In the past little bit, there have been a bunch of headlines talking about pot and brain damage among teens.  They’ve all fallen short as journalists usually do but one publication managed to get it even more wrong than the rest.

From the San Diego Tribune, we can find the following.

A study of Canadian teenagers, among the largest consumers of cannabis worldwide, found that smoking the illicit drug is harder on young brains than originally thought. Writing in the journal Neurobiology of Disease, researchers at McGill University in Montreal said daily consumption of cannabis in teens can cause significant depression and anxiety and have an irreversible long-term effect on the brain.

Among a myriad of problems with the usual shoddy reporting, the very first line of the Tribune’s article spews forth some major disinformation.  Not a single Canadian teenager participated in this study.  No teenager at all participated in this study but hey, why let facts stand in the way of good ol’ sensationalist reporting?

As I briefly mentioned in a recent post to this blog, the study mentioned tested a powerful chemical’s effects on the brain of some rats.  Aside from the chemical compound used having an entirely different pharmacological profile than other cannabanoids, the study also actually failed to record any concrete evidence of permanent brain damage.

You know, I understand the need to sell ad space but I don’t think that can be balanced by unethical behaviour.

Dead tree media indeed.