Does Legalizing Cannabis Increase Adolescent Use?

Seven must-read stories about weed, smartphones, the Pill, teen anxiety, and more. PLUS: A look at all the proposed sex ed restrictions rolling out across the U.S.

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In this edition:

• Adolescent Anxiety Is Hard to Treat. New Drug-Free Approaches May Help

• My Ultimate Guide to Kids, Smartphones, & Social Media

• The Pill Makes Some Women Miserable. But Are They Really Quitting It en Masse?

• State Lawmakers Have Targeted Restricting Sex Education Since The Dobbs Ruling, Especially In States Banning Abortion

• Does Legalizing Cannabis Increase Adolescent Use? This Expert Found Mixed Results.

• Opinion: Legal Weed Is Coming. It’s Time to Come Up With Some Rules.

• From Doomscrolling To Sex: Being A Boy In 2024

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Photo by Joice Kelly on Unsplash

Adolescent Anxiety Is Hard to Treat. New Drug-Free Approaches May Help (Scientific American)

New discoveries about the adolescent brain are showing promising paths forward for the treatment of anxiety. Current research benefits from rapidly advancing imaging technologies that can reveal patterns of neural activity and exciting potential avenues for intervention. These modalities have already provided access to the inner workings of the developing brain in laboratory animals and teens, and scientists hope they will lead to new approaches in clinical practice that take into account the unique changes in the human brain during adolescence. By focusing on the developing brain and the behaviors it generates early on in life, we may be better able to alter anxiety-related memories, identify cues and situations that help to reduce symptoms, and mitigate the adverse effects of anxiety for young people before they become a more chronic affliction in adulthood. READ MORE

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Photo by Daria Nepriakhina 🇺🇦 on Unsplash

My Ultimate Guide to Kids, Smartphones, & Social Media (How To Feel Alive)

From author

Catherine Price

: My book How to Break Up With Your Phone was technically meant for adults (or, at least, teenagers on up). But I’ve recently turned my attention to kids and technology—in large part because my own daughter is finishing up 3rd grade and is about to go into a combined class of 4th and 5th graders.