MARIJUANA NOT CAUSE OF BREAST ENLARGEMENT

Q. You recently told a concerned grandmother that her 16-year-old
grandson's breast enlargement might be due to marijuana. I can only wonder
what you were smoking!

Contrary to government propaganda, marijuana has NOT been linked to breast
development in anybody. Too many people's lives have been devastated by
misinformation of this sort in the press.

A. The fact that marijuana is illegal has hampered objective research on
its risks as well as on its potential benefits. The idea that smoking
marijuana could be linked to breast enlargement in boys might have
originated with several cases reported in the medical literature. Very few
scientific studies have examined the link between marijuana and hormone
levels, and those have produced conflicting results.

A number of prescription drugs can trigger breast enlargement in men. So
can hormonal imbalances. Although breast development in teen-age boys is
not usually serious, it should always be evaluated by a physician.