Teens are not into smoking marijuana anymore. The thought of this may be comforting for parents who are worried that their teens might be exposed to illegal drug use at an early age. However, this new study says that teens are not hooked on smoking marijuana particularly because they are already into using marijuana concentrates.
"It was surprising to find out that so many teens have already been exposed to marijuana concentrates," said Madeline Meir, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of psychology from the Arizona State University.
The results of the study reveal that the high rates of usage of marijuana concentrate among teens is rather concerning, Meier said. Several studies discuss the evidence in adults that suggests that their exposure to products with the high-THC concentrations increases a person's risk of developing cognitive impairment, psychosis, and worse, marijuana dependence.
What is even more alarming is that when the user is inexperience, which practically most of them are as they are in their teens, they are likely to suffer from more harmful side effects. Burn injuries, loss of consciousness and cognitive dependence are just some of the many harmful side effects of using marijuana concentrates. This may be a surprising fact but marijuana concentrates are produced with the use of flammable solvents like that of butane.
However, it may be important to note that the respondents in the study only include teens from around the area of Arizona. The percentage of teen users of marijuana in other states in the US remain unknown. More studies will need to be conducted to find out if the problem on the use of marijuana concentrate on teens is only isolated in Arizona or if other states are dealing with the same problem too.
"The use of medical cannabis in Arizona has been legalized. The usage rates in other states where marijuana is legal might roughly be the same," Meier said. However, in states where medical cannabis is legalized but marijuana concentrates are not, teen exposure to such substance may be significantly lower.
Monitoring the Future, a yearly national survey that looks into the use of illegal drugs among teens, are closely looking at the exposure of teens to marijuana concentrates. This new study about the use of marijuana concentrates among teens have discovered that most of those who are hooked to using it are also those who are using e-cigarettes. Some teens might be using vapes to smoke marijuana concentrates.
Further research needs to be conducted to find out if teens using marijuana concentrates are more likely to have problems in substance abuse particularly marijuana addiction.
