Canadian teenagers are among the largest consumers of cannabis印度大麻 worldwide. The damaging effects of this illicit违法的，不正当的 drug on young brains are worse than originally thought, according to new research by Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, a psychiatric精神病学的 researcher from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. The new study, published in Neurobiology of Disease, suggests that daily consumption of cannabis in teens can cause depression and anxiety, and have an irreversible不可逆的 long-term effect on the brain. "We wanted to know what happens in the brains of teenagers when they use cannabis and whether they are more susceptible易受……影响的 to its neurological effects than adults," explained Dr. Gobbi, who is also a professor at McGill University. Her study points to an apparent action of cannabis on two important compounds in the brain – serotonin血清素 and norepinephrine去甲肾上腺素 – which are involved in the regulation of neurological functions such as mood control and anxiety.

"Teenagers who are exposed to cannabis have decreased serotonin transmission, which leads to mood disorders², as well as increased norepinephrine transmission, which leads to greater long-term susceptibility感情，敏感性 to stress," Dr. Gobbi stated.

Previous epidemiological流行病学的 studies have shown how cannabis consumption can affect behaviour in some teenagers. "Our study is one of the first to focus on the neurobiological mechanisms³ at the root of this influence of cannabis on depression and anxiety in adolescents," confirmed Dr. Gobbi. It is also the first study to demonstrate that cannabis consumption causes more serious damage during adolescence⁴ than adulthood⁵.