Nondisordered Cannabis Use Among US Adolescents

Sultan, Ryan S.; Zhang, Alexander W.; Olfson, Mark; Kwizera, Muhire; Levin, Frances R.

doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.11294

Cited by 32 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…As described in the introduction, cannabis use is meaningfully increasing in college-aged students in the United States (Patrick et al, 2022) and the current evidence suggests cannabis use disorder diagnoses are also increasing. Even individuals who have cannabis use patterns below those used in clinical diagnoses have shown increases in adverse psychological events (Sultan et al, 2023). Thus, finding a measure that can consistently and reliably predict problems associated with cannabis use would be a valuable tool for clinicians to facilitate treatment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of these, over a quarter of cannabis use disorder diagnoses can be attributed to those aged 18–25 who also represent the age group with the highest cannabis usage (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2023). However, even nonclinical outcomes from cannabis use among youth has been shown to increase adverse psychosocial events, such as major depression diagnoses (Sultan et al, 2023). Thus, increasing recreational cannabis use and increasing college student use points to cannabis use continuing to be an important social activity on college campuses with potentially serious health outcomes.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Cannabis as a shareable commodity in a social discounting task.

Hatch,

Olona,

Lopez

et al. 2024

Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology

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Cannabis use and cannabis use disorder diagnoses continue to increase in United States college-aged students as more states legalize recreational cannabis. Previous studies have attempted to associate cannabis use with delay discount rates, which involves participants making choices for smaller sooner versus larger later hypothetical rewards. More smaller sooner choices result in higher discount rates and suggest increased impulsivity. Delay discounting studies have shown a significant, but small effect size with people who use cannabis more likely to choose the smaller sooner rewards, relative to people who do not use cannabis. The present study tested whether students with different experience using cannabis (people who currently use cannabis, people who formerly used cannabis, or people who never used cannabis) would be sensitive to sharing a proportion of hypothetical marijuana with another individual at a given social distance, as a putative measure for cannabis value. Results from two separate data sets showed that students classified as current cannabis users were significantly less likely to share a proportion of hypothetical marijuana across a range of social distances, relative to students that self-reported never using cannabis. Students classified as either former or current users were not statistically different. These results were consistent with previous delay discounting results and showed a medium effect size (η 2 ≥ 0.10) for each data set, both separately and when combined. These results indicate that social distance is a meaningful variable that can be used in a modified discounting task to assess differential cannabis value in a student population who are increasingly susceptible to cannabis use disorder. These results may have future clinical implications. Social discount rates for cannabis may be able to differentiate individuals who will continue recreational use versus individuals that may develop cannabis dependence problems. Public Health SignificanceThis study showed that college-aged students who currently use cannabis shared less hypothetical marijuana than students that either stopped using cannabis, or never used cannabis. This result was consistent in two separate student samples and suggests that cannabis value can profitably be assessed with this sharing task for hypothetical marijuana. Replicating this result in a clinical sample may suggest a new diagnostic marker for cannabis use and misuse.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cannabis as a shareable commodity in a social discounting task.

Hatch,

Olona,

Lopez

et al. 2024

Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology

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“…Young cannabis users fall behind their non-using peers by as much as three years of schooling. These effects of using cannabis are shown even in young people who are not yet dependent on the drug (Sultan et al, 2023). Cannabis use in youth is also associated with delinquent behaviours such as truancy, aggression, arrests and fighting (Sultan et al, 2023).…”

Section: /4mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Gobbi et al, 2019). These increased mental health risks are found even in youth who use cannabis recreationally (Sultan et al, 2023).…”

Section: The Connection Between Cannabis Use and Mental Health Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysing the effects of using cannabis on youth mental health

Cannon¹

2023

Open Access Government

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Analysing the effects of using cannabis on youth mental health Mary Cannon, Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Youth Mental Health at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, investigates the effects of using cannabis on young people’s mental health. Cannabis is the most widely used drug among young people globally. The average age of initiation of cannabis use is mid-teens, and use tends to fall off later in life. Unfortunately, the peak period of cannabis use coincides with the peak time for brain development which continues up to age 25. The main adverse effects of using cannabis during adolescence fall under three broad categories: dependence, underachievement and mental health problems (DUM). Let us deal with each of these in turn.

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“…Drug abuse rates are subject to fluctuations based on the region, the age of the users, and the drug in question; however, abuse of stimulants, opioids, and cannabis has generally increased in recent years (Drug Use Among Youth: Facts and Statistics 2023 ; Marijuana and hallucinogen use among young adults reached all time-high in 2021 2022 ; Drug Overdose Death Rates 2023 ; NIDA IC Fact Sheet 2024 2023 ). This situation has been accentuated in some areas due to changes in accessibility or regulation, such as the case of prescription opioids and the legalization of cannabis, respectively (Hughes et al 2023 ; Sultan et al 2023 ; Zuckermann et al 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rewiring the future: drugs abused in adolescence may predispose to mental illness in adult life by altering dopamine axon growth

Avramescu,

Hernandez,

Flores

2023

J Neural Transm

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Adolescence is a period of increased exploration and novelty-seeking, which includes new social behaviors, as well as drug experimentation, often spurred on by peer pressure. This is unfortunate, as the immature state of the adolescent brain makes it particularly susceptible to the negative developmental impact of drug use. During adolescence, dopamine terminals, which have migrated from the ventral tegmental area, pause in the nucleus accumbens, before segregating by either forming local connections or growing towards the prefrontal cortex (PFC). This developmentally late and lengthy process renders adolescent dopamine axon pathfinding vulnerable to disruption by substance use. Indeed, exposure to stimulant drugs in adolescent male mice, but not females, triggers dopamine axons to mistarget the nucleus accumbens and to grow ectopically to the PFC. Some evidence suggests that at this novel site, the functional organization of the ectopic dopamine axons mirrors that of the intended target. The structural rewiring dysregulates local synaptic connectivity, leading to poor impulse control ability, deficits of which are a core symptom of substance-use disorders. In the present commentary, we argue that different substances of abuse induce dopamine mistargeting events with the off-target trajectory prescribed by the type of drug, leading to psychiatric outcomes later in life.

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Nondisordered Cannabis Use Among US Adolescents

Cited by 32 publications

References 46 publications

Cannabis as a shareable commodity in a social discounting task.

Cannabis as a shareable commodity in a social discounting task.

Analysing the effects of using cannabis on youth mental health

Rewiring the future: drugs abused in adolescence may predispose to mental illness in adult life by altering dopamine axon growth

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