Long-term outcomes of heavy marijuana use among adolescents.

In order to better understand the long-term outcomes of heavy marijuana use among adolescents, 17 adolescent and 15 adult users were intensively studied over a several-year period. Among both the adolescents and the adults, heavy use of the drug was found to have similar adaptive or defensive functions, fostering a detachment from the painful or unpleasant realities of their lives. This suggests that for a large number of adolescents, both the marijuana behavior and the psychosocial patterns associated with it are brought forward into adulthood.