Depression, school failure, romantic difficulties, psychosis… the dangers of cannabis in adolescents are a reality. What are the consequences of using cannabis in adolescence? Can we protect our children against this scourge? Update on a phenomenon that has lasted for several decades.

Anxious to become more and more autonomous and to stand out from his parents, the teenager has a tendency to want to play with the prohibitions. The urge to prove that he is no longer a child sometimes results in rash and immature acts that can lead to disaster.

Le cannabis is considered a soft drug and often serves as an introduction to so-called harder drugs. Fairly easy to access, it remains inexpensive (compared to other drugs) and a little too commonplace, which makes it extremely dangerous. Little aware of the danger to which he is exposed, influenced by his friends and / or curious about the idea of ​​consuming psychotropic drugs, the adolescent is easily drawn into an adventure which can cost him dearly.

Concretely, the consumption of cannabis during adolescence (and more particularly until 15 years) can cause problems of maturation of the brain. Some studies are particularly interested in schizophrenia and its more or less direct relationship with cannabis use.

Besides the fact that this plant psychotropic has harmful effects on the brain, it is obvious that smoking it leads to a number of dangerous behaviors. Thus, we see that cannabis use can be the cause of illnesses, road accidents, unprotected sex, violence, loss of concentration, lack of productivity and even depression that can lead to suicide.

Adolescents who use cannabis tend to downplay the risks associated with it. Claiming that a good number of their acquaintances regularly indulge in what they colloquially call “smoking”, they mistakenly think that this activity is after all quite banal. However, many road accidents, domestic violence and fights are caused by people who have used cannabis.

The same goes for unprotected sex: often “accidents” occur after using drugs, even when the drug is considered “soft”. Finally, cannabis can reinforce feelings of depression; after smoking, a teenager on psychotropic drugs can take action and commit suicide when he did not intend to do so when he was in his normal state.

If he smokes cannabis regularly, the teenager will gradually get used to the effects it produces: a tolerance to the effects of THC (major psychotropic component of cannabis) will then develop. His brain will always demand more psychotropic drugs, which risks leading to a much greater consumption of cannabis but also to the testing of new harder drugs (cocaine, ecstasy, heroin, etc.). It should be remembered in passing that smoking cannabis also carries the same risks as smoking tabagisme said “classic” (cardiovascular weakness, exposure to many cancers, cough, damaged skin, etc.).

Those who use cannabis are more exposed to dropping out of school, to a possible immature marriage (and therefore doomed to failure) but also to premature sexual experiences or even an unexpected pregnancy. All these elements will have a significant impact in adulthood, they can indeed influence the course of a life, even after having stopped consumption.

While there are many initiatives that aim to warn adolescents (especially at school) about the dangers of cannabis, it is difficult to make them understand how important the subject is. The main problem for the adolescent is often that he is not afraid of danger and does not hesitate to oppose authority (whether at school or at home). In this context, it is complicated to give him sound advice that he will apply to the letter. The best thing to do is therefore to warn him of the dangers by making him responsible (the teenager may be more sensitive to sentences such as “you could be violent with your girlfriend” or “you could hit someone with it. your scooter ”than with sermons heard a thousand times“ it’s a drug, it’s not good ”,“ you risk becoming addicted ”, etc.).

Cannabis is a real danger to which most teenagers are exposed at one time or another. Trusting your child, helping him understand how drugs work and encouraging him to learn about them in order to better protect himself from them are all actions that can dissuade him from using them.