Child abuse leads to drug abuse: cannabis

Eric Ralls (earth.com, 6/29/23; Crystal Q., Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

I'm cool. I smoke weed. - What happened to you as a kid? None of your f'n business, jackass!

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Cannabis abuse trends much higher in people who experienced childhood trauma

Artificial strains: too much THC, too little CBD

Young people are at a heightened risk of problematic adolescent cannabis [marijuana] abuse when they experience childhood trauma.

This is particularly true for kids who experience trauma between the ages 1 through 12. Strikingly, these damaging experiences can range from witnessing parental drug misuse to enduring various forms of abuse.

Dr. Lindsey Hines, a psychologist at the University of Bath specializing in adolescent mental health, led this insightful research.

[And before him, Dr. Gabor Mate has been saying this for five decades, having worked with addicts and harm-reduction in Canada and now in the United States.]

• Addiction expert, speaker, and best-selling author Dr. Gabor Maté (drgabormate.com)

How the cannabis abuse/childhood trauma study was conducted

"What happened to me?"? What didn't happen?

The team tracked over 5,000 participants using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. People also call this the "Children of the 90s" study.

The researchers considered a wide array of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that could influence future cannabis use. The researchers examined factors such as physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.

I've had a tough, tough life (Elon Musk).

The study also focused on emotional neglect and parental substance use. Lastly, they studied instances of parental violence, mental health struggles, and even criminal convictions.

The researchers closely studied these childhood misfortunes and compared them with the frequency of cannabis use.

The participants fell between the ages of 13 to 24. The data was self-reported. The participants ranged from individuals who never used cannabis to those who regularly used it during their teen years.

(Johann Hari) TED: Everything you know about addiction is wrong

Definitive link between cannabis abuse and childhood trauma

The findings are concerning. Individuals who went through four or more ACEs were over twice as likely to frequently use cannabis in their teenage years.

Their counterparts experienced much fewer ACEs. Teenagers with a history of parents abusing intoxicants such as alcohol were most likely to end up as regular cannabis users, as were those whose parents struggled with mental health problems. More