Saving Our Youth from the Harms of THC
By Laura Stack
Decades ago, Big Tobacco realized their consumer base was steadily killing itself off due to illnesses caused by heavy tobacco use, particularly emphysema, heart disease, and cancers. The industry kept this to themselves, because the only way to maintain said consumer base was by recruiting more smokers as the others died, especially young people.… Read the rest
By Laura Stack
I’ve said it before: smoking, dabbing, or otherwise abusing marijuana makes you dumb. And science can prove it. In addition to the multiple studies showing how long-term marijuana use impairs your judgment, making you stop caring about negative consequences, AND drops your IQ permanently by as many as eight IQ points, other studies show a correlation between daily marijuana use and early high school drop-out rates.… Read the rest
By Laura Stack
Marijuana users say it helps with nausea. Ironically, though, science shows long-term marijuana use may cause some of the nausea they’re experiencing—and if so, treating it with pot just makes them sicker. It’s a vicious cycle.
It sounds almost like a South Park joke—marijuana use can make some people vomit until they die.… Read the rest
By Laura Stack
Of all the Dirty Dozen, #4 on the list may just have the highest number of people attempting to oppose marijuana’s role as a “gateway drug.” If you’re new to this community, a gateway drug is a habit-forming substance that, in some users, lowers the threshold that keeps them from using other addictive substances.… Read the rest
By Laura Stack
When 10-30%+ of all frequent marijuana users depend on it to get through the day, you have prima facie evidence that a substance is addictive. There’s plenty of scientific proof to prove this first impression for marijuana. Mental health professionals refer to marijuana dependency as Cannabis Use Disorder, or CUD, and it’s one of nine recognized Substance Use Disorders, right up there with those for tobacco and alcohol.… Read the rest
By Laura Stack
Welcome to the Marijuana Dirty Dozen article #2, where we review the second of twelve common impacts of marijuana use on adolescents: it decreases IQ. To put it simply, it makes you dumber. Johnny was an ace in math (he scored a perfect 800/800 on the math portion of the SAT as a junior in high school).… Read the rest
By Laura Stack
My name is Laura Stack, and we live in Highlands Ranch (a suburb south of Denver). My 19-year-old son, Johnny, died by suicide on November 20, 2019, after becoming psychotic from dabbing wax (marijuana concentrate). You can’t become psychotic from “just using weed,” you say?… Read the rest
Excerpt from The Dangerous Truth About Today’s Marijuana: Johnny Stack’s Life and Death Story (Freiling Press, July 10, 2021)
My cell phone rang at 3:00 a.m. It was Johnny. I got up to leave the bedroom so I wouldn’t wake John.… Read the rest
On June 8, 2021, the Colorado legislature passed Colorado House Bill 1317 in an overwhelming bi-partisan passage to protect youth from the harms of marijuana and regulate marijuana concentrates. Gov. Jared Polis officially signed the bill on June 24, 2021 with Johnny’s Ambassadors founder Laura Stack present.… Read the rest
If you’ve heard any of my talks about medical marijuana, you’ll know that one of my biggest frustrations with the medical marijuana system is the inclusion of PTSD as a qualifying condition. As a psychologist, particularly one who trained for 3 years in the VA Hospital system, its inclusion is baffling and disappointing: if you talk to anyone who actually treats PTSD in a professional context, they will tell you that marijuana and other addictive substances are contraindicated for PTSD.… Read the rest