Effects of Marijuana and How Parents Can Help
Why is it important for parents to be informed about marijuana?
Young people who use marijuana are 4 to 7 times more likely than adults to become addicted to marijuana; however, the longer teens and young adults delay use while their brains are developing, the less likely they are to develop a marijuana use disorder or addiction.
What are the risks of my child using marijuana?
Because their brains are still developing, teens and young adults are among the most at risk for the harms of marijuana. Marijuana can affect people differently, but here are some common effects:
• Brain development can be negatively impacted, including decision-making and impulse control
• Anxiety and psychoses (how people view reality) can increase
• Attention, learning and memory can be negatively impacted
• Slower reaction time, can affect driving and increase injury risk
• Can lead to addiction How do I talk to my child about marijuana? When connecting with a child or young person in your life about marijuana, it’s important to remember:
• Not to lecture – listen and understand their perceptions of marijuana
• Be clear about your position
• Let them know that this is a health concern
• Avoid focusing on punishment
For more information visit the Marijuana Resource Center HERE.
Are weed and marijuana the same thing?
It sounds confusing but weed is the same thing as marijuana/marihuana, along with cannabis, pot, hashish, kush, Mary Jane, 420, ganja, dope, green, cheeba, bud, reefer, chronic, puff, sticky icky, and wacky tobaccy (or whacky tabacky).
–
Cannabis is an addictive drug that’s particularly harmful to developing adolescent brains. Teens that consume it have poorer life outcomes on a number of measures. They have more mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, and psychosis. As a group, they complete less school and are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed than their peers.
~ Dr. Sharon Levy
Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician, Addiction Medicine Specialist, Director of Adolescent Substance Use & Addiction Program at Boston Children’s Hospital
–
Cannabis Use And Mental Health Study
Researchers who looked at the health records of 6.9 million people found that marijuana use was associated with much higher rates of mental illness in young men, including a startling 30% of cases of schizophrenia.
“Young males might be particularly susceptible to the effects of cannabis on schizophrenia. At a population level, assuming causality, one-fifth of cases of schizophrenia among young males might be prevented by averting CUD. Results highlight the importance of early detection and treatment of CUD and policy decisions regarding cannabis use and access, particularly for 16–25-year-olds.”
Desperate Parents Trying To Find Teen Mental Health Services
Shortage of mental health services for teens forces parents to take desperate measures. Watch now.
– 0 –
For Your Spiritual, Mental And Psychological Wellness
Here Are Free Resources For Children, Teens, Adults And Parents
Carl Sagan: The Universe, Humanity, and the Pale Blue Dot
https://youtu.be/9LStIaPBU8w - Want To Listen To The Article Instead? - What Is Takes To Be Human Every time I come across Carl Sagan’s quotes on my social media feeds, I pause. I take time to reflect on what he was trying to say. When I...
The Worth of Our Eyeballs: Meta, Social Media and the Price of Our Children’s Attention
The Worth Of Our Eyeballs Meta, the social media giant, is worth $1.4 trillion. And today after years of whistleblowers, investigations and lawsuits over the mounting evidence about what social media is doing to children, a bipartisan coalition of 51 attorneys...
Where the Mind Is Free: My Tribute To The Power Of Silence – Read by Rachana
- Want To Listen To The Article Instead? - Solidarity to Solitude When I read Sylvia Plath's poetry, I often think of the manner in which she died. Putting her head in an open oven and killing herself, while her little children slept in the...
The Human Arc in the Attention Economy: How Algorithms Are Changing Love
The Human In Digital Debris I'm deeply interested in our anthropological evolution as humans and love studying how our lives have changed since we started living both online and offline. And here are some current dating trends that worry me about how our...
Emotional Self-Regulation in Children: Raising Resilient Kids
When I became a mother for the first time, I spent those initial days fretting over my son's little body and our surroundings, making sure nothing bad could happen to him. I was, after all, in charge of his wellbeing. At the time, that felt like the only duty I had....
The Memoir Industrial Complex: Fraud, Fabricated Heroes and the Business of Personal Mythology
When the Hero Story Is a Lie Kids, close your eyes and ears. Fraud might be the only way to fame. Whenever I discover fraudulent writers or phony people who become celebrities through public deceit, my blood boils. And my 17 year old, who shares a working table...
Mothers, Maternal Neglect and Child Death: Are We Capable of Good Parenting?
Was I A Good Mother? Or Just a Spontaneous One?
ఆక్రోశం (Aakrosham): Mothers in Crisis – Children, Mental Illness and the Failure to Protect
It Was a Cold Day in January I don't know how else to title this post other than with the Telugu word for unbearable anguish. It is taking everything in my power to write this. Callan was "the happiest, sweetest and easiest baby" that his nanny had ever taken...
Vita Brevis: Life’s Too Short — Stop Drifting, Start Living
Long Days, Short Life I once read somewhere that people who don’t know what to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon want to live forever. So true. That’s the lure of immortality. All throughout our lives, we strive for wealth, fame, knowledge, and happiness — longing...
Daughters of the Earth: A Poem on Womanhood and Friendship
This poem was originally written in Telugu by my mother, Anuradha Nadella. This is her tribute to womanhood, sisterhood, and the enduring strength built through shared bonds of friendship. Read her original Telugu poem HERE. - Just like the timewhen a...
The Algorithmic Housewife: Tradwife Culture, Freedom and Feminism
A few years ago, my elderly neighbor, who was like a grandma to me, told me about her life. She was a mom to 5 boys, well boys to her, as they were as old as my dad at that point. She would give me the occasional life advice when we met in our yard and bring home made...
The 12 Car Commandments Every College Student Should Know Before Leaving Home
Your child has started driving the car. More importantly they've moved into college but has requested to have their car on campus. It's time to give them the principles for staying alive, staying out of trouble, and being responsible for other people. Feel free to...
How Motherhood Changes You: The Invisible Weight, Guilt, and Legacy We Carry
All That She Carried: Part II Of all the roles I play in the world, being a mother is my most enriching and challenging. I'm grateful that I get to be a mom to my two children and that I get to learn from them qualities like kindness, enthusiasm and the...
What’s on Atlanta’s Mind? I Found the Answer in a Local Art Gallery
Because art sustains my life, I sometimes go see it just to show my solidarity with it. And, of course, because art gallery pictures make for an excellent social media scroll. What’s more, visiting places like these makes me look and sound like a thoughtful person,...
Name the Switch: The Simple Brain Hack That Cuts Your Focus Tax Every Day
It's been almost 20 years since I landed my hands on an iPhone and life has been different ever since. My life, like everyone else's, has become two pronged since the smart phone revolution. There's an offline life of the real world, and then the online one where...
Ask Yourself These 5 Questions Every Day to Live with More Purpose and Leave a Lasting Legacy
Getting Ready For A Life Audit The questions we ask ourselves shape the lives we end up living. For me, these five questions have become a daily reset. These act like a break in my thoughts, so I don't continue on patterns that haven't served me in the past....
I’ve Got FIFA Fever. Just Not The Kind You Think I Do.
If you've got the FIFA Football fever, you've probably watched the Argentina vs Austria match where Messi broke the World Cup goals record for most career goals in World Cup. And so many other energetic games that are being played across USA, Canada and Mexico over...
All That She Carried: Stories of Motherhood – A Podcast by Her Munzill
Sharing Stories Of Parenting: Recently, I had the privilege of joining a conversation on motherhood, the immigrant experience, and modern-day parenting. Vandana and Shikha are hosts of the HerMunzill podcast which is a destination for South Asian women to share...