Psychological and neuropsychological effects of adolescent cannabis use: a structured narrative review

Adolescence represents a vulnerable developmental period during which cannabis exposure may be associated with psychological, neuropsychological, and neurobiological alterations.

This structured review examines the psychological and neuropsychological effects associated with cannabis use during adolescence, focusing exclusively on human studies.

A structured narrative review was conducted using MEDLINE/PubMed. Fifty-five studies meeting the eligibility criteria were included.

Adolescent cannabis use was frequently associated with increased depressive and anxiety symptoms, psychosis-spectrum experiences, and impairments in memory, attention, inhibitory control, and executive functioning. Neurobiological findings further indicate alterations in cortical maturation, reward-control connectivity, white matter integrity, and neurochemical markers in brain regions involved in cognition and emotion regulation. Although several longitudinal and neuroimaging studies support a possible contributing role of cannabis exposure, causal interpretation remains limited by confounding factors, polysubstance use, heterogeneous exposure measures, and differences in study design.

These findings highlight adolescence as a vulnerable developmental period and underscore the need for prevention strategies and further longitudinal research.