Contributing Author: Michele Pato, MD
Overview: As marijuana has been legalized (or decriminalized) in many states, media coverage of this topic has escalated. We present here a Facilitator’s Guide for teaching trainees about the impact of marijuana on the developing brain. Content based learning objectives—directly assessed via role-play—include that the participant will be able to describe purported effects that smoking marijuana may have on the developing brain. As with all sessions in the Neuroscience in the Media module, additional learning objectives include that the learner will: appreciate the relevance of neuroscience to the future of psychiatry; be able to serve as an ambassador of neuroscience and psychiatry (by demonstrating the ability to critique media coverage of our field); and have fun learning about neuroscience!
Author Affiliations: Dr. Pato is a Professor and Associate Chair for Education, Della Martin Chair in Psychiatry and Associate Dean for Academic Scholarship at the Keck School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Southern California (USC). David A. Ross, MD, PhD, Melissa R. Arbuckle, MD, PhD, and Ashley Walker, MD are the contributing editors for this publication. The National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative is a collaborative effort with AADPRT and the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Council on Medical Education and Lifelong Learning and receives support from the NIH (R25 MH10107602S1) ©National Neuroscience Curriculum Initiative.
