Khristian Ibarrola
Medical cannabis rolled in joints. INQUIRER.net FIie photo
Smoking marijuana has been known to aid several medical
conditions, but a recent study suggests that it may stunt growth for
pre-adolescent boys.
According to scientists from the Pir Mehr Ali Shah
Agriculture University Rawalpindi in Pakistan, youngsters who smoked the
cannabis at a young age were deemed to be shorter than their
non-smoking counterparts.
“Marijuana use may provoke a stress response that
stimulates onset of puberty but suppresses growth rate,” Dr Syed Shakeel
Raza Rizvi, the study leader, told The Telegraph.
The alarming statistics were based from data coming from the blood of 220 non-smoking and 217 marijuana-addicted boys.
As it turns out, levels of puberty-related hormones such
as testosterone and luteinising hormone (LH) were tightened in the
smoking group. However, their growth hormone levels were surprisingly
lower than the other group.
Furthermore, researchers claimed that non-smoking boys
were on average four kilos heavier and 4.6 inches taller by the time
they reached 20 years old.
Meanwhile, Dr. Rivzi said the findings also indicate a far bigger problem than growth spurts.
“Early puberty is associated with younger age of onset of
drinking and smoking, and early matures have higher levels of substance
abuse because they enter the risk period at an early level of emotional
maturity,” he explained.
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