Cannabis Use Since Adolescence Linked to Increased Unemployment Risk in Adulthood

Among the 17.1 million young Europeans who declared having used cannabis in the previous year, 10 million were between the ages of 15 and 24. Unsplash France has one of the world's highest levels of cannabis use, with around 40% of 17-year-olds reported to have used it in the previous year. While previous studies highlighted the existence of a possible causal relationship between initiation of cannabis use during adolescence and the subsequent level of educational attainment, researchers from Inserm and Sorbonne Université at the Pierre-Louis Institute of Epidemiology and Public Health have looked at the impact of this early experimentation on employment in adulthood. Their findings indicate that those having used cannabis are more likely to experience a period of unemployment later, especially if they were under 16 when they started. Their findings, based on the follow-up of 1,500 people over a nine-year period, have been published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence . Among the 17.1 million young Europeans (aged 15 to 34) who declared having used cannabis in the previous year, 10 million were between the ages of 15 and 24 1 . Neuroscientific research data showing specific lesions in adolescent consumers support the idea that there is a direct negative effect of cannabis use on young people's concentration, motivation and, ultimately, academic success.