Alcohol

• Drinking during adolescence and youth can alter impulse control and lower inhibitions.^{1, 2}
• Underage drinking increases the risk of memory problems.³
• Using alcohol as a teen can permanently damage your brain^{4, 5, 6}
• Alcohol affects the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain responsible for your process of thinking and self-control. ^4,6
• Heavy drinking as a teen can lead to less gray matter in the brain, including the hippocampus and amygdala. ⁷

Weed

• Weed and alcohol can make it more difficult to remember.^{1, 3, 8}
• Using weed can impact learning and school performance^{1, 9}
• Using weed can impact memory.¹
• Using weed can permanently alter how teen brains work.^{10, 11}
• Smoking weed regularly can damage the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain, impacting memory making.^{12, 13}
• Just smoking weed occasionally can change the brains of teens.¹⁴
• Using weed can alter the body's stress response and increase anxiety when used in higher doses.^15,16
• Using weed on the regular can decrease someone's ability to feel motivation.¹⁷
• Frequent use of weed can make the CB1 receptors in your endocannabinoid system less sensitive to THC. This means that you could build a tolerance to weed that makes you need more and more of it over time.^{15, 18}
• Any benefit from weed regarding mental health could make symptoms return even worse when someone stops using weed.^{15, 18}