The moment we talk about drugs and the brain, it is common for teens to say to themselves, “There goes those adults saying we are frying our brains by just smoking some weed.”

In my latest film,  “Screenagers Under The Influence,” co-directed by Lisa Tabb and myself, knew we would have to treat the topic and brain development very gingerly since the film needed to resonate with teens (as well as adults).

We were thrilled to find neuroscientist Dr. Yasmin Hurd and her cutting-edge research at Mount Sinai in New York. Hurd has a calm, direct way of speaking that is convincing without resorting to scare tactics.

You and your kids can see if you agree with me by watching the clip to the right from the film. In this 3-minute excerpt, Dr. Hurd explains the most current research on brain development and the effects of exposure to the chemical THC, the psychoactive component of weed.

Alternatively, you may prefer to read the transcript below. Be sure to read the suggested discussion questions at the end.

My voice-over:

Dr. Hurd studies the effect of THC on cells in the front of the brain, specifically what's called the cortical layer. These cells have branches of them, also called projections, that allow them to connect to other cells to send signals. These connections are essential for things like handling emotions and making decisions in the teen years. Major connections are being formed.

Dr. Hurd:

There was a recent study looking at teens about age 14, and they image their brains over the years and five years later when they studied the children, those who had used cannabis. During that time, a significant proportion had cortical thinning as compared to those teens who did not use cannabis.

My voice-over:

Cortical thinning happens when cells lose many of their projections that they use to communicate with other cells as they lose projections. They take up less space and hence the thinning. In order to eliminate the possibility that something else is responsible for the cortical thinning Dr. Hurd uses animal models.

Dr. Hurd:

So in our animal models, we're able to know exactly their life. We know exactly how much THC they have. We have teen rats exposed to THC every three days over their adolescent life.

Later, when the rats reached young adulthood, their cells were analyzed. These are our rat models.

Here you can see the normal cortical cells. These are projections that communicate with other cells. This is what it looks like in adults the rats.

With adolescent THC exposure, you can see the projections are much fewer. They've shrunk THC, and cannabis is doing something that compromises the development and normal development of these cells, so they no longer communicate with other cells in the same way that they should. Cortical thinning in teens that have used cannabis has a lot of concern. People have linked cortical thinning to mood disorders, psychiatric disorders like depression, and cognitive function.

Questions to get the conversation started:

1. What are your thoughts on Dr Hurd’s research?

2. What do we think about the research on the frontmost part of the brain in teens who were weed users vs. those who did not use weed?

3. What questions do you have about the research mentioned above? How about weed in general?

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Here is a video from the Screenagers YouTube Channel that talks more about this subject