By Richard Reeve
Much of the cutting edge brain science is sending a clear message: brain damage is caused by adolescent drug use. This new study, focusing on the effects of ecstasy and cocaine use in adolescents continues to reinforce the message that drug use during the teenage years causes damage to the developing brain.
“The results highlight that the so-called “reinforcing effects” are greater in adult mice treated with ecstasy or cocaine during adolescence than in adolescent mice not exposed to these drugs. “Adolescence is a critical stage in development, during which time drug consumption affects plastic cerebral processes in ways that cause changes that persist right through to adulthood”, adds the scientist.” Read the full article at Shrink Rap
At first this seems like an expected finding. But if we consider how our culture has treated teen drug use over the past fifty years, brain damage has never been one of the main reasons presented to youth to avoid drug use. It’s important that the relevance of these findings be recognized not only because of the seriousness of what they present, but because they are presenting a new concern relating to adolescent development.
ODD Adolescents and the Response to Consequences ~ Intensity vs Frequency vs Reward
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Great job mentioning that ecstasy causes brain damage. For some reason most teens dont’ think so. I am a former police drug detective who spent much of my career undercover at raves watching teens gobble down ecstasy like crazy. You can read about it on my website if you’re interested.