Cannabis using teens 'are 4.6in shorter and 9lb lighter at age 20'

Publish date: 2024-06-30

Smoking cannabis regularly as a teenager could severely stunt growth.

The first study of its kind found that boys who regularly used the drug during adolescence were almost five inches shorter than those who did not smoke by the age of 20.

However, they went through puberty earlier than the other boys – meaning they grew more slowly after an initial spurt.

While the drug is regularly linked with psychiatric problems, this research, presented at a leading medical conference, suggests it also affects physical development. 

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Smoking cannabis regularly as a teenager could severely stunt growth, a study has found. File photo

Smoking cannabis regularly as a teenager could severely stunt growth, a study has found. File photo

It is thought that cannabis, Europe’s most widely-available illicit drug, plays havoc with hormones key to growth and puberty.

Researchers from Pakistan took regular blood samples from more than 400 boys aged between 13 and 15 for up to five years.

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Half were described as cannabis addicts, who smoked the drug with tobacco two or three times a day. The others did not use it.

The cannabis users were on average 4.6 inches shorter than the other boys at the end of the study.

They were also almost 9lb lighter but had gone through puberty earlier, the European Congress of Endocrinology in Dublin heard.

The results couldn’t be explained by the cannabis smokers being more poorly nourished or coming from poorer families.

The research boys who regularly used the drug during adolescence were almost five inches shorter than those who did not smoke by the age of 20. File photo

The research boys who regularly used the drug during adolescence were almost five inches shorter than those who did not smoke by the age of 20. File photo

But the blood tests suggested their hormones to be key.

They had higher levels of two hormones key to puberty and they lacked growth hormone, which is involved in weight gain, as well as height.

The researchers from Pir Mehr Ali Shah Agriculture University in Pakistan said that while the boys studied were heavy cannabis users, they believe lighter use could also impact on growth.

They added that that the early puberty has social, as well as physical implications.

They said: ‘Early puberty is associated with younger age of onset of drinking and smoking and early maturers have higher levels of substance abuse because they enter the risk period at an early level of emotional maturity.’

British experts said that while there is growing evidence that heavy cannabis use affects development, the latest claims should be treated with caution.

They said that genes play a large role in height and in the timing of puberty, and that family circumstances can have a big impact on a child’s behaviour. 

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