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Drugs hit teen brains harder

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Some have argued that adolescent brains, flexible and full of growth potential, are more capable of dealing with the damage inflicted by drugs than adult brains. According to researchers who spoke at a press briefing earlier this week at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, California, adolescent brains cope with this damage more poorly than adults. Interrupting a critical period of synaptic network building, the drugs seem to have far reaching effect on development and behavior.

Michela Marinelli from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science says recent findings show that “addiction is a learning event.” Her own studies show that adolescent mice, the best learners, are much more likely to become addicted than adults and also more likely to relapse after kicking the habit.

Joshua Gulley from the University of Illinois presented results showing that mice taking amphetamines during their adolescence—a group which would account for some 12% of US high school students—have reduced neurofrontal cortex function and impaired memory, whereas adults who had taken them had no lasting effects.

If teenage binge drinkers—which account for more than 51% of US 18-20 year olds are like their adolescent mice counterparts, they are likely to have disrupted stress response and become more susceptible to depression and anxiety.

The scientists argue that their studies on mice apply to the growing population of teenage druggies. The only study in the group on humans, by Staci Gruber at the Harvard Medical School, showed that those who begin to smoke marijuana at an average age of 14 were considerably poorer at executive tasks later in life than the population that begins smoking at age 17.

Whether mouse or human, those who started drug using drugs later escaped unaffected or mildly affected, but the researchers warn that this is not a license to dope up since the drugs would still have effects on other parameters not measured.

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    JT said:

    Is this study referring to medical prescription amphetamins or methamphetamines?

    I wonder what the ramifications of something like this would be on the treatment of ADD

    It would be interesting to see an extended study on this examining the effects on children and teens who don’t abuse amphetamines but take amphetamine like drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall, & Dexedrine for the treatment of ADHD/ADD

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    Dr. Kristine Campbell said:

    Re: the data that people who began smoking merijuana at age 14 have worse executive functioning later in life than those who started smoking at a later age: The problem is what is cause and what is effect? Maybe the 14 yr olds who started smoking MJ had worse executive functioning and judgement to begin with and that led them to start using.

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