Did you know that your brain develops until the age of 25? Anything that you do to disrupt this process—including substance—will affect how your brain develops.
During the brain’s development stage, any type of trauma and/or changes in the brain’s wiring could affect brain function. Drug use is one of the ways that can mess up the wiring. How?
According to NIDA, the brain relies on chemicals called neurotransmitters to get messages from one part of the brain to the other. Each neurotransmitter attaches to its own kind of receptor—like how a key fits into a lock. This allows messages to travel through the brain on the right path. When you use drugs, it interferes with the normal traffic patterns that the neurotransmitters use. The chemical structure in the drugs can imitate and fool the receptors, lock on to them and alter the activity of
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Research shows that there is a definite link between teen substance abuse and how well you do in school. Teens who abuse drugs have lower grades, a higher rate of absence from school and other activities, and an increased potential for dropping out of school.
Although we all know or hear stories about people who use drugs and still get great grades, this is not typical. Most people who use drugs regularly don’t consistently do well in school. male student with book over face sitting against wall
Studies show that marijuana, for example, affects your attention, memory, and ability to learn. Its effects can last for days or weeks after the drug wears off. So, if you are smoking marijuana daily, you are not functioning at your best.
Students who smoke marijuana tend to get lower grades and are more likely to drop out of high school. One recent marijuana study showed that heavy marijuana use in your teen years and continued into adulthood can reduce your IQ up to as much as 8