Q&A with a Neuroscientist About Adolescent Marijuana Use, Mental Illness, and Suicide: What Every Parent Needs to Know
Featured expert: Christine L. Miller, Ph.D.
Cost: $0 (But we would welcome your donation!)
Please join our Johnny’s Ambassadors in ACTION Facebook Group!
Watch this video on Rumble and please SUBSCRIBE to our show!
Description
Johnny’s Ambassadors is so fortunate to have an opportunity to conduct a Q&A session with Christine L. Miller, Ph.D., who has researched the causes of psychosis for 30+ years in the academic setting, publishing 33 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Her specialty is molecular neuroscience, i.e. the study of molecular influences on brain function. She has acted as a reviewer for several journals, including the Journal of Neuroscience, Biological Psychiatry, Schizophrenia Bulletin, and Bipolar Disorders. Dr. Miller holds a B.S. degree in Biology from M.I.T. and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Laura Stack, Founder & CEO of Johnny’s Ambassadors, will be interviewing Dr. Miller via phone. You will have the opportunity to ask Dr. Miller your specific questions!
Learning Objectives
These are a sample of some of the questions Laura and the audience will pose to Dr. Miller:
1. Is marijuana addictive for teens?
2. What is the difference between a habit and an addiction?
3. How can marijuana be addictive and a gateway drug at the same time?
4. What are some of the ways marijuana influences adolescent brain development?
5. At what age can the brain be considered fully mature?
6. What are some of the psychological symptoms that adolescents might try to treat with marijuana and does it help (anxiety, depression, ADHD)?
7. Is it true that marijuana triggers transient psychotic episodes?
8. Is there also a link to chronic psychosis (schizophrenia) in adolescent use?
9. How does marijuana compare to other drugs that are associated with psychosis (LSD, cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, PCP)?
10. Does marijuana use lead to suicidal tendencies in some adolescents?
11. Does having schizophrenia in your genetics mean that you would have manifested the disorder anyway?
12. Is there an age where it is MORE risky to develop mental illness, such as 13 or 15?
13. What would you say to parents who say that it’s “just marijuana,” or “kids will be kids,” or “at least they’re not doing hard drugs.”
Speaker Bio
A graduate from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Dr. Miller earned her Ph. D. in Pharmacology through the Neuroscience Training Program. Her professional history includes a faculty position as an instructor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Mental Health Research Institute, University of Michigan. Dr. Miller has been published in peer-reviewed journals over 30 times in her 30-year career.
Currently, Dr. Miller is the president and founder of MillerBio, a firm dedicated to behavioral pharmacology research and consulting. Her areas of research include genetic loci associated with risk for psychosis, the biochemical basis for major mental disorders, biomarkers of psychiatric state and suicidality, and animal models of pharmacotherapy.
Questions?
Email Founder & CEO, Laura Stack, at [email protected].