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Hello, I’m Laura Stack, the Founder and CEO of the nonprofit, Johnny’s Ambassadors Youth THC Prevention. I formed our nonprofit after our 19-year-old son, Johnny, died by suicide after becoming psychotic from using marijuana. He started using at 14 years old when marijuana was first legalized in Colorado and then got a “medical card” at 18, even though he had no medical issues. The budtender at the dispensary told him high potency THC vapes and wax would be best for him. He lost his mind, thought the mob was after him, and jumped off a building to his death.
Johnny’s Ambassadors now educates parents, teens, and communities about the impacts of today’s high potency THC products such as marijuana, concentrates, vapes, and edibles on adolescent brain development, mental illness, and suicide. This article is written on behalf of and in defense of our 2,400 Parents of Children with Cannabis-Induced Psychosis (POCCIP) support group and our 20,000+ members who have been impacted by youth marijuana use.
As you’ve heard by now, President Trump issued an Executive Order to change the classification of marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III. This has already caused a lot of confusion and will be particularly confusing to young people. We educate hundreds of thousands of teens every year in middle and high school assemblies and classrooms. So, even though rescheduling doesn’t make marijuana legal, I know many teens are going to THINK it’s legal or at least less harmful, and it does neither of those things.
Schedule III classifies marijuana in the same category as testosterone and Tylenol with Codeine, which is absolutely ridiculous, as it’s much more harmful. Schedule III means it still has potential for abuse and physical and psychological dependence. Notice it wasn’t completely de-scheduled under the Controlled Substances Act like alcohol, which is what the marijuana lobby would have loved. We don’t pretend alcohol is medicine.
This order only relates to “medical” uses of marijuana and has nothing to do with recreational marijuana. It doesn’t make state-grown marijuana legal. The 40 states where cannabis is currently legal for medical or recreational use will still be ignoring federal law. Schedule III says it is illegal to possess without a doctor’s prescription and distributed by a legitimate pharmacy, not a “recommendation” from a fake pot shop doc like my son’s and sold by a dispensary with unknown contaminants.
Rescheduling a substance is a separate process from the FDA’s drug approval process through its New Drug Application and clinical trials. Any medicine derived from marijuana must still be approved by the FDA. There is currently no FDA approved raw marijuana flower. There are 100 known cannabinoids and over 140 identified in marijuana, but only two of those cannabinoids, THC and CBD, have been isolated and approved by the FDA for any legitimate medical use. Note the word is FDA “approved,” not “accepted” by many people who use it for off-label purposes.
The original intent of legalizing medical marijuana was to help those suffering with serious illnesses, even though there was no scientific evidence that it would be beneficial. If a young person is experiencing severe nausea from chemotherapy treatment for cancer or has no appetite due to HIV, they should speak to their doctor about the potential use of the FDA approved synthetic THC prescription called Dronabinol as a last resort. According to the FDA insert in the product, Dronabinol can cause hallucinations and feelings of depression. Another FDA approved medication derived from pure, pharmaceutical grade CBD called Epidiolex can cause suicidal thinking because it is an antiepileptic medication. Due to the many harms to the developing brain from THC, there is no current scientific evidence that any THC use is safe or effective for normal, healthy young people under 30 years old. And it is never guaranteed to be harmless for use at any age.
President Trump is attempting to say by moving marijuana to Schedule III, more research could take place to find additional future prescription medications derived from marijuana. Europe and the rest of the world haven’t had the same limitations we’ve had with research, and there haven’t been any startling medical discoveries. Moving marijuana to Schedule III flies in face of the science as it would be the only drug in Schedule III with no FDA trials. The FDA-approved THC and CBD based medications are already on lower schedules. It will take many years before any FDA approved marijuana is available, if ever. Medicine is never smoked, and every medicine has side effects. There are very strict standards for Schedule III around product labelling, content, and claiming off-label uses, so we expect the FDA will enforce these requirements nationwide.
The truth is, sadly, as you suspected, President Trump’s order is all about money. This looser classification is about a tax status. It lifts the restrictions of Internal Revenue Code 280E that prohibits businesses trafficking in controlled substances to deduct ordinary business expenses. Some of Trump’s own staff, friends, and donors in the marijuana industry like Trulieve, who gave a million dollars to Trump’s inauguration and PAC and led the $75M bid to legalize recreational marijuana in FL, stand to make a lot of money from this. When a substance is Schedule III, marijuana businesses, growers, and dispensaries would be able to write off business expenses on their federal income tax returns, which they are currently unable to do. This includes payroll, supplies, and most importantly, advertising to young people. Do not fall for this! According to the marijuana industry itself, rescheduling will give marijuana companies a $2.3 billion-dollar tax break. It will attract domestic and foreign investors, increase China’s presence in the U.S. drug market, and increase quiet investments by pharmaceutical companies. It also allows banking to marijuana businesses.
President Trump is pushing weed because it benefits him. This is hypocritical and shameful. Trump doesn’t drink alcohol, he tells teens to not use drugs, and he’s blowing up narco boats. But this executive order sends the wrong signal—hey don’t worry—THC isn’t that bad for you! There is a big difference between policy and principle, and Trump has broken his promise to make America Great Again, and he has broken our trust. Weed has destroyed the cultural fabric of our beautiful country. It literally stinks in Colorado and other states where it’s legal, and crashes and crimes are up.
It’s mind boggling to me why President Trump would want to make it easier and more profitable for marijuana businesses to sell a dangerous drug without proving any benefits. Has President Trump talked to employers who say they can’t find workers to pass a drug test due to so much marijuana use? Has he spoken to the parents of countless kids like me who have killed themselves because of Cannabis-Induced Psychosis or remain forever changed with schizophrenia, bipolar, and mental illness? We are insulted, disappointed, hurt, and angry. President Trump stated the White House heard no objections on rescheduling to Schedule III. That is simply untrue, as thousands of us wrote in. We are insulted by Robert Kennedy, who stood in the Oval office, and said the harms linked to youth use of marijuana needs more research since it was “hypothetical.” That is a lie, and it’s anything but hypothetical.
There are ZERO research studies showing ANY benefit of today’s high potency dispensary products on teen brains, but there are thousands showing how harmful it is. To be sure, today’s marijuana and THC products are more dangerous and addictive than before. Old fashioned weed back in the day when I was a kid in the 80s was 1% or 2% THC. The average dispensary weed today is 20%, with some strains topping 40%. THC concentrates like wax and vapes can be as high as 99% THC. Rescheduling will further lower the perception of harm in teens, which is what the marijuana wants them to believe—and many do. More idiot celebrities like Snoop will be developing and marketing products to them.
As marijuana has become more widely available and accepted, more young people are using it—and they are becoming sicker and dumber as a result. Since 2010, the share of Americans who have used marijuana in the past 30 days has doubled, to 29%, among those ages 19 to 30, according to the most recent Monitoring the Future survey of drug use.
Marijuana use among youth under 25 is highly damaging to brain development:
· THC use in young people is correlated with greater rates of psychosis, mental illness, schizophrenia, and suicidality. According to Canada where it’s legal, teenagers with a marijuana addiction are up to 350% more likely to experience mental health and behavioral issues and 11x more likely to experience psychosis.
· Longitudinal brain imaging studies have revealed disturbing evidence about what marijuana does to developing brains. Research published in JAMA Psychiatry examined brain scans of 799 adolescents over five years and found that cannabis use was associated with accelerated thinning of the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for decision-making, planning, and impulse control.
· A startling study from Canada this year found that patients who had been hospitalized with cannabis-use disorder were nearly three times as likely to die within the following five years and nearly 10 times as likely to kill themselves.
· In Canada, over 40% of young men ages 18-20 years old who go to the Emergency room for Cannabis-Induced Psychosis convert to schizophrenia within 3 years.
· Today, the #1 cause of death in youth ages 15-18 in Colorado is suicide, and the #1 substance found in their toxicology reports is THC, three times greater than alcohol rates.
Those were the facts before marijuana was rescheduled, and they are the same facts now. It is still illegal, and it’s still not safe for a young person’s brain, body, or life.
What can you do?
· Share this article with your network.
· Read the research at JohnnysAmbassadors.org/research and continue to educate yourself, so you can push back against others citing false claims and incorrect information about this poor decision.
· Middle and high school teachers, please require this article as classroom reading. Go to JohnnysAmbassadors.org/teachers for additional educational resources.
· Parents, talk to your teens. Make sure they understand there is NO safe level of THC in the developing brain, and they should not use marijuana or any substances. If you are concerned about your child's THC use, please see JohnnysAmbassadors.org/parents
· Help us sound the alarm about the dangers of youth THC use. Express your disappointment and anger. To the extent you are comfortable, share your story about how THC use has harmed your loved ones and your family. See the stories at JohnnysAmbassadors.org/parentcip and share yours at JohnnysAmbassadors.org/share.
· Buy and distribute our book, The Impact of THC on Our Children: A Parent’s Worst Nightmare at amazon.com/dp/B0D3QTV16P
· Respond to any public response opportunities coming up.
President Trump, you didn’t listen to the right people. You have alienated a large, significant portion of citizens with this selfish, unprincipled decision. It’s shameful you buckled so you could fill your political pockets and benefit your friends. I pray your decision comes back to bite the addiction-for-profit industry. May God save our children and America.
#DOITFORJOHNNY
#THCFREE
#STAYINTHERACE
#KEEPOUTOFTHEHAZE
#STAYTHCSMART
#DONTSTART
#JOHNNYSAMBASSADORS
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