequency and the age of the user. This supports my claim that marijuana affects the brain, especially one that is still in its developmental stages. It reinforces the idea that adolescent brains are more affected than adult brains. “While the direction...of findings are often variable...MJ use is typically associated with altered patterns of brain activation...during tasks of executive function"

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The Workings of the Adolescent Brain
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Dr. Francis Jensen from the University of Pennsylvania describes the development of the adolescent brain and its synaptic plasticity, the teenagers' ability to strengthen synapses. Discusses myelination and how the frontal lobe is the last part of the brain to develop. Because of this, adolescents are more vulnerable to developing addictions that cause harm to the growing brain. This supports my statement that drug use will affect teenage brains and that it is more vulnerable to its effects than adults.
"Teen brains are very impressionable to good things but also to bad things...addiction is a form of synaptic plasticity too"

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The Brain: The Story of You

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In chapter 4 of the book, Eagleman explains decision-making and how the brain processes possible choices. Discusses how dopamine and other chemical reactions play a part in making one option more attractive than others. This has to do with the desire for instant gratification. Teenagers' reward system has a strong desire for positive outcomes, no matter the consequences.
“They’re [neurons] all releasing chemicals that excite or depress each other.” (Eagleman 113)

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This is a very subjective question. Meaning it always depends on who you're asking. Because none of this has yet to be "proven" people will argue for This is a very subjective question. Meaning it always depends on who you're asking. Because none of this has yet to be "proven" people will argue for whoever's research and theories they agree with. I can give you some of my own personal (and I try really hard to be objective and steer clear of opinions, but that will always have a role so that's just my warning label of sorts, ha) but because this is such a big topic today it'd help if you were more specific... do you mean subconscious mind just basically like how we make decisions, fears, etc or do you want to go deeper meaning the abnormal subconscious mind and/or subconscious mind of trauma, etc. there are so many good out there. If you want recs let me know, but another good way to find is to do a bit of research online and/or going to a book store and looking at several books that deal with your specific questions... I hope this helps! ...more (less)

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This is a very subjective question. Meaning it always depends on who you're asking. Because none of this has yet to be "proven" people will argue for This is a very subjective question. Meaning it always depends on who you're asking.

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Teenage Brains May Be Especially Vulnerable to Marijuana and Other Drugs

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Explains the vulnerability of teenagers to the effects of drugs. Differentiates the developing adolescent brain and the more developed young adult brain. Discusses the possible negative effects on cognition with early cannabis use. This supports my argument that cannabis use affects teenage brain development in negative ways. The effects of marijuana are stronger in teenagers than in young adults.
"Younger brains exhibit greater plasticity,... As a result, drugs like cannabis are more likely to alter synaptic connections in younger brains, leading to stronger memories of pleasure and reward."

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Teenagers are more likely to get hooked on marijuana, stimulants and other recreational drugs than college-aged or older adults.

Credit... Getty Images

Adolescents and teenagers who experiment with marijuana and prescription drugs are more likely to get hooked on them than young people who try these drugs for the first time when they are college-aged or older, according to a new analysis of federal data.

The research suggests that young people may be particularly vulnerable to the intoxicating effects of certain drugs, and that early exposure might prime their brains to desire them. The findings have implications for public health policymakers, who in recent years have called for increased screening and preventive measures to reverse a sharp rise in marijuana vaping among teenagers.

The new study, published in JAMA Pediatrics and led by a team of scientists at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, sought to gain a better understanding of how adolescent brains respond to a variety of recreational drugs. Previous research suggested that early exposure to marijuana, nicotine and alcohol might lead to faster development of substance use disorders. But the new analysis cast a wider net, looking at the effects of nine different drugs, including opioid painkillers, stimulants, marijuana, alcohol, cigarettes, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and tranquilizers.

The researchers used data from the government's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a closely watched annual study that tracks substance use and mental health issues among Americans. The new research focused on two age groups: adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17, and young adults aged 18 to 25. Alcohol was by far the most commonly used substance in both groups: A quarter of adolescents and 80 percent of young adults said they had used it. About half of young adults said they had tried cannabis or tobacco. But among adolescents, that number was smaller: Roughly 15 percent said they had experimented with cannabis, and 13 percent said they had tried tobacco.

Most troubling to the authors of the new study was how many people went on to develop a substance use disorder, indicating that their experimentation had spiraled into an addiction. The researchers found that within a year of first trying marijuana, 11 percent of adolescents had become addicted to it, compared to 6.4 percent of young adults. Even more striking was that within three years of first trying the drug, 20 percent of adolescents became dependent on it, almost double the number of young adults.

Adolescents who tried prescription drugs were also more likely to become addicted. About 14 percent of adolescents who took prescription stimulants for recreational use went on to develop a substance use disorder within one year, compared to just 4 percent of young adults. And while 7 percent of young adults who tried opioid painkillers became addicted soon after taking them, that figure rose to 11.2 percent among younger users.

For alcohol and tobacco, however, there was not much of a difference between the two age groups: Both older and younger youth had a similar rate of developing a substance use disorder. And for illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin, the number of adolescents using them was too small for the researchers to draw any meaningful conclusions.

One possible explanation for the findings is that young people who have a greater predisposition to developing an addiction may be more likely to seek out illicit drugs at an earlier age. But Dr. Nora Volkow, a senior author of the new study and the director of NIDA, said it is known that cannabis and other drugs can have a potent effect on adolescent brains because they are still developing. Younger brains exhibit greater plasticity, or ability to change, than the relatively static brains of older individuals. As a result, drugs like cannabis are more likely to alter synaptic connections in younger brains, leading to stronger memories of pleasure and reward.

"It's a learning process when you become addicted," said Dr. Volkow. "It's a type of memory that gets hard-wired into your brain. That occurs much faster in an adolescent brain."

Studies show that regularly using marijuana can affect cognition in adolescents, leading to impairments in parts of the brain that are involved in learning, reasoning and paying attention. Yet in recent years the booming popularity of e-cigarettes has led to a sharp increase in the number of adolescents who vape nicotine and marijuana, a trend that has alarmed public health officials. Some studies suggest that adolescents may also be more likely to try marijuana as more and more states legalize its recreational use.

Dr. Volkow said that as states implement new marijuana regulations, policymakers should work on measures aimed at protecting adolescents. She stressed that pediatricians and dentists should screen for drug use in their young patients by asking them about it. And she cautioned parents not to dismiss marijuana use in teens and adolescents as something that is harmless.

"As it relates to marijuana, the drugs that were available when parents today were teenagers are very different from the drugs that are available now," she said. "The content of THC is much higher, and the higher the THC content, the greater the risk of adverse effects."

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Teenage Brains May Be Especially Vulnerable to Marijuana and Other Drugs

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Teenagers are more likely to get hooked on marijuana, stimulants and other recreational drugs than college-aged or older adults. Adolescents and teenagers who experiment with marijuana and prescription drugs are more likely to get hooked on them than young people who try these drugs for the first time when they are college-aged or older, according to a new analysis of federal data.