Smoking Weed Could Stunt Your Teenager’s Growth — Dave’s Diary

All parents want tall, strong, healthy kids. Me, too. So as the parent of a 6-year-old, when it comes to meal time, I’m always doing to her what my mom used to do to me: I nag. I nag my daughter to eat her greens so she'll grow big and strong.But there is another kind of green being willingly consumed by kids that could have them coming up short, literally! The greens to which I refer are now legal to use in Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska.

Pakistani researchers say adolescent marijuana users could retard their physical growth.

Marijuana researchers studied 217 boys addicted to marijuana and 220 who did not smoke at all. The scientist observed the levels of hormones linked to the boys growth and puberty.

They found the pot-smoking teens had higher levels of testosterone and luteinizing hormones -- both of which are linked to puberty -- but had much lower levels of growth hormones compared to the boys who did not smoke.

The takeaway is that marijuana use might provoke a stress response that stimulates onset of puberty but suppresses growth rate. Perhaps there goes the potential for “big and strong?” The findings provide insight into the effects of drug use on a child's growth and development. (Fox)