One study [6] shows nearly half of college students said they consumed marijuana. Eight percent reported they used it daily or nearly every day. One in 5 high school students [7] used marijuana in the preceding 30 days.
But there are real dangers associated with the substance, as a 2020 report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) shows [8]. Abundant research [9] demonstrates how exposure to marijuana during childhood impacts later cognitive ability, including memory, attention, motivation and learning. Studies have linked regular cannabis use in adolescents with lower IQs [10] in adulthood and higher propensity to drop out of high school [11]. This association persists in college-age students. One large study [12] followed college students and found frequency of marijuana use to correlate with skipping classes, lower grade-point average and longer time to graduation.
Links
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/10/marijuana-biden-pardon-harm-youth/
[2] http://www.rethinkpot.org/tags/students
[3] http://www.rethinkpot.org/tags/mental-health
[4] http://www.rethinkpot.org/tags/youth-usage
[5] http://www.rethinkpot.org/tags/washington-post
[6] http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/pubs/monographs/mtf-vol2_2020.pdf
[7] https://www.cdc.gov/marijuana/health-effects/teens.html
[8] https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/letter-director
[9] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26842658/
[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7893511/
[11] https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report_3196/ShortReport-3196.html
[12] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26237288/