By Adriana Ching
May is the month we celebrate both Mother’s Day and Mental Health Awareness. As the mom of a young adult son who has struggled with mental health issues, intensified by marijuana use, I hope sharing my experience can help other families. I am also sending an urgent SOS to elected officials and government regulators to do more to prevent youth marijuana use.
It is important for parents to talk to their children about the dangers of using marijuana while their brains are still developing. But that alone is not enough. We need government action to place limits on the marijuana industry’s predatory marketing practices and we need compliance checks to ensure that regulations are being followed.
Like many teenagers, my son believed marijuana was harmless and medicinal, as proponents claim. He began using marijuana as a high school sophomore, thinking it would help him cope with anxiety, depression, boredom, fear and typical emotions that most teenagers and young adults experience on their way to maturing. It took years of struggle before he was able to recognize that marijuana use was making his mental health worse.
When voters approved California Prop 64 for adult-use cannabis, they were promised a regulated market designed to protect kids and provide a ‘safe’ product for adult consumers. Instead, it ushered in a profit-driven industry following the playbook of Big Tobacco.
Marijuana products, including vapes and concentrates, have been developed to contain nearly pure THC. This makes today’s pot very different, and more dangerous, than the marijuana of earlier decades. Yet, these high potency products are advertised to seem fun (i.e. ‘recreational’) or like a cure-all for any ailment, with no mention of the potential for harm.
Pot is sold in the form of gummies, candy, cookies, chips, and soda, in colorful packaging that mimics mainstream brands popular with youth. Retailer names like The Cake House or Cookies bring to mind special treats typically enjoyed by kids.
Children and teens internalize this messaging without understanding the very real risks that marijuana poses to the adolescent brain as it develops, and the impact it can have on mental health.
JAMA Psychiatry published a review of 11 studies involving more than 23,000 adolescents in April 2019, finding that suicidal ideation and suicide attempts were significantly higher in marijuana users than in non-users. It isn’t just theoretical. According to the San Diego County Medical Examiner, of those under 25 who completed suicide, 39% tested positive for THC.
More must be done to limit the reach of marijuana marketing and advertising and to ensure that marijuana is kept out of the hands of minors.
We’ve made advances in protecting youth from tobacco and alcohol, including raising the tobacco purchase age to 21 and implementing routine compliance checks for both tobacco and alcohol retailers.
Minor decoy operations are an effective method for holding alcohol and tobacco retailers accountable for checking the age of buyers and preventing sales to minors.
When the CA Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control led a minor decoy operation on alcohol deliveries in the spring of 2020, they uncovered a 79% violation rate. Two years and more than a dozen minor decoy operations later, the violation rate for alcohol deliveries was down to 20%. Minor decoy operations can help to identify bad actors and serve as a deterrent.
Yet the state Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) has done the opposite for marijuana by allowing a loophole for ‘medical’ access for teens 18-20 and overriding local ordinances that prohibit delivery. The DCC has not created a framework or funding for routine minor decoy operations on marijuana retail storefronts or delivery services.
The Sheriff’s Department in Vista recently conducted its own minor decoy operation on regulated marijuana delivery services within its jurisdiction. It’s a good start and may provide a model for other jurisdictions in North County. This is urgently needed for marijuana deliveries and storefronts, in both the regulated and illicit marketplace.
It has been four years since Prop. 64 was approved. It is past time for regulators to protect youth from the excesses of the marijuana industry and implement proven prevention policies that have worked to reduce youth smoking and drinking rates. The mental health of our young people can’t wait.
Adriana Ching is a Fallbrook resident and past Chair of the Drug Awareness Program of Vista Elks Lodge #1968. She has worked as an operator at the water reclamation plant of Oceanside for 22 years.
Resources and services are available to assist with screening, treatment, and recovery for individuals with a substance use disorder (SUD). The Access and Crisis line is available year-round, 24/7, at (888)724-7240
