In first states to legalize pot, teen use triggers concerns

Washington Post ^ | June 16, 2019 | Jennifer Oldham

[MarvinStinson]

The first two states to legalize recreational marijuana are starting to grapple with teenagers' growing use of highly potent pot, even as both boost the industry and reap huge tax windfalls from its sales.

Though the legal purchase age is 21 in Colorado and Washington, parents, educators and physicians say youths are easily getting hold of edibles infused with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive component that causes a high, and concentrates such as "shatter," a brittle, honey-colored substance that is heated and then inhaled through a special device.

Each poses serious risks to adolescents' physical and mental health.

"Underage kids have unbelievable access to nuclear-strength weed," said Andrew Brandt, a Boulder, Colo., software executive whose son got hooked.

Calls to poison control centers and visits to emergency rooms have risen. In the Denver area, visits to Children's Hospital Colorado facilities for treatment of cyclic vomiting, paranoia, psychosis and other acute cannabis-related symptoms jumped to 777 in 2015, from 161 in 2005.

The increase was most notable in the years following legalization of medical sales in 2009 and retail use in 2014.

"Horrible things are happening to kids," said psychiatrist Libby Stuyt, who treats teens in southwestern Colorado and has studied the health impacts of high-potency marijuana. "I see increased problems with psychosis, with addiction, with suicide, with depression and anxiety."

The limited scientific research to date shows that earlier and more frequent use of high-THC cannabis puts adolescents at greater jeopardy of substance use disorders, mental health issues and poor school performance.

[Vermont Lt]

I have some growing in my garage.

And you know what....it’s not easy to grow. It’s kind of a finicky little weed.

[Vermont Lt]

It’s called a contact high.

And no one should be doing this crap around kids. I don’t think i’ve Had more than one beer around my kids from the time they were six until they were in college. I did not drink much to start with, but I wanted my kids to understand how grown ups had limits.

[BlueLancer]

Don't care ... hope it becomes a chainsaw on family trees.

Think of it as evolution in action ...

[Vermont Lt]

Here is some inside dope on smoking in hospital parking lots: At our hospital it had more to do with the gargoyles that stood outside every entrance making a mess. We banned it on the campus. Now they have to across the street and make a mess.

[Bob434]

our5 hospital put up smoking gazeebo type things about 100 yards away from front entrance- but that wasn’t good enough for the anti=-smoking crowds- oh heck no- then they banned smoking anywhere near the hospital- the parking lots were over a football length- yet they claimed second hand smoking was still a problem and banned it anywhere on the premise-

While smokers did leave a mess- hospital grounds workers were there to clean it up as part of their jobs=- and they did do a good job keeping the entrances clean before they moved it to the gazeebos- but again-

[Kickass Conservative]

You practiced Responsible Parenting.

I grew up with a Father who was a functional Alcoholic and a Mother who Smoked.

All it taught my Brother and I is that Drinking and Smoking are a waste of energy, time and money. We were left to figure it out for ourselves.

[DownForDCount]

As usual, the next generation (with no life experience and minimal wisdom) suffers the worst when their elders and society catches a bad case of French courage.