Wednesday's legalization of pot is a hot topic among high school students, even if some of them are too young to buy it themselves.

The English Montreal School Board is doing its level best to teach students about the misconceptions and risks associated with consuming the drug.

“What we find is the students have a lot of erroneous information especially now that cannabis is legal,” said Sandrine Aschour, a substance abuse prevention consultant for the EMSB.

Aschour said some studies out of the United States point to areas of concern.

“Especially in Colorado, once they legalized it, the people who were using it consumed even more of it. So that's my biggest fear,” she said. 

So, what are the risks? 

The government-inspected pot supply will be contaminant free, making it safer than many black market products in that regard.

Sainte Justine Hospital researcher Patricia Conrod's study, just published in the American Journal of Psychiatry concluded cannabis is more harmful than alcohol for teen brains.

“What we found was that cannabis had a number of significant effects on cognitive functioning including perceptual reasoning, your working memory, your ability to recall, memory recall and your inhibitory control,” she explained.

The negative effects were lasting, unlike the effects of alcohol.

The study followed nearly 4,000 Montreal students over four years, who reported back, confidentially, about their marijuana and alcohol use.

“What was really shocking or surprising to us was the impact of cannabis on inhibitory control, and might explain why early-onset cannabis use is related to risk for future addiction,” she said.

Conrod's advice to teens: delay your use of cannabis as long as you can.

Aschour agrees.

“We're balancing - giving them education, the knowledge - this is what cannabis can do and we're also going to teach them some life skills, conflict resolution skills, how to say no, resistance skills,” she said.