As children, we’ve been told not to do drugs or alcohol by parents, teachers, and many trusted adults. It just so happens that marijuana is very popular among teens today. Sure, weed has been legalized in the state of California for people who are 21 or older. You really shouldn’t be smoking weed at any age younger than 21, and not just because of the legality of the situation. This is because your brain is still developing and growing until the age of 25. In today’s age, pot has been the most popular among teens than it has been for the last 30 years. According to drugabuse.gov, about 11 percent of people who use marijuana in a given year may have a drug problem. Those who begin using marijuana before age 18 are four to seven times more likely than adults to develop a drug problem. Just because it’s legal does not mean it is safe, it’s still a drug.

Now I know what you may be saying, “It’s natural, how could it hurt me?” or “It calms my nerves so it can’t be that bad.” Weed will affect your memory, attention, learning, and motivation. It also affects being able to maintain a healthy relationship, get a good career, and have a good education. In addition to addiction, marijuana use is linked with a higher risk for schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety. Marijuana is a natural depressant. Specifically depression and marijuana have a closer relationship than most people know.

Here’s what it does to the mind: when you inhale, the TCH from the smoke enters your lungs, which as we all know the oxygen from our lungs goes throughout our whole body, including our brain. So if we smoke weed which has TCH it will travel to our brains which makes us high. TCH is not the same as CBD, TCH is the psychoactive compound in marijuana that gives you the high when you smoke it. Some studies suggest that regular marijuana use in adolescence is associated with altered brain connectivity and reduced volume of specific parts of the brain involved in functions such as memory, learning, and impulse control. Along with the effects on the brain, smoking -whether it’s marijuana or not- causes severe lung and airway damage, and it can hurt your immune system.

Some may also argue that doctors have prescribed marijuana, so how can using it recreationally be any different? Well, the FDA has only approved medical marijuana for two rare and severe forms of epilepsy. Even when it is prescribed, medical marijuana is never given to people underage and, if you react poorly, you can be taken off of it. Medical Marijuana also differs from the recreational drug as recreational marijuana may not be only marijuana. According to the American Addictions Center, marijuana can be laced with other psychoactive drugs, heavy metals, glass, PCP, heroin, embalming fluid, laundry detergent, LSD, meth, and more.

Marijuana isn’t just a fun time and there are consequences to smoking it under age, and not just legal ones. There’s permanent detrimental effects to marijuana usage.