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Researchers discovered that socioeconomic status doesn’t explain the link between smoking marijuana, poorer academic performance and difficulties with mental health.

Researchers from Arizona State University conducted a study to determine if the link between smoking marijuana and poor performance in school was affected by the social class of the student.

The data showed that cannabis users in both lower and upper economic classes did worse in school, proving that it isn’t the social environment that determines academic success.

The Study

The study tracked the academic progress of 254 youths in an upper middle class community for four years of high school.
Image: Ready for Zero

The study was conducted by Arizona State University’s Department of Psychology and published in the National Center for Biotechnology Information. Researchers initiated the study in order explore the idea that low socioeconomic status explains the link between smoking marijuana and poorer academic performance and mental health.

“A key question, therefore, is whether adolescent cannabis use is associated with poorer academic performance and mental health in high SES communities where there is reduced potential for confounding,” according to the study’s abstract.

The study included 254 youths from an upper middle class community aged 14 to 15 and 17 to 18. The researchers tracked the student’s progress for four years of high school.

The researchers measured the amount of cannabis used each year and compared it to the official school records of academic performance, in addition to self-reported mental health symptoms.

Frequent marijuana use was linked to low grade-point average for four years that the students attended high school.

In addition, smoking marijuana often in 12th grade was also associated with lower Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score and greater mental health symptoms that were directed outward.

Broadening The Scope

When students combined maijuana, tobacco and alcohol,  it was hard to tell which substance was causing problems in school and with mental health.
Image: Tumblr

Researchers found that students who regularly used alcohol and tobacco had the same effect. However, once alcohol and tobacco use was added to the mix, it was hard to discern what substance was causing the effect.

Marijuana use isn’t significant if the student is also drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco.

The findings show that a student’s economic status in a lower class didn’t explain the link between cannabis use, poorer academic performance and difficulties with mental health. Marijuana use seems to negatively impact students of all social classes, not just those who are suffering from poverty.

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The annual Monitoring the Future study, which tracks trends in drug and alcohol use, shows that college students prefer marijuana over tobacco cigarettes.

When college students take a smoke break, it’s more than likely that they aren’t smoking a cigarette. In fact, they’re probably picking up a pipe.

Studies show more teens and young adults regularly smoke marijuana instead of cigarettes, which illustrates a new trend in the adolescent and undergraduate age group.

The Survey

For 40 years, the study has tracked and reported on the popularity and use of various substances in American adolescents, college students, young adults, and adults up to age 55.
Image: Monitoring The Future

The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research conducts an annual Monitoring the Future study, which has collected data about full-time college student’s drug and alcohol use since 1980. The study is meant to be a nationally representative sample.

“Monitoring the Future is an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults.

In addition, annual follow-up questionnaires are mailed to a sample of each graduating class for a number of years after their initial participation,” according to the Monitoring The Future website.

The survey asks students if they smoke marijuana every day or if they have used the drug for a minimum of 20 times in the last 30 days. Results show that almost 6 percent of full-time students used marijuana regularly, whereas only 5 percent identified themselves as heavy cigarette smokers.

Out of the students surveyed, 21 percent said they used marijuana at least once during the previous month and 34 percent said they had used it in the past year. But what do the study’s findings mean?

Results Show A Changing Trend

The most recent results mark first time the study has found more students are smoking marijuana than cigarettes.
Image: NYU Local

Researchers believe that teenagers and young adults have paid attention to public health warnings about cigarettes, but have regarded marijuana as a much safer alternative, according to lead investigator Lloyd Johnston.

This year’s results are important: this is the first time that more young adults have admitted to regularly using marijuana more than cigarettes. The number of daily and near-daily pot users from the 2014 survey was the highest ever recorded.

“It’s clear that for the past seven or eight years there has been an increase in marijuana use among the nation’s college students,” Johnston said. “And this largely parallels an increase we have been seeing among high school seniors.”

The survey includes information about other substances as well. In terms of alcohol use, only 5 percent of students said they engaged in extreme binge drinking, which researchers defined as having 15 or more drinks in one sitting at least once in the last two weeks.

However, the amount of students using cocaine has increased from 2.7 percent in 2013 to 4.4 percent in 2014. It’s too early to know if cocaine is making a comeback on college campuses, but Johnston said the increase was statistically significant.

As far as sober students go, half of survey respondents had not used any illicit drugs in the past year.

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According to a study conducted by Danish researchers, regular marijuana use lowers sperm count and affects semen quality.

Marijuana is used for a variety of medical and recreational purposes throughout the United States. Marijuana is generally considered to be a mild drug with therapeutic benefits, and it is now legal in 23 states and in Washington, D.C.

Marijuana is known for decreasing pain, giving users a red-eyed look and creating a craving for junk foods. But a new study shows that it may have a more serious impact on the male reproductive system.

Danish researchers found that regularly smoking marijuana reduces sperm count by an estimated one-third. The research concludes that men who smoked marijuana more than once a week had lowered their sperm count by 29 percent in comparison to non-smokers or casual, less frequent users.

The Study

The study found that marijuana use decreases sperm count by an estimated one-third.
Via: Live Science

Conducted by Danish researchers, the study was published on Aug. 16 in the American Journal of Epidemiology. It included a survey from 1,215 Danish men ages 18 to 28 and focused on the frequency of their marijuana, amphetamine, ecstasy and cocaine use in the past three months.

About 45 percent of the participants had smoked marijuana in the past three months, and about 10 percent used marijuana in addition to other drugs. The researchers then collected sperm count and concentration data and compared the results to the responses.

In men who regularly used marijuana, the sperm counts were reduced by 55 percent, and the sperm concentrations were reduced by 52 percent.

Tina Kold Jensen, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, asserted that the reduction was “quite a lot.”

In addition, the study also measured sperm concentrations and found that they were 28 percent lower in the men who smoked marijuana more than once a week.

The Conclusions

Researchers conclude that marijuana smoking is associated with an unhealthy lifestyle.
Via: Red Orbit

Although researchers are unsure of the exact science behind the way that marijuana use decreases sperm count, they believe it has something to do with how its active chemical Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) interacts with receptors in the testes.

Researchers came to an overall conclusion that smoking marijuana is a lifestyle choice, which influences other health-related behaviors. The study found that men who use marijuana regularly are also more likely to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol and use other drugs. These lifestyle factors were taken into account, but the conclusions remained the same.

Jensen said that the research only provides a link between marijuana use and lowered sperm count, but doesn’t have a proven correlation. The study does, however, show that marijuana use may have a negative impact on sperm count.

“We cannot exclude the possibility that the men who used marijuana generally have an unhealthier lifestyle and health behavior, which may also affect their semen quality and hormone levels,” according to the study.

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