00:03My name is Dr. Kim Hellemans and I'm a professor in neuroscience at Carleton
00:07University and my research program really explores how young adults use
00:12cannabis products. What I would say is why I would have concerns about teen use
00:21of cannabis products is it relates to why do we have a legal age when we use
00:26first use cannabis products and that's because the brain is still developing.
00:29The younger you are when you start using cannabis products it relates to more
00:33harms later in life. We know that there is these relationships between using
00:37cannabis products particularly high THC content products and the development of
00:41things like depression and anxiety and in particular psychosis and psychotic
00:46related disorders like schizophrenia. So a lot of people use cannabis products
00:50because they're self-medicating, they might have low mood, they might be feeling
00:55depressed or they're anxious and over time what happens is that your low mood
00:59gets lower and lower and lower and your anxiety gets higher and higher and
01:03higher. So daily or near daily use of cannabis products over time will have a
01:07significant impact on your baseline mood and in particular if you're using
01:12products that are high potency and what that means is really high concentration of
01:16THC this is where we're really in a high risk category or territory. So initially
01:21people use and they're there with their friends and this becomes a very
01:24recreational or a way to bond with their peers but over time daily or near daily
01:31cannabis use what we tend to see is social withdrawal loss of motivation and
01:35energy. The reality is that when we take substances regularly and when we develop
01:40addictions they target key brain regions that are involved in decision making and as
01:46well as reward learning and memory and over time the regions of the brain that are
01:50involved in making decisions are actually compromised. What's really important to
01:54know is that sometimes substance use is used as a way to cope with stress right it
01:59is I'm not feeling great today I've had a stressful day using this makes me feel
02:04better right and the reality is that to be empowered with other coping strategies
02:08and other ways in which to manage stress that's the joy of life right so if we
02:14engage in things like learning new recipes finding recipes online dancing going with
02:21friends going for a run these are all incredible ways that you're actually
02:25training your nervous system to experience joyful moments that are naturally
02:30produced with those endorphins and those bonding hormones instead of a substance
02:35where the brain quickly learns oh this feels good this feels right but can have long-term very
02:41negative consequences so the more we turn to those other more healthy social
02:47coping strategies the better it is for our health and wellness full stop
