ahfoo t1_jed40lq wrote on March 31, 2023 at 3:23 AM

Notice that these well known beneficial effects on blood sugar, blood pressure, pulse and gut health from cannabis are always left out when discussing whether or not there is genuine harm in adolescent cannabis use. When it comes to adolescent use, the razor sharp focus is strictly on changes that take place in the brain while the beneficial effects on the rest of the body are ignored.

If cannabis use is beneficial for the health of adults, why are we to believe there is some special case with adolescents that causes them to be harmed by this otherwise beneficial therapeutic with generalized benefits to health?

Mikey6304 t1_jed77to wrote on March 31, 2023 at 3:52 AM

Just because it has effective medical use for adults does not mean it is perfectly safe and fine for adolescents. Delta9 THC is still psychoactive. There is a reason they don't sell SSRIs over the counter, too. Don't get me wrong, I use sublingual cbd/thc myself, but I'm not going to pretend that there isn't a possibility that using a psychoactive could have a negative effect on the brain.

sylvnal t1_jeejmhi wrote on March 31, 2023 at 1:15 PM

>negative effect on the brain

The developing brain, at that. Stands to reason that impacts on a fully developed vs developing brain might be different.

McBleezy8 t1_jed95z1 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 4:10 AM

You can do many things to control blood sugar and to lower cholesterol not just cannabis so it’s not strictly some sort of panacea, but research shows it can help.

What confuses me about what you wrote is basically the idea that some kind of conspiracy exists to deny adolescents cannabis. There have been studies on the affects of cannabis on the adolescent brain for example This one from 2011 shows differences in brain tissue integrity following heavier marijuana use does predict future risky behaviors such as increased marijuana use and aggressive and delinquent behaviors many observational studies in humans imply a link between teen marijuana use and poor outcomes but are clouded by several potential confounding variables, such as socioeconomic circumstances or family mental health history. There does need to be more research but I doubt the conclusion will ever be “it’s so beneficial we recommend all children between 13-17 take it.” It’s always better to err on the side of caution and wait until their adults and brain has fully developed.

SaHFF t1_jed9hc6 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 4:13 AM

I'd hedge my bets on it being because most adults are over the age where schizophrenia onset is a potential worry

QuietGanache t1_jeefuap wrote on March 31, 2023 at 12:46 PM

Unlike adults, adolescents have a decent chance of remission for T2DM:

https://doi.org/10.3390/children8010037

That's not to say strategies like weight loss in affected adults shouldn't be considered too but, as far as I've read, that's more of a management strategy for the broad adult population.