US policy is changing / heading down a path where it is becoming easier to ‘see’ marijuana as an alternative for medical treatments.
The time to be educating, and supporting efforts of making good decisions has never been greater.
Fact #1: The number of studies that suggest a potential positive effect on adults are for very specific conditions, this is not a reason to believe that this will be suitable for children / young adults with developmental or behavioral disorders.
FACT #2 There is significant evidence that regular marijuana use has negative effects on the developing brains of children and teenagers.The brain of children and young adults is much different then that of an adult. Cannabis use at a young age has many negative long / short term effects. Many believe that this is just hyperbole. This is real information that can and will affect ones life (positively or negatively, depending on how you choose to react to educational material).
With new legislation (depending on location), patients and families are curious to see if medical marijuana could help their conditions, including developmental and behavioral problems in children, which prompted researchers to conduct their review.
It has also been linked to a persistent decline in intelligence quotient. Adolescents with developmental and behavioral disorders are at risk for early substance abuse, creating another risk factor.The researchers note that there is currently no data on the safety, efficacy, or tolerability for cannabis as a treatment for childhood developmental or behavioral disorders.
The researchers believe that future research should focus on cannabidiols rather than plant forms of medical marijuana, but much more research must be done before clinicians should consider prescribing cannabis to adolescents.