Does nicotine damage the developing adolescent brain?: Difference between revisions

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(2018 Nora Volkow)
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==2018: Nora Volkow MD (NIDA) comparing youth nicotine use with marijuana use==
==2018: Nora Volkow MD (NIDA) comparing youth nicotine use with marijuana use==
*[https://www3.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/05/03/words-caution-marijuana/mvdlHOrEjmtiQXFG0U66MJ/story.html?arc404=true Director of drug abuse institute offers words of caution on marijuana]
*[https://www3.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/05/03/words-caution-marijuana/mvdlHOrEjmtiQXFG0U66MJ/story.html?arc404=true Director of drug abuse institute offers words of caution on marijuana]
*Freyer: "But isn’t marijuana much safer than the other legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco? Can you die from marijuana?"
**Volkow: "You can die from marijuana if you’re intoxicated and driving a car. I don’t know that it is safer. It depends on what stage in your life you are."
**"For example, if you’re a teenager, marijuana is much more dangerous than nicotine, because it is likely to interfere with the development of your brain. Marijuana dumbs you down. When you’re a teenager and your job in life is to learn, then to slow that down puts you at tremendous jeopardy. Nicotine will not do that. Of course you’ll pay a price when you’re at 60 years of age and you may end up with lung cancer. But how do you determine what is worse? Dropping out of school, when you’re 16 or 17, that’s one of the predictors of poor health outcomes. It’s not as simple as people like to make it."
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==2014: Nora Volkow MD (NIDA) comparing youth nicotine use with marijuana use==
==2014: Nora Volkow MD (NIDA) comparing youth nicotine use with marijuana use==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140701113948/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ruth-marcus-national-institute-on-drug-abuse-chief-attacks-myths-of-pot-smoking/2014/06/24/12010d84-fbd9-11e3-8176-f2c941cf35f1_story.html The myths of smoking pot] / [https://nida.nih.gov/about-nida/directors-page Photo Source]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140701113948/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ruth-marcus-national-institute-on-drug-abuse-chief-attacks-myths-of-pot-smoking/2014/06/24/12010d84-fbd9-11e3-8176-f2c941cf35f1_story.html The myths of smoking pot] / [https://nida.nih.gov/about-nida/directors-page Photo Source]
*Adolescents are a chief focus of Volkow’s worry, to the extent that when I observe that tobacco use is clearly worse for teens, she challenges that easy assumption. “Wait a second. . . . Nicotine does not interfere with cognitive ability. So if you are an adolescent and you are smoking marijuana and going to school, it’s going to interfere with your capacity to learn. So what is worse, as an adolescent right now? To have basically something that is jeopardizing your development educationally or to smoke a cigarette that, when you are 60 years of age, is going to lead to impaired pulmonary function and perhaps cancer? . . . I would argue that you do not want to mess with your cognitive capacity, that that is a very large price to pay.”
*Marcus: "Adolescents are a chief focus of Volkow’s worry, to the extent that when I observe that tobacco use is clearly worse for teens, she challenges that easy assumption."
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**Volkow: “Wait a second. . . . Nicotine does not interfere with cognitive ability. So if you are an adolescent and you are smoking marijuana and going to school, it’s going to interfere with your capacity to learn. So what is worse, as an adolescent right now? To have basically something that is jeopardizing your development educationally or to smoke a cigarette that, when you are 60 years of age, is going to lead to impaired pulmonary function and perhaps cancer? . . . I would argue that you do not want to mess with your cognitive capacity, that that is a very large price to pay.”
[[file:Volkow nicotine youth cognitive ability.png|center]]
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==If nicotine causes brain damage, how do we explain the accomplishments of these people?==
[[file:Famous People Smoking2.png|center]]
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*"When it comes to determining what will make humans healthy and disease-free, research involving mice has had remarkably few successes."
*"When it comes to determining what will make humans healthy and disease-free, research involving mice has had remarkably few successes."
*"As soon as journalists see the word “mouse” in a study (or “rat,” “hamster,” etc.), they should put down the press release, delete any related emails, and refuse to write a word about that study. As a society, we waste billions of dollars and innumerable hours pursuing remedies and diets and exercise plans that may not even work in humans. The media bear a great deal of responsibility for this. To be fair, there have been many instances in which a reporter has pointed out that the study featured in his or her article was conducted on mice and may not be applicable to humans. But this is not nearly enough. When readers see a “breakthrough” treatment or diet plan advertised in the headline, they have already been misinformed — even if there is a modest disclaimer several paragraphs later."
*"As soon as journalists see the word “mouse” in a study (or “rat,” “hamster,” etc.), they should put down the press release, delete any related emails, and refuse to write a word about that study. As a society, we waste billions of dollars and innumerable hours pursuing remedies and diets and exercise plans that may not even work in humans. The media bear a great deal of responsibility for this. To be fair, there have been many instances in which a reporter has pointed out that the study featured in his or her article was conducted on mice and may not be applicable to humans. But this is not nearly enough. When readers see a “breakthrough” treatment or diet plan advertised in the headline, they have already been misinformed — even if there is a modest disclaimer several paragraphs later."
==Shareable Graphics==
[[file:2018 Volkow nicotine weed.png|center]]
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[[file:Volkow nicotine youth cognitive ability.png|center]]
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[[file:Famous People Smoking2.png|center]]
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