For Monday, Nov. 6, WGN’s Dina Bair has new medical information, including:

New warnings about medical marijuana

New research suggests people who regularly smoke marijuana may be increasing their risk for a heart attack, heart failure, or stroke. 

That’s according to two new non-published studies presented Monday at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Philadelphia. 

Older adults who don’t smoke tobacco but do use marijuana were at higher risk of both heart attack and stroke when hospitalized. In contrast, people who use marijuana daily were 34% more likely to develop heart failure. 

Youth tobacco rates fall by 1%

Tobacco use by juveniles is down, but there are some mixed results. 

Overall, tobacco use by kids is less, by 1%, since last year, according to the latest National Youth Tobacco survey. 

But while there’s been a 4% drop for high schoolers, middle school student numbers increased by 2%.

For the 10th year in a row, e-cigarettes remain the most commonly used tobacco product among high school and middle school students. 

New study on when adolescents start thinking like an adult

New research on the brain suggests adolescents start thinking like an adult around the age of 18. 

The study provides evidence that a set of mental skills mature by that time. 

Those skills include planning, switching between tasks, and resisting distractions. 

For the study, researchers examined the mental skills of 10,000 participants. 

The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.