Saving Our Youth from the Harms of THC
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
By Laura Stack
Around 2010, marijuana hash oil products appeared, and dispensaries began to carry early versions of budders, saps, and waxes. They weren’t common when voters voted to legalize recreational marijuana in Colorado in 2012. But by 2015, these new-fangled high-potency waxes and extracts started appearing in high schools.… Read the rest
Guest post by Kevin Sabet
This week, House Democrats on Capitol Hill will re-introduce the Marijuana Opportunity and Reinvestment and Expungement Act, otherwise known as the MORE Act. For those who are following along, this bill was passed out of the House last year during the December “lame duck” session following the November election.… Read the rest
Guest Post by Dr. Karen Randall
By Laura Stack
At Johnny’s Ambassadors, we educate parents and teens about the dangers of today’s high-THC marijuana on adolescent brain development, mental illness, and suicide. Recently, Johnny’s Ambassadors has been asked about our usage of the term “marijuana” versus “cannabis.”… Read the rest
Guest post by Heidi Anderson-Swan
Two states, Colorado and Washington, have pending bills to cap the THC concentrates at 15% and 30%, respectively. I applaud these efforts because their success will lower the rates of psychosis. However, it’s important to understand marijuana use is still an environmental risk factor for schizophrenia, even when the THC potencies are between merely 2-8%. … Read the rest