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

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

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

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

Results: 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.

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