The effects of marijuana use by high schoolers

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry conducted a national study in 2011 and found that a shocking one in three 12th graders have used marijuana in the previous year.

For teenagers, experimenting with alcohol and drugs is common; many teenagers have a tendency to feel immune to the problems of drugs and do not contemplate about the consequences.

While it is illegal for anyone in the U.S. who is under age 21 to buy or use illegal drugs or alcohol, the Office of Adolescent Health reported 40 percent of teens drank alcohol and 15 percent abused marijuana in this past month.

Experts fear that teens using these substances can develop an unhealthy dependency on drugs. The less harmful gateway drugs like marijuana sometims lead to teens relying on more powerful substances that cause greater health problems.

The use of drugs among teens affects every school, and assistant principal Kevin Mount said that it is a concern for SHS. Though the recent busts do not indicate a sudden increase in students using drugs and drinking, it does show an increase in carelessness and change in social culture.

“Anytime we find that there is drug use going on in our school and community there is a concern,” Mount said. “The concern for us, as administration, is when we find that some students have been under the influence during the school day, which is not conductive to a safe and productive learning environment.”

Even though some students have been caught using drugs during school hours and on campus, the number of students experimenting with drugs at SHS, both on campus and generally, according to Mount, is much lower than other schools in the county.  

“We haven’t noticed a significant spike in the amount of kids using drugs, so we aren’t necessarily concerned that drug use is going up,” Mount said. “However, we are concerned with the social changes around drug use — in particular marijuana, and the effects it has on students.”

Still, when Saratoga students took the Cornerstone Developmental Assets Survey in 2013, 11 percent admitted to marijuana use once or more in the past 30 days. This is only 4 percent less than the national statistic for teen marijuana abuse.

Often, the effects that drugs have on people, especially teens, are damaging, both mentally and physically.

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, students who begin using marijuana and other drugs will show physical, emotional, social and temperamental issues. They begin to feel fatigue, have mood swings, poor judgment and feel depressed or irritable. They also withdraw themselves from family lives, begin breaking more rules and change their style of dress and music. 

At school, these students often express negative attitudes, their grades drop, have discipline problems, truancy and are generally less interested in any academic related subject.

But it isn’t only the symptoms of drug abuse that are so apparent in teens. According to Dr. Timmen Cermak, 9 percent of marijuana users become addicted; however, the numbers are higher for teens.

Cermak said that young people who use drugs like marijuana between the ages of 12-18 fall into addiction faster than older users.

One of the most dangerous factors with marijuana is its ability to stunt brain growth, especially in the brains of teenagers.  Because the brains of teenages are still developing, the use of drugs like marijuana not only limits the speed at which the brain develops, but also kills brain cells and decreases students’ learning capacity.

When teenagers use marijuana, the effects cause the brain, which is in the process of developing, to slow down significantly.  According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), “marijuana impairs a person’s ability to form new memories and shift focus.” Coordination, reaction time and ability to process new information are also disrupted.

Heavy drinking has also been shown to impair the growth and integrity of certain brain structures. The NIDA states that alcohol consumption during adolescence can alter measures of brain functioning, including blood flow in certain brain regions and electrical brain activities.

Experts say that many students who use substances and alcohol are numb to the consequences that it can have on their physical and mental health. Many believe that trying drugs and alcohol once does no harm, and that they have enough to handle them.  For a number of teens, however, addiction follows quickly after initial usage. 

“Even though our percentages of drug and alcohol use are low in comparison with others in Santa Clara County, it’s still an issue for us to work on,” principal Paul Robinson said. “We have a responsibility to give our students every tool possible to be healthy and safe, and helping someone make good decisions when it’s truly important is the best legacy you can hope for.”