Study: No link between teen pot use and adult health issues

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Teenage marijuana use does not lead to mental health or respiratory problems later in life, according to a new study that contradicts previous research linking mental illness in adulthood and youth pot smoking.

The study, released this week in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, followed the smoking habits of young men who were “chronic” smokers in their early teens who continued into their mid-20s and others who smoked rarely or never. The study also monitored men who smoked only as teens and others who smoked in their later teens and continued through their 20s.

The participants included white and black males, and the study factored in tobacco use. Ethnicity did not make a difference in the results, researchers said. The 408 participants came from a pool of 800 seventh-graders randomly selected from Pittsburgh public schools in the late 1980s. They formed part of the Pittsburgh Youth Study, a federal research program run by the Justice Department to examine drug use and juvenile delinquency.

On the basis of previous studies, the researchers expected to find evidence of mental illness, including depression, anxiety, psychotic symptoms or hallucinations.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/8/5/teen-pot-use-not-linked-to-mental-illness.html