6 Q’s About the News | This Is Your Brain on Drugs

By Katherine Schulten
A Harvard-Northwestern study has found differences between the brains of young adult marijuana smokers and those of nonsmokers. In these composite scans, colors represent the differences — in the shape of the amygdala, top, and nucleus accumbens. Yellow indicates areas that are most different, red the least. Related Article The Journal of Neuroscience
6 Q’s About the News

Read the article and answer the news questions below.

In “This Is Your Brain on Drugs,” Abigail Sullivan Moore writes about how marijuana affects the brains of young smokers.

WHAT did Dr. Jodi Gilman and her fellow researchers at Harvard and Northwestern University find when they reviewed composite scan of the brains of 20 pot smokers, ages 18 to 25?

WHAT has long been known about young people who smoke marijuana early and often?

WHY do researchers say existing studies are no longer sufficient?

HOW much did the concentration of THC in marijuana seized by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency from 1995 to 2013?

WHAT is high-THC marijuana associated with?

HOW much did emergency-room visits related to marijuana use change from 2004 to 2011?

WHY may higher potency also accelerate addiction?

WHAT changes in the brains of pot smokers did the Harvard-Northwestern study find?

HOW did Dr. Gilman assess Emma, the student she was interviewing to learn about the relationship between smoking and behavior?

HOW many I.Q. points on average did a teenager who was dependent on pot before age 18 and continued using it into adulthood lose, according to a 2012 study?

For Higher-Order Thinking

After reading this, WHAT advice would you give your teenager, if you were a parent, about marijuana use? WHY?

Related Lesson Plan | A Nation in Transition: Investigating Evolving Research and Policy on Marijuana

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Lauren S. November 2, 2014 · 8:37 pm

It has been known for years that marijuana has a negative effect when used frequently at an early age because the brain is still developing its cognitive and motor functions. However, this article did little other than explain that for me. Emergency room visits went up yes, but no deaths and probably nothing more serious than a high person unable to feel their face. The higher levels of THC in marijuana can attribute to easier addiction. It doesn’t take as much to get high anymore apparently. These studies are interesting I will say. But smokers are gonna smoke and theres nothing you can do about it.