Vaping, Marijuana, and the Effects on the Adolescent Brain with Dr. Ruth Potee



This talk on drugs and addiction is for middle school students and parents. Dr. Ruth Potee, a medical doctor and an expert on …

50 Comments

  1. My story –

    I've been smoking daily (2-3+ a day) since I was 16 turning 17. Now I am 19 turning 20 and have quit for 3 weeks and 5 days because I have experienced tremendous cognitive deficits. Before smoking weed I was very sociable and smart, I was set on the premedical tract. I smoked strong thc 9 cartridges and started smoking delta 8 as well. I have read every string on this community and multiple studies and am so afraid that this damage to my brain is permanent I've decided to be abstinent for a year and then contemplate giving my life up.

    When I first started smoking in high-school, I noticed my ability to communicate and understand others was weakened so I hid from people and everyone left me alone. Towards the end of school I had a harder time in class, cheated more, and even skipped my last class of the day sometimes to catch a movie which I never imagined myself doing. In college and covid, my habits got worse but I was getting by. Sophomore year to current I would lay in bed most of the day because my ability to do long term planning was weakened and I struggled initiate tasks. I can't absorb information around me, my emotions are dulled or nonexistent, and my short term memory is terrible. Simple tasks seem like mountains to me. I can barely understand what people are saying anymore, my language processing ability is also dulled. My imagination is weakened, and I can't plan well. Changing my surroundings (like going to a different room) does little to change my mind. My spacial recognition and reaction time are so poor. My motor function and coordination seems impaired. I also have a tremendous head pain that is chronic, It's been getting better and I hope it means my brain is healing itself. I quit because I woke up one day and nothing entered my brain, it's like i was a zombie and that scared the crap outta me. But damn these studies don't give me hope. I think I've damaged my prefrontal cortex and connectivity in brain which is permanent. I started to excercise which helped and met with a therapist once but I don't know if I can keep living like a zombie anymore. Anyone have advice?

  2. She is speaking truth, guys! Just listen with an open mind because I've been experiecing everything she mentions and I've been smoking weed for 12+ years! It can definitely do some harm, if you're not careful with it or you are too obsessed with it. I didn't even want to go anywhere if I didn't have for a joint or two with me. I don't think my mind is as sharp as it used to be, but when I quit for around 4 months or so, my mind was so sharp and not foggy like before, it was great. I need to stop smoking, it's enough, really. It's so much fun though, that's the thing. The movies are better while stoned, when you get to hang out in nature, in the summertime, for example, weed is fun. But if you're abusing it then it's not as fun anymore. I got psychologically addicted to it. Like you can get addicted to coffee, or fast food, or whatever … but I think it's even worse than that because of the high procentage of THC, that can really mess you up in the long run. And don't even get me started about how much money I spend on weed! And I'm always complaining how I don't have money to do anything fun, like travel, take trips, visit different museums and stuff, help animals, etc. I appreciate this video, thank you for speaking on important topics! Only immature people will have a problem with this video. šŸ™‚

  3. This is so dumb sheā€™s only spreading lies she is saying marijuana is addictive and is on the same level as heroine and she thinks itā€™s worse than alcohol, all this did was make me want to smoke more because she didnā€™t spread any knowledge she just told me what I already know.

  4. I'm use after weed reached hospital that time something happened in brain now day I'm suffering my brain have inside something happened like press inside brain and also high pressure doctor said its may be chemical change help me I'm so scare may be stroke.i thing may be come mental problems.

  5. this is what this old speech will never work! you guys put marijuana on the same leve AS HEROIN and realy want that these teeanager take u seriously? come on

  6. I want to know where the real world evidence for nicotine doing long term damage to the teen brain is? It doesn't exist. Now I am not saying that it does nothing but it is nowhere close to the extent that the anti vaping crowd likes to claim. Besides where was all this fake concern for the teen brain when it came to cigarettes and nicotine gums, patches, lozenges, etc.? What they fail to tell everyone is that it is all based on animal testing, mostly lab mice & rats and they don't compensate for the difference in size & weight between the animals and the humans. By the way showing a scan of a brain reacting to something it enjoys or doesn't enjoy mean absolutely nothing on its own. Hook my brain up to the damn machine while I am getting a blowjob after smoking a good joint & I will probably break the damn machine.

  7. There's a lot about how marijuana is addictive when you're a teen, but they really glossed over why it's bad to actually have it as a teen. From what I gathered it:

    1. Cuts the amount of dopamine your body can naturally produce
    2. Prevents your brain from expanding, but how?

  8. I came here to learn about the dangers of vaping in general because many of my kids friends in jr high and high school are juuling and talking about it. But, this was such a great talk, explained so well, I wish every young person could listen to her. Itā€™s not about just being able to ā€œjust say noā€. Education on drugs and the brain is the way to approach the teen instead of scare tactics.

  9. Ugh , she lost me as soon as she said weed is addictive.

    Spreading false information like this ruins your whole point. There are legitimate ā€œdangersā€ of smoking weed as an adolescent; but when you lie like this as soon as these kids find out your whole argument is now invalid (even though some of your argument was legitimate).

  10. Yet Antidepressants, Amphetamines, Antipsychotics, Antihistamines, and NSAIDs are perfectly good to use daily from age 3 and up. LOL. Disgusting. Advise against those drugs first, especially alcohol, yet thereā€™s so much against Cannabis. Lol.

  11. 15:10 – purpose of cannabinoids fro cell survival @ the moment of expression is down regulatory … homeostasis of cellular signalling is a result of cannabinioid metabolism… in fact – cannabinoid receptors are the only cell receptors to go post to pre synaptic in their signalling.. known as retrograde signals… the plant cannabinoids are a form of that expression when man ingests them .

  12. Thank you so much for this video. Well presented for teens and hits on all relevant topics including vaping and high TCH. I have been looking for this type of presentation. Thank you!

  13. Thank you for an excellent presentation, I will be looking for more from you. I recently attended a training by Dr. Paul Baker and asked how marijuana effected brain development and he did not have an answer for me, hence my online search for an answer. I work with adolescents and specialize in addiction.

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