Taking cannabis in your mid-20s damages cognitive development, NIH expert warns

Taking cannabis regularly in your mid-20s can cause permanent damage to the brain and its legalization in some states has wrongly suggested to many that it is safe, the head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has told DailyMail.com.

Dr Nora Volkow, who has led the agency for almost two decades, warned that cannabis use among young adults was a ‘concern’ and called for more ‘urgent’ research into the ‘potential health risks’ for the age group.

Her agency revealed Monday that a record number of 19 to 30-year-olds were using cannabis in 2021, with one in ten admitting to using it every day. Around 30 percent used the drug at least once a month, with four-in-ten having used the drug at least once last year.

Numerous studies have warned that regularly using cannabis can harm brain development — which continues into the mid-20s — and that repeated users are more likely to struggle socially and face career and relationship problems. 

But it is now only fully illegal in just four states — Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina and Wyoming —, with 19 approving it for recreational use and nearly every state already giving it the green light for medicinal use — typically to treat chronic pain.

Experts warn that legalizing the drug has led to it gaining acceptance in recent years, leading more people to try it. Stress from the COVID-19 pandemic has also driven up the number of people using it.

Asked about why cannabis use has surged, Volkow told DailyMail.com that a large portion was likely down to many states legalizing it for recreational purposes.

‘Legalization not only has made access to cannabis easier for its regular use, but it has also contributed to the perception that cannabis is a “safe” drug,’ she said.

‘[This] makes it more appealing to individuals who are concerned of engaging in illegal activities or activities that endanger their health.’

She said studies had already indicated that regular, heavy and long-term use may be associated with cognitive impairments and psychosis — where the mind struggles to interpret reality. 

It has also been linked to a higher likelihood of dropping out of school.

But these papers often include people who also regularly use tobacco or alcohol, making it difficult to conclude whether cannabis is actually behind the changes.

‘Brain development occurs into a person’s mid-20s, so cannabis use among youth and young adults is a concern,’ Volkow warned.

‘Long-term effects have been observed among individuals who report early, heavy and/or long-term marijuana use.

‘Studies have shown that heavy and long-term marijuana use is associated with impairments in cognitive development and early initiation of marijuana use is associated with a higher risk of dropping out of school. 

‘Research has also shown an association between early, regular marijuana use and onset of psychosis as well as increased risk of anxiety and suicidality.’

She did not say what level of use amounted to ‘regularly’ taking the drug, but studies show that even smoking it once a month could lead to heart problems. Others suggested that smoking it at least once a week could damage the brain.

Volkow added: ‘The trends that we’ve found [in cannabis use] highlight the urgent need to gain a better understanding of the potential health risks and benefits of cannabis use among young adults.’

Many U.S. health agencies — including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — already warn of the potential health risks from using cannabis regularly.

They say it poses a ‘real risk’ to mental development, and can lead to problems with memory and attention span. 

Regular users may also be more likely to face relationship problems, educational issues and have lower career achievement.

But despite the warnings 19 U.S. states — including California, New York and Massachusetts — have all signed off on using weed for recreational purposes.

This list is only expected to grow as voters in Arkansas, Maryland, Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Oklahoma are set to decide whether or not to liberalize the drug in November.

Almost every state has now given cannabis the green light to be used for medicinal purposes.

The changing legal landscape has seen about 48.2million Americans start using the drug, a figure that continues to rise as it is legalized in more and more states.

The drug is typically smoked, vaped — both opening up a risk of lung problems — or eaten after being mixed with another substance.

But in states where it has been approved for recreational use it is now available in much higher strengths than when it was still illegal.

Parents in these areas say it is nothing like the ‘Woodstock weed’ they remember from their youths, and tell of children spiraling into an addiction.

Mary Maas, 57, was one of the parents that voted to legalize recreational cannabis in Washington in 2012.

But she now regrets her decision after seeing her son Adam spiral into a devastating addiction fueled by super-strength products that were worlds apart from the weed she recalls from the 1960s.

He started casually using cannabis in high school in Monroe, Washington, soon after the state in 2012 became one of the first to allow recreational cannabis.

His problems did not begin until his sophomore college year. Adam was smoking powerful ‘dabs’, a concentrate of cannabis that is high in the psychoactive THC, and he began experiencing paranoia, delusions and hearing voices, Mary said.

Mary, a retired postal worker, describes her ‘straight-A student’ son coming unstuck. He graduated in math, but became jobless, broke and eventually depressed and sleeping rough in Seattle.

Doctors initially diagnosed him with a mood disorder. One even said cannabis would help ‘calm him down’, said Mary. But she increasingly felt dabs and the pot-infused lemonade Adam was guzzling were to blame.

As Adam’s addiction and spiraling delusions worsened, another doctor in 2019 diagnosed him with cannabis psychosis — a breakthrough moment that identified the problem and an exit strategy.

Mary and her husband John, 59, who works for the state government, spent $30,000 out-of-pocket on Adam’s addiction treatment, including repeated bouts of quitting and relapsing.

Progress is slow and arduous, but there is light at the end of a dark tunnel.

Mary thinks back to 2012, when she was among the 55.7 percent of Washingtonians who voted to legalize the production, possession, delivery and distribution of recreational marijuana for over 21s.

‘I had no idea what they were legalizing. I thought it was going to be the Woodstock weed,’ Mary told DailyMail.com, referring to the 1960s hippy movement.

‘I didn’t feel like it was a dangerous drug at that point.’

Now, she looks at the potent oils, vapes, dabs, drinks and gummies sold at a growing number of dispensaries, as well as the down-and-outs living in tents under Seattle’s I-5 highway, and urges other states to heed Washington’s lessons.

‘They’d better watch out,’ she said.

Another mother says she took her family out of Colorado once it became the ‘ground zero’ for cannabis expansion. Another, from Oregon, has watched her 16-year-old daughter mess up school and turn to dealing to finance her addiction.

Monday’s NIDA report was based on a survey of 5,000 youngsters from a nationally representative group of 19 to 30-year-olds.

It found 43 percent of respondents said they had used marijuana at least once last year, up a quarter on the number a decade ago.

Some 29 percent also admitted to using it every month, while 11 percent said they used it daily — defined as at least 20 times a month — double the level a decade  ago.

NIDA’s annual survey also showed how the use of hallucinogens — like LSD and MDMA — had hit an all-time high among young adults. One in 12 said they had used the drugs at least once last year, which was double the level from five years ago.

Alcohol remained the most popular substance used, however, with eight in ten saying they had it at least once in the past year.

Experts have warned DailyMail.com of a ‘potential explosion’ of underage cannabis use and raised the alarm over the weak oversight of a $30 billion business. They also raised concerns over a free-for-all market in which super-strength cannabis products are sold in cartoon-covered packaging.

‘Cannabis use is more common among youth and adults in states where cannabis use is legal for recreational use,’ Renee Goodwin, who leads Columbia University’s research, told DailyMail.com.

‘Legalization has moved from a social justice issue, to the other extreme of big business commercialization without any of the same restrictions that tobacco and alcohol now need to follow.’

Gummies, oils and vape cartridges are sold in bright packaging that appeals to teens, even while the products are for over-21s. In many cases, dispensary shopfronts and trucks are decked out similarly.

‘State, county and local legislatures have the power to regulate that,’ said Goodwin, a psychiatric and substance use epidemiologist.

‘It is generally easier to do it before commercialization happens than to look back and undo it.’

For Goodwin, Shi and others, research and regulation is moving too slowly compared to the rapid pace of legalization.

Data from the 19 states that have permitted recreational pot this past decade, as well as the 38 states that allow medical use, indicates that teens and young adults there are using stronger products more often.

It comes after a study revealed yesterday found that using cannabis can raise the risk of developing heart problems in patient.

A Danish research team from Gentofte University, in Copenhagen, found that those who regularly used the drug to manage chronic pain were at a 74 percent higher risk of developing arrhythmia — an issue where a person’s heart beats at an irregular pace.

Researchers, who published their findings Monday in the European Society of Cardiology, gathered data from nearly 5,000 patients who were prescribed cannabis to manage pain symptoms.