this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2024
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[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Kids are told to stay away because THC, like most drugs, impacts brain development πŸ˜…

Once you're 25 your brain is generally considered fully developed. The closer you get to that point the less of an issue it is, but kids shouldn't be smoking weed all the time, it can impair your brain's development.

Edit: there are corrections below regarding the age 25 as a brain development breakpoint

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Fun fact: the "brain is fully developed at 25" thing that everyone refers to is just completely wrong. The study that is being is referenced when it got brought up wasn't even looking for that. They were studying maturity in people from kindergarten to age 25 and found that people mature at vastly different rates: with some children being more developed than some adults. The 25 number was an arbitrary stopping point because they didn't want to study people for their whole lives.

Now that being said, kids shouldn't smoke or drink. But not because of a misunderstood 20 year old study

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Huh, interesting. I thought it was with respect to the development of the frontol lobe and your ability to evaluate risk vs reward, I must have sort of mixed "facts" I learned at some point

Thanks for correcting me! ☺️

Edit: this seems like a good source if someone is interested to know more, scishow is very well researched and really good at communicating that research

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KxRAfXEzIQ

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yup. Several of the heavy smokers I met in high school ended up "perma-fried" it's not a guarantee, but it was way more than 1/100.

Same goes for people who really made drinking a part of their identity in HS and college. It's not unique to drugs/alcohol, but they are the most talked about substances that can have adverse effects on a developing brain, and are already controlled substances.