As cannabis companies pound their chests about being deemed essential in certain states, how is it that no one is talking about teen and youth usage? In the chase for revenues and tax dollars, no one seems to be paying attention to teen cannabis use. This is an issue that should be getting more attention now, before it is too late. As discussed in a December 18, 2019 article on Time.com, "['t]he jump in past-month marijuana vaping—from 7.5% in 2018 to 14% this year among 12th graders—was the second-largest one-year increase ever recorded by the survey, behind only the historic increase in youth nicotine vaping from 2017 to 2018. See "U.S. Teens Aren't Just Vaping Nicotine. Marijuana Use Is Also on the Rise."
The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry notes that "Teenage marijuana use is at its highest level in 30 years, and today's teens are more likely to use marijuana than tobacco." See "Marijuana and Teens." The notion that marijuana is perfectly harmless and nothing put good--and that is the narrative being pushed by the industry--is wrong. "[R]esearch shows that marijuana can cause serious problems with learning, feelings, and health." Id. There are, of course, many scholarly articles discussing the same point but, so far, no one seems to be paying attention.
The fact that underage use is on the rise is not surprising. The cannabis companies continue to market fruit flavors, gummies and candy-like products that are appealing to kids, and it's all available in discreet forms so kids can use product without fear of detection. The industry seems to be running plays taken straight out of the playbooks of Juul and Big Tobacco and we are all standing idly by and letting it happen. Why? Have we learned nothing from the past? Have we learned nothing from tobacco, Juul and the opiod crisis?
The company I used to work for had a responsibility page--something I pushed for--but I recently checked their website and that's since been taken down. I don't know of any major cannabis company that's talking about youth prevention. They are all talking about returns on investments, but not about protection for our youth. Selling candy products, gummies and fruit-flavored vapes and not a word about youth prevention. That's a problem.
Will cannabis be the next Juul-like problem? Is this Joe Camel all over again? Are we creating the next epidemic? Are we handling cannabis legalization and regulation properly, or are we failing to pay close enough attention? Will we find ourselves trying to undo a problem that probably could have been mitigated had we paid attention at the start? Who will hold these companies accountable for their actions?
If this is something that matters to you, please get in touch. It matters to me, too. Let's not have corporate greed create a societal problem. There are many important reasons why legalization makes sense, but if it is not done responsibly, we may be creating another set of problems.
Curious to know what you think.
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