Are there long-term effects of smoking marijuana a few times when you were young?

No, there are no proven long-term effects. If smoked a lot, however, it is possible to get schizophrenia so be aware. (NOTE: the relationship between marijuana and schizophrenia is not true. The study that proposed that there could be a relation between the two was based on a small study and has not been verified with a larger population study.)

The largest study of the health effects of marijuana to date was done by Kaiser Permanente. They studied the health records of 65,000 patients over a number of years. They found no significant differences between the health histories of those who smoked pot versus those who did not smoke marijuana. See the related link on

Marijuana and Mortality below.

Every major government commission report on marijuana from around the world over the last 100 years has concluded that marijuana prohibition was based on racism, ignorance, and nonsense. They all said the marijuana laws should have been repealed long ago because they do more harm than good. They all said that marijuana is not a significant danger to health, even when used regularly for decades. See the related link on Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy below.