Local scholar says there are pros and cons to legal cannabis
KAMLOOPS — A TRU student is cautious about the legalization of marijuana, and the impacts it could have on young people.
Kimberly Webster is in her fourth year studying psychology at the university, and she spends much of her studies looking into how drugs interact with behaviours. Webster says there are pros and cons to the legalization of cannabis that went into place earlier this week, Oct. 17.
She’s especially worried about people under the age of 25 years old — specifically students — who will now have much more access to cannabis.
“Essentially what marijuana does in adolescents is reduces their grey matter, and they find reduced grey matter in the frontal lobes which are critical thinking and the ability to learn new material essentially as well as (parts of the brain) associated with learning and memory, and damaging that while you’re a student is not a good idea because tests are hard enough,” she says. “It’s just damaging a lot of the areas that students need to be able to function properly.”