The side effects of synthetic marijuana on the teenage brain

To parents, it might not come as a surprise that reports of adverse effects haven’t stopped more and more teenagers from trying synthetic pot. The stuff is not as innocent as it might seem: Some researchers report that many more patients of all ages seek emergency medical help after ingesting the lab-made stuff than those who’ve taken garden-variety marijuana. To zoom in on the toll that the two substances are taking on the adolescent brain, scientists looked at the data of 348 13- to 19-year-olds from 2010 to 2018. In a new study, they found that the kids who’d only taken synthetic cannabinoids were more likely to slip into comas, show generalized slow-downs in their nervous systems, or have seizures than those who’d only taken natural cannabis, but were less likely to be agitated