by Daniel Steingold
WATERLOO, Ontario — Weed
may be recreationally legal in eight states, but that could lead to
poorer outcomes for high schoolers who smoke marijuana, a new study finds.
Researchers at the University of
Waterloo in Canada examined a sample of high school students from each
grade who used marijuana, hoping to find a link between the drug’s use
and educational motivation.
The researchers found that using
marijuana just once a month was linked to a student being four times
more likely to play hooky; between two and four times more likely to not
complete homework; and only half as likely to get good grades.
For students who consumed weed on a daily basis, their desire to go to college, as opposed to simply completing— or even dropping out of— high school, was about 50 percent lower than it had been prior to them making their consumption as habitual, the study found.
“We found that the more frequently
students started using the drug, the greater their risk of poor school
performance and engagement,” emphasizes lead researcher Karen Patte in a
university press release.
Previous research has shown that the
average individual’s brain doesn’t fully mature until they are in their
20s, and smoking marijuana during one’s adolescence may lead to reduced
neural connectivity in regions responsible for memory, learning, and
inhibitions even later in life.
“The findings support the importance
of preventing and delaying the initiation of marijuana use among
adolescents,” says Scott Leatherdale, a professor at the University of
Waterloo.
The researchers, perhaps
surprisingly, argue that consuming alcohol in lieu of marijuana may more
conducive to academic success for high schoolers, although “all
substances present risks to health and well-being.”
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