Authorities have always tried to prove the opposite, but a new study says teen marijuana use is not linked to adult health issues. The research has been conducted to determine whether marijuana should be legalized or not and the results have been surprising to everyone, authorities and researchers, alike.
Inhabitants in the United States separate each other into two large groups, when it comes to making a marijuana-related decision. Some of them will argue that marijuana is bad for people’s health, especially for teenagers, whose increasing number has caused much concern among medical experts. Others, however, will militate in favor of pot because they believe the plant could alleviate many of the health issues that patients feel during their last stages of life.
Researchers at the Pittsburgh University have tried to put an end to this debate by conducting the first experiment to see how noxious exactly is marijuana for young consumers. The study has been carried out on a decade-long period during which the 408 respondents have evolved from teenagers to adults.
Scientists have first interviewed respondents when they were only 14 years old and then continued to have registered discussions with them on a regular basis. The interviews, which focused mainly, on users’ connection to marijuana, have continued until respondents turned 30 years old.
Respondents have been divided into four categories of chronic smokers, non-smokers, rare smokers and periodic smokers, based on their habits. At the end of the investigation, psychology experts have been able to conclude that participants did not acquire health problems as a result of their teen marijuana usage.
On the contrary, consuming marijuana during teenage years was not linked to depression, mental affections and lung cancer, as it has been previously stated. Respondents have even reduced their marijuana consumption during this time interval, the most frequent smoking rate being 200 days per year.
Investigators from the Pittsburgh University think many more studies should be carried in the domain as marijuana legalization should be everyone’s concern. So far, they can only say that teen marijuana use is not necessarily bad for the health, but much more comprehensive studies should be conducted before officially declaring that marijuana is not bad for the health.
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