Facts & Risks
Educate Your Family on Dangers of Marijuana Use
Marijuana use comes with real risks that can impact a person’s health and life.
Whether marijuana is smoked, vaped, or eaten, there are adverse effects associated with use in any form.
Studies have found marijuana is an addictive, harmful, and mind altering drug. It over-activates parts of the brain and negatively affects brain development. Marijuana leads to physical health problems, mental health problems, and risk of addiction.
With the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana throughout the United States, marijuana potency has increased exponentially. Concentrates are not the traditional joint of the past. Concentrates are highly potent, THC-rich forms of marijuana that can be vaped, dabbed, and used in edibles.
Exposure to high levels of THC, the chemical in marijuana that causes impairment, increases the risks of physical dependence and addiction. Higher doses of THC are more likely to produce anxiety, agitation, paranoia, and psychosis.
Arizona Parents: Do you need tips on how to talk to your child about the new recreational marijuana laws? Download these talking tips today.
Surgeon General Advisory
– VADM Jerome Adams, the first Surgeon General Advisory on marijuana since 1982
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Almost 30% of teens have used marijuana - this is TOO many!
Latest Studies
Marijuana laws and pedestrian fatalities in the United States | Science Direct | 2/17/2023
Abstract
Pedestrian fatality rates in the US began to increase in 2009, after three decades of decline. This increase is occurring at the same time policy makers are encouraging walking as a healthy and sustainable transportation mode. The increase in pedestrian fatalities is also concurrent with the spread of liberalization of marijuana use laws across the US. Has the liberalization of marijuana laws contributed to the increase in pedestrian fatalities?
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Impacts of medical and non-medical cannabis on the health of older adults: Findings from a scoping review of the literature | PubMed | 2/17/2023
Background: Cannabis legalization has enabled increased consumption in older adults. Age-related mental, physical, and physiological changes may lead to differences in effects of cannabis in older adults compared to younger individuals.
Objective: To perform a scoping review to map the evidence regarding the health effects of cannabis use for medical and non-medical purposes in older adults.
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Is There a Dose-Response Relationship Between Cannabis Use and Violence? A Longitudinal Study in Individuals with Severe Mental Disorders | PubMed | 2/14/2023
Introduction: Recent longitudinal studies point toward the existence of a positive relationship between cannabis use and violence in people with severe mental disorders (SMD). However, the existence of a dose-response relationship between the frequency/severity of cannabis use and violence has seldom been investigated. Therefore, this study aims to determine if such a relationship exists in a psychiatric population.
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Longitudinal associations between age 20 problematic substance use and opioid use disorder incidence at age 30 – findings from an urban cohort| PubMed | 1/28/2023
Abstract
This study used data from a longitudinal prevention study in an urban cohort to examine associations between nicotine dependence, alcohol, and cannabis use disorder and disorder criteria at age 20, with opioid use disorder (OUD) incidence or criteria onset by age 30. The study sample included 1408 participants (57.5% female, 72.5% African American) drawn from two cohorts of participants in a mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. as part of a series of randomized controlled trials of elementary school-based universal prevention interventions. Lifetime cannabis use disorder (CUD), alcohol use disorder (AUD; both DSM-IV), and current nicotine dependence (Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence, FTND) assessed at age 20 were used to predict (1) DSM-IV lifetime OUD at age 30, and (2) OUD criteria between ages 20 and 30 in multivariable logistic regression models. Covariates for all analyses included sociodemographics (sex, race, and free/reduced-priced lunch status), community disadvantage, and intervention status. Nicotine dependence (FTND≥3) at age 20 predicted age 30 DSM-IV lifetime OUD (aOR = 2.37; 95% CI 1.02,5.54). The number of CUD criteria (aOR = 1.30; 95% CI 1.09,1.57) and nicotine dependence severity scores (aOR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.05,1.41) at age 20 predicted any OUD criteria between the ages of 20 and 30. Findings are consistent with previous research on opioid use behavior in young adulthood and suggest that nicotine dependence and CUD criteria among urban young people predict onset of OUD and OUD criteria in young adulthood.
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PEDIATRIC HOSPITALIZATIONS FOR UNINTENTIONAL CANNABIS POISONINGS AND ALL-CAUSE POISONINGS ASSOCIATED WITH EDIBLE CANNABIS PRODUCT LEGALIZATION AND SALES IN CANADA | JAMA | 1/15/2023
Question What is the association between legalization of recreational cannabis edibles and unintentional pediatric cannabis poisoning?
Findings This cross-sectional study of all children (n = 3.4 million) aged 0 to 9 years across 4 Canadian provinces found that jurisdictions that allowed the sale of cannabis edibles experienced much larger increases in cannabis poisonings and proportions of overall poisoning hospitalizations due to cannabis than the jurisdiction that prohibited edibles.
Meaning These findings suggest that restricting the sale of legal cannabis edibles may be a key policy to prevent unintentional pediatric cannabis poisonings following legalization.
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Latest NEWS Commentary
Denver nonprofit creates campaign to warn students, parents about dangers of high-potency THC | Denver7 | 9/9/2022
DENVER — A Denver ballot initiative that would’ve raised marijuana taxes to fund after-school programs has been pulled from the November ballot. Now that school is back in session, a local nonprofit is preparing to launch a campaign warning parents and kids about the dangers of high-potency THC.
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Highly potent weed creating marijuana addicts worldwide, study says | CNN | 7/25/2022
(CNN) Higher concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC — the part of the marijuana plant that makes you high — are causing more people to become addicted in many parts of the world, a new review of studies found.
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EXCLUSIVE: How California’s legal cannabis dream became a public health nightmare: It’s a class B drug in the UK – but in the US state it’s led to spiraling addiction, psychotic illnesses, and hospitals facing a deluge of poisonings | Daily Mail | 7/2/2022
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