Teenagers Who Use Marijuana are More Likely to Move On to Harder Illicit Drugs: Study

A new research from the University of New Hampshire, published in the journal of Health and Social Behavior, used survey data from 1286 young adults who attended schools in 1990s. 26% of them are African Americans, 44% are Hispanics, and 30% are non-Hispanic whites.

The research showed that the teenagers who use marijuana are more likely to move on to harder illicit drugs as young adults. They found that the young adults who did not graduate from high school or college are more likely to use marijuana and other illicit drugs in their young adulthood. They also added saying that, those people who used marijuana during their teenage and were unemployed were more likely to use other illicit drugs.

The experts from the study also said that, whether teenagers who used pot will use other illicit drugs as young adults has to do more with life factors such as employment status and stress. In fact the strongest predictor of whether some one will use illicit drug is their race or ethnicity, but not their use of marijuana.

Employment in the the early adulthood can protect the people by closing the gate way for marijuana use. Moreover the age factor also shows greater impact on the use of marijuana. Once an individual reaches the age of 21 the gateway effect of marijuana decreases gradually. On the other hand, marijuana use may severe as a gateway to other illicit drug use in adolescence.

Young Marijuana Users Face Greater Cognitive Deficit

Many research centers and Universities are striving hard to find the adverse effects of marijuana use. Every year they are coming with one or the other disorder caused due to the abuse of that illicit drug. Their main aim is to educate people and to encourage them to stay away from these kind of illegal drugs which show adverse effects on their health.

Similar research held by the researchers of Harvard Medical School found that people who started using marijuana in their young ages and for those who use it in larger amounts are the ones who are most cognitively impaired.

The researchers found that the marijuana users face cognitive flexibility, which shows the deficit in the ability to switch behavioral responses according to the situation. They conducted a study on a group of people, who are assigned a task and the researchers observed the responses of the people according to the instant changes made with out warning the participants.

They found that the marijuana users made repeated errors despite of the feed back that they were doing wrong. The abusers find it difficult to maintain a set of rules which involved more focus. In particular, those participants who started using marijuana in the early ages of 16, showed the greatest impairment.

The experts also stated that the results from their research provide further evidence, that the marijuana use has a direct impact on the executive function and also influences cognitive processing.

If these findings are used effectively they are helpful in emphasizing the establishment of effective strategies to decrease the use of illicit drugs in younger populations.

Why you shouldn't drive under Marijuana influence?

Marijuana is an illegal drug. Usage of Marijuana leads to many side effects. There are many risks associated with Marijuana addiction. Now-a-days, the consumption of the Marijuana is increased. Many people unaware of its negative effects are driving under the influence. Marijuana impairs the driver and it is the reason behind most of the accidents. So, Laws are making mandatory to check whether the person is influenced by Marijuana in high traffic areas by using Marijuana drug test in order to reduce the fatalities.

Detecting the Abuse of Marijuana

Marijuana is one of the drug commonly abused drug these days. It is an illegal drug. People of almost all ages are being abused to this drug. Marijuana can be detected using a proper marijuana drug test.

By collecting different samples of blood, saliva and hair, one can detect the presence of the marijuana. Irrespective of the place of the test, marijuana drug testing can be done using these tests. These tests are mainly done by