Indeed there are. For decades now, marijuana advocacy groups have promulgated the idea that marijuana use is innocuous, a benign vice that is nothing more than a little homeopathic trip to inner relaxation and peace. Marijuana advocates push a syllogism that goes something like this: Alcohol is a widely used legal drug that is the root cause of thousands of fatal automobile collisions every year. Marijuana a sedative like alcohol is involved in far-fewer numbers of fatal traffic collisions. Therefore, marijuana is a safer drug than alcohol and it should be legalized.

The case for marijuana legalization is being made by a wide array of groups these days. Libertarians, medical marijuana “experts” and Internet “stoner” groups have joined ideological hands to make a case that marijuana is a safe drug to use. These groups rally that there is not any coherent or medically accepted evidence that contradicts their views. For its supporters, the love affair with marijuana has been a long one. But a steady stream of contemporary scientific research and study is making it abundantly clear that marijuana use can have serious consequences for those who smoke it early in life. A study published in the American Journal on Addiction[1] last year added to a growing compendium of evidence that associates marijuana use with a long list of physical and psychological problems later in life. The accumulating evidence associated with the deleterious effects of marijuana is important to readers who work in the fields of probation, parole, drug treatment and pain management. For more than a generation now, marijuana has evaded the scrutiny of the scientific community and has over the same time achieved a level of social acceptance. Things seem to be changing however.

The growing list of research includes the study of marijuana’s role in the development of respiratory disorders and cognitive decline. An offshoot of this push in research has led investigators to assess the role that early life use of marijuana has on later adult achievement and mental health. There have been a number of studies that have associated marijuana use with lower academic achievement and reduced cognitive functioning. The study is one of a few that have taken a longitudinal approach in evaluating the effects; the study integrates data from several different important points along the way in the growth of the marijuana user from a child, to an adolescent and then into adulthood. The study took a more focused approach to the analysis of collected data, this report addressed marijuana use relating to very specific and discreet medical conditions; it also exposed the connection between marijuana use and later aspects of adult personality. Investigators specifically correlated marijuana use with respiratory problems, neurocognitive decline, general malaise and lower academic achievement. The research involved the use of surveys and self-reports of participants who identified themselves as having used marijuana in their youth. Complex formulas for assessing levels of marijuana use were established. Levels or rates of marijuana use were then correlated with important age milestones to create a timeline of marijuana’s impact on the lives of those who had reported adolescent use of the drug. The age span of the participants in this study ranged from 14 to 27, one of the few studies that dealt with marijuana’s effects well into adulthood.

Researchers clearly found that the degree of later-life (adulthood) effects of marijuana use was connected to the frequency of use as adolescents. In other words, the negative effects of marijuana were dose dependent. The more someone “smoked out” in their youth, the greater the likelihood that respiratory and psychological problems would manifest in adulthood. For those youths that may have been described as “stoners” or “pot heads,” their potential for low achievement, cognitive impairment, malaise and respiratory problems was nearly 150% greater than marijuana users who fell within the conventions of what would be casual or social use of the drug. The study controlled for other phenomenon such as maternal marijuana use, social status and advantage and childhood aggression. The impacts of marijuana on later adult functioning were also shown to be independent of one another. The data was quite clear, early marijuana use is a predictor of later adult functioning. An association was established between marijuana usage over time and later lower academic achievement. It was also evident that early marijuana use is associated with the use and abuse of other illicit drugs; marijuana is a gateway drug. Prior editions of this Newsletter have described the relationship between chronic marijuana use and later development of serious instances of depression. The study reported here links early marijuana use with general malaise. The connection here may be related to phenomenon associated with marijuana’s role in depression. Malaise by extension effects sleep patterns; disrupted sleep will obviously impact levels of motivation and a person’s ability to get going in the morning. Late appointments, tardiness at work and propensities for workplace accidents may all be connected to early use of marijuana.

This study tends to rebut claims that whatever the negative effects of marijuana, the impacts are diluted and less noticeable over time. This study also substantiates marijuana as a drug of abuse that warrants careful surveillance in community corrections programs, especially those where substance abuse has been a factor in a client’s history of counter-social behavior. Marijuana’s connection to malaise and low achievement creates a serious concern for professionals who work with clients and offenders in probation and parole systems. It is important that efforts be made to monitor its use and to take appropriate action when it is abused. Education programs for substance abusers and those at risk should include information made from studies like this. Marijuana is not bad because it is illegal; it’s illegal because it’s bad. People of all ages should take pause and recognize that early life marijuana
use has consequences.

Information regarding marijuana’s short and long term effects can be obtained by contacting the MEDTOX DAR Program

[1] Brook JS , Stimmel MA, Zhang Z, Brook D. The association between earlier marijuana use and subsequent academic achievement and health problems: a longitudinal study. The American Journal on Addictions. 2008:17; 155-160.

Reproduced with permission from The MEDTOX® Journal