News / Health & Wellness
Drugs’ Impact On Teens
Teens learn differently, socialize differently and develop differently than adults. Now a study shows they are affected by drugs differently, too.
Everyone’s doing it, right? That’s the justification many teens use for trying drugs or alcohol. When it comes to drug or alcohol use, though, the teen brain is at far greater risk than its adult counterpart, according to a new study.
At Neuroscience 2010, the Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego, California, new findings were just announced. "Brain development is actively transpiring even in the teen brain, and [if] you throw in a drug on top of that, you could change the trajectory of brain development," said Dr. Frances Jensen of Children's Hospital Boston.
Teen Drug Use More Effective than Adult Use
Because the teen brain is still developing, the effects of getting high are longer-lasting than in adults, and can even stay in a teen’s system for several days, affecting the building blocks of learning and memory. This happens because there are more receptors in a developing to teen brain for the drug to bind to, making the effects linger.
It may sound like something parents might just say to scare kids, but research has actually shown that IQ can permanently decrease in teens who regularly use cannabis.
A study led by Staci Ann Gruber of Harvard Medical School found that people who began using marijuana before age 16 and who used it the most performed the worst on a test of cognitive flexibility. (Cognitive flexibility means being able to change your response to something based on the context of the situation.)
Research into the area of addiction has increasingly focused on the idea that addiction is a form of learning. If that’s true, it only makes sense that teens are more susceptible to addiction. A study presented by Michela Marinelli at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science found that rats in adolescence work harder for cocaine and consume more than adult rats.
"The teen brain learns so handily; unfortunately it can get addicted a lot faster, stronger and longer," Jensen said.
Teen Drug Rehab
So maybe all those “this is your brain on drugs” commercials were right.
If you or someone you love is in need of teen drug rehab, call The Canyon at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.
