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Weed is harming teens’ brain development, largest US study warns

Nypost · · 444 words · By Rachel Sacks
Adolescent Brain Development Cannabis Public Health Risks Teenage Substance Abuse in New York
open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/05/03/health/weed-is-harming-teens-brain-development-lar…

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Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

8 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 4
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verified Verified 1
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“the drug is still used by one in five kids in New York, according to a New York Impact Report from November 2025”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of general information about New York state, Elon Musk, and general marijuana legalization. There is no mention of a 'New York Impact Report from November 2025' or the specific statistic that one in five kids use the drug.
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web search NEUTRAL — New York, also called New York State,[b] is a state located in the northeastern United States.Among New York state's population of 19.5 million, 11 million, or 56 percent, are in New York City or Long…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_(state)
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web search NEUTRAL — And the new report from the New York Times on Friday claims Musk has experienced bladder issues from using the drug. The 53-year-old has used ketamine “often, sometimes daily, and mixing it with other…
https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-says-the-new-york-times-is-lyi…
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web search NEUTRAL — Medical marijuana is a different story. As of June 2025, 48 states plus Washington, D.C., and three U.S. territories have approved the use of cannabis for medical purposes, with Nebraska being the mos…
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/where-is-ma…
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“Researchers from the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) have conducted the largest long-term study in the US on cannabis use in kids.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources (EurekAlert! and another news source) confirm that researchers from UC San Diego conducted a large study finding that teen cannabis use is linked to slower gains in thinking and memory skills.
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web search NEUTRAL — Credit: UC San Diego Health Sciences. Researchers from University of California San Diego have found that teenagers who begin using cannabis show slower gains in thinking and memory skills as they gro…
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1124373
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web search NEUTRAL — The UC San Diego team tracked over 11,000 participants from ages 9 to 17. This is not a small pilot study. It is definitive at the population level.
https://haltaalam.info/largest-us-study-confirms-weed-damage…
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web search NEUTRAL — Researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine have found that heavy cannabis use was associated with higher five-year mortality among patients with colon cancer. Photo Credit: iStock/thegoodphoto.
https://today.ucsd.edu/story/high-cannabis-use-linked-to-inc…
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“Analyzing more than 11,000 children from ages 9 to 17, the team tracked both substance use and cognitive performance through self-reporting and biological testing.”
CORROBORATED
The evidence from 'Largest US Study Confirms Weed Damages Teen Brains' explicitly states the UC San Diego team tracked over 11,000 participants from ages 9 to 17. While the other two results for this claim are irrelevant, the specific detail is corroborated by the study's reporting.
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web search NEUTRAL — Join the UC San Diego community as we come together for the eighth annual Triton Giving Day, our 24-hour online fundraiser. Every gift helps shape the university students dream of — a place where they…
https://www.ucsd.edu/
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web search NEUTRAL — The study authors tracked relapse (the return to substance use) and assessed participants’ substance use disorder symptoms (using the Leeds Dependence Questionnaire) and meaning in life (the Multidime…
https://www.psypost.org/subconscious-surrender-to-god-predic…
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web search NEUTRAL — Participants reported their typical consumption over the previous year, with standardized portion sizes used to estimate daily intake. Mineral intake, including iron, zinc, magnesium, calcium, and oth…
https://blog.cognifit.com/new-study-examines-mineral-intake-…
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“Across a range of skills including memory, attention, language and processing speed, teens who used cannabis showed restricted growth during key years of brain development.”
CORROBORATED
Three separate sources (EurekAlert!, Bored Panda, and another news source) confirm that teens using cannabis showed restricted growth/slower development in memory, attention, language, and processing speed.
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web search NEUTRAL — Key Takeaways. Teens who start using cannabis show slower gains in memory, attention and thinking skills over time compared to non-users. THC exposure was linked to worse memory over time, highlightin…
https://today.ucsd.edu/story/largest-us-study-finds-teen-can…
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web search NEUTRAL — Teens who used cannabis showed restricted growth over time in those skills compared to non-users, despite performing equally or slightly better than non-users when they were younger.
https://www.boredpanda.com/new-study-habit-practiced-million…
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web search NEUTRAL — Teens who used cannabis showed restricted brain development during key years of growth.Teens who used cannabis showed slower development in memory, attention, language, and processing speed compared t…
https://haltaalam.info/largest-us-study-confirms-weed-damage…
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“those exposed to THC had worsened memory over time, while CBD didn’t have the same effect”
CORROBORATED
The EurekAlert! source specifically states that 'THC exposure was linked to worse memory over time,' supporting the claim's distinction regarding THC's effect.
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web search NEUTRAL — Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is a cannabinoid found in cannabis. It is the principal psychoactive constituent of Cannabis and one of at least 113 total cannabinoids identified on the plant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabinol
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web search NEUTRAL — Does higher THC content make cannabis more addictive? Higher THC concentrations produce more intense CB1 receptor activation, which accelerates neuroadaptation (tolerance and dependence).
https://phuketislandrehab.com/blog/is-marijuana-addictive/
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web search NEUTRAL — Although some studies have associated in utero cannabis exposure with low birth weight, longitudinal studies following in utero-exposed infants to adulthood have generally failed to identify “any long…
https://talkingjointsmemo.com/prenatal-cannabis-exposure-not…
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“Natasha Wade [is an] assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine”
VERIFIED
EurekAlert! explicitly identifies Natasha Wade, PhD, as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine and the lead author of the study.
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web search NEUTRAL — Natasha Wade, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine and lead author of the study.
https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/1125908
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web search NEUTRAL — At schools like UC San Diego School of Medicine, students have not only built clinical skills but also led efforts in health equity, humanitarian relief, and service to medically underserved communiti…
https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-wade-9ab546167
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web search NEUTRAL — “Even modest shifts can be meaningful at a population level if they affect many individuals or involve cognitive domains,” Susan F. Tapert, a distinguished professor of psychiatry at the University of…
https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/cannabis-slows-brain-de…
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“marijuana poisoning cases have skyrocketed 56% among New Yorkers under 19, according to data from the National Poison Data System cited in the impact report.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of car rental information and dictionary definitions of 'national'. There is no data regarding marijuana poisoning percentages in New York.
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web search NEUTRAL — 1500+ Worldwide National Car Rental Locations National Car Rental has worldwide locations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, Africa and Australia.
https://www.nationalcar.com/en/home.html
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web search NEUTRAL — national designates one who may claim the protection of a state and applies especially to one living or traveling outside that state.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/national
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web search NEUTRAL — The official source for National Days. Find a complete list of today's holidays, unique celebrations, and fun ways to celebrate every day of the year.
https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/
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“more than 95% of poisoning cases in teens were caused by edibles”
SINGLE SOURCE
One source mentions that 'More than 90% got the edibles' in the context of child marijuana poisoning reports to the National Poison Data System, but it does not specifically confirm the '95% of poisoning cases in teens' figure as a general fact across multiple sources.
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web search NEUTRAL — Tweet and her colleagues analyzed reports to the National Poison Data System, which includes the nation's 55 regional poison control centers. More than half of the children were toddlers, ages 2 and 3…
https://www.voanews.com/a/as-legal-pot-grows-more-kids-sicke…
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web search NEUTRAL — Between 2000 and 2020, reports to poison centers for child and teen marijuana use increased by 245%, according to a new study from the Oregon Health and Science University. The researchers analyzed mo…
https://abcnews.com/Health/poison-center-reports-child-marij…
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web search NEUTRAL — More than 40% of all human poison exposure cases in 2020 were from children ingesting marijuana edibles, according to a study this year in the journal Pediatrics that relied on data from the National …
https://www.foxnews.com/health/feds-six-companies-stop-selli…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.