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The Cannabis Industry is Targeting Youth

Facts:

Big Tobacco companies like Altria, Phillip Morris and British American Tobacco are gearing up to lead the cannabis industry. The unethical choices the tobacco industry made decades ago marketing its addictive and harmful products to kids and the lax government oversight that allowed it to happen are playing out again in the legal cannabis industry in states like California and Colorado. Tobacco companies have leant their support to pro-cannabis groups lobbying for legalization.¹

The first legal cannabis dispensaries for adult use in California opened in January 2018. Three cannabis industry behaviors—extensive increases in potency (percentage of THC in products), manufacturing of products to attract youths, and aggressive marketing—that were directly adopted from tobacco industry practices became immediately evident across the state.²

In states where cannabis was legalized, many lessons from tobacco control to prevent youth use were not adopted, potentially creating greater risk of harm.²

Despite restrictions that prohibit cannabis advertising on social media, adolescents are exposed to cannabis marketing via social media, and this exposure is associated with recent cannabis use.³

One study found that young people who are exposed to cannabis marketing on social media are five times more likely to use cannabis, and youth who thought it was likely that they would own or wear cannabis-branded merchandise or who had a favorite cannabis brand had nearly eight times greater odds of past-year cannabis use.⁴

(References are listed at the very bottom of this page.)

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Cannabis Use & Mental Health

Facts:

Cannabis use leads to acute cognitive impairments that may continue beyond the period of intoxication.^5a The study found that cannabis intoxication leads to small to moderate cognitive impairments in areas including:

• making decisions,
• suppressing inappropriate responses,
• learning through reading and listening,
• the ability to remember what one reads or hears, and
• the time needed to complete a mental task.

Cannabis users who began regular use in their teens had poorer later life outcomes than non-using peers. The larger group who began regular cannabis use after leaving high school accounted for most cannabis-related harms in adulthood.⁵

Frequent using starting as a teen can lead to an irreversible loss of 6-8 IQ points.⁶

The brain continues to develop into your mid-20s, so using weed in your teens creates structural changes in your brain that impact your ability to learn. Individuals who start using substances during adolescence often experience more chronic and intensive use, and they are at greater risk of developing a substance use disorder compared with those who begin use at an older age. In other words, the earlier the exposure, the greater the risk.⁷

Teens in Montgomery County who use weed and other drugs are much more likely to struggle with depression.⁸

Chronic use beginning in your teen years is linked to serious psychiatric illnesses.⁹

Negative health outcomes is amplified when the frequent use begins in your teen years.⁹

“Self-medicating” with weed actually makes anxiety and depression worse in the long run.⁹

Daily cannabis use was associated with increased odds of psychotic disorder compared with never users, increasing to nearly five-times increased odds for daily use of high-potency types of cannabis.¹⁰

Adolescents who reported using high-potency cannabis were more likely use cannabis more frequently, experience problems with cannabis, and are at a higher risk of developing an anxiety disorder.¹¹

A meta-analysis of 11 studies, including longitudinal and prospective studies, shows that cannabis consumption in adolescence is associated with increased risk of developing major depression in young adulthood and suicidality, especially suicidal ideation.¹²

Weed smoke contains levels of dangerous chemicals and tar that are similar to tobacco smoke.¹³

Because of how it is smoked, weed leads to 4 times of the deposition of tar in the lungs compared to cigarette smoking.¹³

Studies have shown a clear link between weed use during adolescence and an increased risk for an aggressive form of testicular cancer that predominantly strikes young adult males.¹³

(References are listed at the very bottom of this page.)

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Concentrates & the New Cannabis

Facts:

Today’s marijuana bears little resemblance to the natural cannabis plant. The use of marijuana concentrates has escalated in recent years with butane extracts appearing particularly popular. The administration of butane hash oil, referred to as “dabbing,” is distinct from traditional flower cannabis usage due to the THC content of samples and the presence of impurities such as unpurged butane.¹⁴

Today’s extracts are often created using a process that involves butane, hence the term “butane hash oil” (BHO), but regardless of the solvent, the result is a product potentially far more potent than flower cannabis.¹⁴

BHO is only one of several cannabis and cannabis-type products that have recently increased in availability in medical, retail, and illicit markets. The flowers of the female cannabis plant and other parts of the plant contain phytocannabinoids, including THC. These compounds act on the cannabinoid receptors in the brain and alter neurotransmitter release. Synthetic cannabinoids, which have also gained in popularity despite legal regulations, differ from these natural products derived from the cannabis plant but also act on cannabinoid receptors.¹⁴

Cannabis is also the most widely used illicit drug in the world and its use has been associated with various mental health problems, particularly in the young.¹⁵

Cannabis is a complex plant with over 400 chemical entities of which more than 60 of them are cannabinoid compounds, some of them with opposing effects.¹⁶

This is not your parents’ – or even your older sibling’s weed. Concentration of THC in the bud has increased from ~4% in 1994 to 12% in 2014 and dabs and waxes range between 23.7 and 76.8% (U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory: Marijuana Use and the Developing Brain, 2019).¹⁷

THC potency is strikingly high for flower (mean 20.6%) and extracts for inhalation (mean 68.7%)¹⁸

The flower or leaves that are generally smoked or vaped are only one formulation. We now have concentrated THC products such as oil, shatter, dab, and edibles that have been able to get the THC concentration upwards of 95%. There is absolutely no research that indicates this level of THC is beneficial for any medical condition. The purpose of these products is to produce a high, and the increased potency makes them potentially more dangerous and more likely to result in addiction.¹⁹

(References are listed at the very bottom of this page.)

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Life Hacks for Feeling Stressed, Anxious or Depressed

Facts:

Many young people have difficulty dealing with and processing stress and are not always taught how to address stress in structures outside the family. When teens look to their future, they experience lots of anxiety and lack the tools for dealing with this angst. They have learned to deal with conflicting feelings through electronic distractions (social media, texting, video games). Cannabis is another means of escaping from this pressure without looking within.

Even a single mindfulness meditation session can reduce anxiety:  People with anxiety show reduced stress on the arteries after a one-hour introductory session.²⁰

When you have depression or anxiety, exercise often seems like the last thing you want to do. But once you get motivated, exercise can make a big difference.²¹

A study found that euphoria was significantly increased after running and supports the “opioid theory” of the runner’s high, specifically in areas of the brain that are involved in the processing of affective states and mood.²²

Physical inactivity is an established risk factor for the development of many of health disorders, including psychiatric illnesses. Regular physical activity has been repeatedly shown to be associated with improved emotional wellbeing and inactivity with poorer emotional wellbeing.²³

Research suggests that mood disorders can be lifted by spending more time outdoors.²⁴

How to use meditation for teen stress and anxiety.²⁵

(References are listed at the very bottom of this page.)

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Only 14.7% of U.S. High School Students got high in the past 30 days.

Facts:

Adolescents who reported that their friends used marijuana had a 27% greater odds of using marijuana themselves. However, their perception of their friends’ use of marijuana was double that of their self-reported use.²⁶

Among U.S. high school students in 2020²⁷:
30.6% used marijuana in their lifetime
24.9% used marijuana in the past year
14.7% used marijuana in the past 30 days
4.1% used marijuana daily

Among Montgomery County, PA high school students in 2019²⁸:
16.6% used marijuana in their lifetime (17.3% statewide)
9.7% used marijuana in the past 30 days (9.6% statewide)

Who you surround yourself with impacts your perception of how many people smoke and further impact what decisions you will make in your life. Teens who reported that their friends smoke had a 27% increased likelihood of also smoking.²⁶

The messaging on social media that you are exposed to impacts your perception of how many people smoke and further impact what decisions you make in your life. Teens exposed to pro-weed messaging had a 6% increased chance of smoking themselves.²⁶

Teens whose parents approve of moderate drinking (even under supervision) significantly increases the likelihood of underage drinking and other drug use in adolescence.²⁸

In Montgomery County, nearly 40% of seniors and 70% of teens in total disapprove of using weed.²⁸

Perceived rate of use of peers is higher than self-reported use rates and national average rates of teen use.²⁶

Parental cannabis use was consistently associated with an increase in cannabis, nicotine, alcohol, and opioid use among adolescent and young adult offspring, even when models adjusted for potential confounding variables.²⁹

The normalization of cannabis use and increased access and exposure may be explained by parents (caretakers) using cannabis.²⁹

(References are listed at the very bottom of this page.)

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Cannabis Can Be Addictive

Facts:

People who begin using marijuana before age 18 are four to seven times more likely than adults to develop a marijuana use disorder.³⁰

Marijuana use can lead to the development of a substance use disorder, a medical illness in which the person is unable to stop using even though it’s causing health and social problems in their life. Severe substance use disorders are also known as addiction. Research suggests that nearly 3 of every 10 marijuana users has had a diagnosis of a marijuana use disorder (approximately 6,846,000 Americans).³¹

In a 20-year study, participants who started using cannabis in young adulthood or adolescence were more likely than non-users to experience increased likelihood to use other illicit substances, become a high-risk alcohol drinker, smoke daily, and were less likely to be in a relationship.³²

A study finds that Cannabis is almost as addictive as opioids among teens. A year after first trying cannabis, almost 10.7% of adolescents age 12 to 17 met the criteria of addiction. Those in the same age group who tried prescription opioids had a similar addiction rate of 11.2%, according to the study.³³

(References are listed at the very bottom of this page.)