Teen drug abuse is nothing new. Every year we are shown powerpoints and presentations about the dangers of drugs, but are teens listening?

It’s no surprise that the use of marijuana is present in most high schools. However, studies show that the use of other illicit drugs have decreased significantly.

According to a survey done by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), “In 2016, use of illicit drugs other than marijuana continuing to decline to the lowest level in the history of the survey in all three grades.”

These other illicit drugs include Adderall, Ecstasy, LSD, and Cocaine. Which, when used over a period of time, can have far worse effects than marijuana.  

But this is not good news. As use of other drugs decrease, the use of marijuana remains on the rise. This is a problem because, despite our youth’s increasingly casual attitude towards it, researchers say marijuana use can damage a teen’s brain tremendously.

Krista Lisdahl, director of the brain imaging and neuropsychology lab at the University of Wisconsin has done many studies and says it’s a big mistake for teens to smoke marijuana.

During childhood your brain is bigger, and during the teenage years, it gets rid of the connections we’re not using and shrinks. “It’s your last opportunity” she says, to make your brain as healthy and smart as possible.

Use of marijuana once a week, at this age, could significantly damage a student’s ability to memorize things and solve problems. This causes their academic performance to suffer.

“What we found was that skipping class was related to GPA over time, and that marijuana use was related to skipping class,” Lead investigator of the College Life Study Amelia Arria said.

She studied more than 1,200 students’ grades throughout college from start to finish.