Dare to Delay? The Impacts of Adolescent Alcohol and Marijuana Use Onset on Cognition, Brain Structure, and Function

Abstract Throughout the world, drug and alcohol use has a clear adolescent onset (Degenhardt et al., ref. 2008). Alcohol continues to be the most popular drug among teens and emerging adults, with almost a third of 12th graders and 40% of college students reporting recent binge drinking (Johnston et al., ref. 2009, ref. 2010), and marijuana (MJ) is the second most popular drug in teens (Johnston et al., ref. 2010). The initiation of drug use is consistent with an overall