Cannabis use is not related to the socioeconomic profile of families. It is not a class issue. “It cuts across all of adolescence,” says Pablo Llamas, a psychologist at Proyecto Hombre Madrid specialized in caring for minors. Some of the most extreme cases come to his consultation, those in which family coexistence is almost impossible, kids who come dragged by mothers – in 56% of cases – who no longer recognize their children. “There is a catch with joints, they don’t leave as much of a hangover as other drugs, nor as much imbalance, and it is very easy to go from sporadic or experimental consumption to daily consumption,” he explains. Llamas has been seeing the same pattern for years; children who, without realizing it, gradually become demotivated, until they present depressive symptoms. “In most cases, the kid does not admit that his relationship with joints has entered a pathological phase,” says the expert.
Cannabis is considered the third most consumed psychoactive substance by students aged 14 to 18 (after alcohol and tobacco) and the first in the category of illegal drugs, according to the STUDIES survey (2021), prepared by the Ministry of Health. The data show that 28.6% of young people declare having used cannabis at some time. Of the cases of minors who arrive at Proyecto Hombre (PH), 60% report problems due to cannabis use – followed by 40% who place alcohol as the main cause -, 76% are boys and 24% are girls, with an average age of 16 years. The age of onset has decreased in recent years and is now between 12 and 14 years old.
At the age of 11, Laura – who is now 16 – tried tobacco. At 12 she started with joints (she smoked hashish), and her consumption was in crescendo. He was not able to go to class, he missed many days and stayed at home smoking, up to eight joints a day. “If he had a problem, he went to that. She used it as a getaway, I fell asleep and that’s it,” she says. Over the years, when the weekend came, he would disappear for several days. He stayed overnight at friends’ houses and started trying other drugs: MDMA, speed, cocaine, or “tussi” (2C-B). A strong fight at home forced her mother to seek mediation from the Police. Two months ago, she started group therapy at Proyecto Hombre Málaga. “When I listen to others my age talk, I feel identified with things that you think only happen at home: promising changes that you then don’t keep, feeling that your mother no longer trusts you,” she says.
Behind this behavior, there is usually a complex emotional situation, says Llamas. “When they come to therapy, we reflect with them on the origin of their consumption. What is their current relationship with that drug? Calm down, escape… we analyze the process that led them to that addiction and we see that when it becomes chronic it is because there was a serious underlying problem.” Then they help them forgive themselves, because most arrive with a lot of guilt. “Some carry weights that do not concern them, they are the catch-all of everything that is happening at home. For their parents, who can’t stand it, it is easier to focus on their child’s performance problems, and that’s where the ball begins.”
The story of Laura’s mother, Soledad, gives an even darker vision. “My daughter changed radically, she was a zombie, you couldn’t talk to her and she was always sad, she had been consuming hashish for three years, there was not a day she didn’t have her joint for breakfast, even her skin and hair were different.” Soledad, a victim of gender violence, says that she lost control over her daughter and admits that her parenting model had failed. She had always given her a lot of freedom, she thought that she was doing her a favor, that she had to make mistakes for herself. “In the group therapy – Project Hombre always works with families – they are teaching me a lot, I have realized that she was demanding a mother that I had not been able to be… I have had to learn my new role.”
The lack of limits at home is one of the triggers for abusive consumption. “In most cases, the family is the crux of the issue, you break down the situation and there is no establishment of norms, you see that the role of authority of the parental figures has been distorted and with the sessions you have to make them feel again with the strength to set red lines,” he points out. Virginia Pérez, director of the PH Málaga prevention program. Her team has detected very polarized educational styles: either extremely protective or too permissive. In the sessions, they work on how to establish clear rules and consequences if they are violated. “With that, each parent has to be realistic, if the punishment is not going to be carried out later, all the work is thrown away.”
Risk of developing mental disorders
Added to this is the low perception of risk, the normalization of consumption among peers and the effect of hoaxes that spread on social networks. “Many firmly believe that tobacco is worse than cannabis, to which they attribute curative effects, They argue that it is a natural and therapeutic plant”says Belén Pardo, president of the PH prevention commission. This month the association launched a campaign against hoaxes in which they dismantle these mantras and explain that the medicinal uses of cannabis are palliative and not curative, and serve to reduce some symptoms, such as relieving pain in people with cancer, or multiple sclerosis, among other diseases. “There are also medications derived from opium and no one thinks it is healthy to consume heroin,” says Pardo.
According to the scientific literature, cannabis use in adolescents is associated with a significantly increased risk of developing mental disorders in adulthood. “There are longitudinal studies in people who had no history of mental health problems or cannabis use, in newborn children who are followed until adulthood, which demonstrate that there is a clear relationship between cannabis use and the appearance of certain mental disorders, including psychotic disorders,” indicates Celso Arango, director of the Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital. This is another point that young people are unaware of.
Your hospital has recently collaborated in a study on new psychotic episodes in 15 cities in Europe and one of the findings is that in those adolescent populations with greater consumption, psychotic disorders increase more; The greater the potency of the cannabis (the greater the amount of THC), the greater the risk of psychosis or schizophrenia. In previous studies, it has been seen that a teenager’s consumption has effects on her descendants decades later. “In both the mother and the father, cannabis use during youth increases the risk of mental and behavioral disorders in their future children; we are talking about effects that occur 20 years later,” says Arango.
Adriana, 18, had a serious problem with joints, smoking up to five joints a day. “I started at 15, I wasn’t having a good time, I did everything high and I left aside my obligations: going to school and helping at home.” She says that it was a lifestyle, which incorporated consumption into daily activities. “I spent a lot of time in bed and when my smoke got low, I would roll another one.” She, who had always been a notable girl, ended up “banned” from all the dealers in the neighborhood thanks to the collaboration of her friends. Her therapy at PH lasted several years and now it has returned, but this time it was her, not her parents. She is starting to abuse alcohol. “It is very easy to substitute some substances for others, each person has their own internal struggle and I have learned that my brain is addicted… I don’t want the same thing to happen to me again, and I have told myself: relax and seek help.” Adriana now sees that this early addiction can have shadows throughout her adult life.
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