Cannabis and the Teen Brain, featuring Jodi Gilman, PhD - Shrinking It Down

Cannabis and the Teen Brain, featuring Jodi Gilman, PhD – Shrinking It Down

By Steven Schlozman, MD and Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Welcome to today’s “pot-cast”! Marijuana is on everyone’s mind, especially the parents of tweens and teens, as it becomes legal in more states – not just for medicinal use, but for recreation. We’ve learned from alcohol that teens are going to have easier access to cannabis the more state laws ease up, even when the age minimum is 21. But weed today and weed in the 70s are almost like two different drugs. And the truth is, we don’t know all the ways that it affects the developing teen brain because it hasn’t been studied for that long.

So, what do we know about cannabis and its effects on the teen brain? Gene and Steve welcome special guest Jodi Gilman, PhD, a neuroscientist at The Center for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, to discuss. Her research focuses on the effects of alcohol and cannabis on the brains of adolescents and young adults – be sure to check out her most recent study at the top of today’s media list.

Media List

One Month of Cannabis Abstinence in Adolescents is Associated With Improved Memory (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry)
When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves (NPR)
Marijuana and the Young Brain (VIDEO – MGH Advances in Motion)
Wondering What the Law Is Your State? (DISA Global Solutions)
Teen and Parent Misconceptions About Driving and Marijuana (MGH Clay Center)
Q+A: Once You’ve Discovered Your Teen is Using Pot, What’s the Next Step? (MGH Clay Center)
April 20 is Upon Us: Making Sense of Marijuana (MGH Clay Center)
Ray Charles – Georgia on My Mind (YouTube)

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Episode edited by Sara Rattigan

Music by Gene Beresin

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Steven Schlozman, MD

Steven Schlozman, MD, is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (HMS), course director of the psychopathology class for the MIT-HMS Program in Health, Sciences and Technology, and former co-director of the Clay Center for Youn...

To read full bio click here.

Gene Beresin, Executive Director

Gene Beresin, MD, MA is executive director of The MGH Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds, and a staff child and adolescent psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also...

To learn more about Gene, or to contact him directly, please see Our Team.