This is not your father’s marijuana, Tom Walker, a substance
abuse counselor and former drug addict, told the crowd. In fact, Walker
hesitates to call most of the cannabis products ingested today marijuana at
all. He prefers instead to call it THC — the component of the marijuana plant
that provides a high.
Much of the marijuana landscape has changed since the halcyon
hippie days — its chemical makeup, the ways it’s ingested, its legal status and
even how taboo it is.
The St. John Neumann Recovery and Addiction Ministry recently hosted
a talk at the Reston church to inform teens, parents and other concerned people
what has changed and how they can help people at risk for dependence on the
drug.
Walker, CEO of Encore Recovery Solutions in Arlington, began his
presentation describing the evolution of marijuana. Only .5 percent of THC
occurs naturally in the marijuana plant, but since the 1960s, the amount has
skyrocketed. “Good gardening brought that up to 5, 10, 12 percent and good
chemistry brought it all the way up to 40,” said Walker.
Just as the content of marijuana has changed, so has how it’s
consumed. Cannabis is looking less like a plant and more like something
manufactured in a laboratory, said Walker. One new way to ingest cannabis is
vaping. As with nicotine vaping, the user puts cannabis oil in the vape, where
it is then super-heated, vaporized and inhaled.
“What we’re seeing in the vape pens: someone is walking around
with something that can be concealed in a million different ways, they have a
product in their pocket that is exponentially stronger than anything that used
to be available, (and it) is colorless, odorless and otherwise undetectable,”
said Walker. Last year, the Food and Drug Administration called vaping among
teens an “epidemic.”
While extremely convenient, there’s little research on whether
vaping has long-term health consequences. Vaping THC may be particularly
dangerous. In the wake of reports of severe lung injuries and deaths associated
with the use of vaping products, the FDA has warned consumers not to vape any
products containing THC.
Another trendy way to consume THC is through edibles. In places
where pot is legal, such as Colorado, pretty much any snack can be bought
infused with cannabis oil, said Walker. That includes gummy bears, candy bars
and other sweets typically marketed to children. Introducing the product to
young people is a key to the growing marijuana industry, said Walker.
“It’s an industry that’s aimed at getting people started young on
high potency substances and using them frequently,” he said. “The most
important thing to understand about this is the 80/20 rule: 80 percent of the
product is being consumed by 20 percent of the individuals using it. When we’re
talking about commercialization or the lobbying that is going on in this industry
that’s growing up around cannabis, it’s really targeted at the 20 percent of
the people (who) are going to have a problem with it, the heavy users.”
While marijuana is commonly thought to be harmless, studies show
the drug has a negative impact on the developing adolescent brain. A 2014 Lancet
study shows that using marijuana casually can increase the risk of psychosis
threefold, and daily use can increase the risk fivefold. Other consequences
include increased risk of depression and attempted suicide, and loss of IQ
points.
As a treatment provider, Walker often sees teens head off to
college, start using pot more heavily and eventually get diagnosed with
schizophrenia or bipolar disorder with psychotic features. “The question is,
does it go away (once they stop using marijuana)? And unfortunately, we don’t know,”
he said. “In some cases, yes, in others no, and a lot of cases the young person
doesn’t believe it was caused by the weed and they won’t stop.”
The catechism teaches that “the use of drugs inflicts very grave
damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic
grounds, is a grave offense.” Pope Francis also has spoken out against drugs, especially
the harm of narcotics and the evils of drug trafficking.
Vaping cannabis oil is one way to ingest cannabis. ADOBESTOCK.COM
In a 2014 address to the Drug Enforcement Conference in Rome, the pope warned against drug legalization. “Attempts, however limited, to legalize so-called 'recreational drugs,' are not only highly questionable from a legislative standpoint, but they fail to produce the desired effects,” he said. “Here I would reaffirm what I have stated on another occasion: No to every type of drug use. It is as simple as that.”
Unlike THC, there is a component of cannabis that has medicinal properties — CBD. Today’s marijuana products have almost no CBD, but even if they did, said Walker, “It has been centuries since we lit our medicine on fire and smoked it. If you’re doing that with medicine, you’re probably not using it appropriately.” While CBD is legal to buy in Virginia, Walker says there’s no pharmaceutical grade, so what you’re getting in CBD products isn’t always clear.
Going forward, he hopes the potential healing power of CBD can be further explored without promoting the use of THC. “There’s a recent study that says that CBD has incredible antipsychotic effects with very low side effects. There's a researcher from Penn State (who’s) doing a lot of research about how CBD is effective in treating chronic pain,” said Walker. “How do we make (cannabis) so that it’s available for real research so that the universities can actually do that work, but don’t allow it into the shops, into the hands of our youth, really into the hands of anyone?”
How to talk to your kids about
marijuana
Tom Walker, CEO of Encore
Recovery Solutions in Arlington, recommends that parents know the facts, talk
early and not let fear dominate the conversation when speaking with their kids
about marijuana. There’s a common perception that marijuana isn’t harmful, so
be prepared to share how it can impact developing brains. When children are in
middle school is a good time to equip them with the facts and let them know
what you expect.
Have a dialogue with your
children at a time when they’ll be open to listening. “I think there’s a lot of
value in having an honest conversation, regardless of whether you think it’s
going to fall on deaf ears,” said Walker. “Don’t let it blow up, (don’t let) it
get to that point where it becomes an argument.”
If you do find your son or
daughter using marijuana or other drugs, set firm boundaries and consult with
people who understand substance use disorder. “It’s probably appropriate to
pull in a professional sooner than you think because what happens a lot is
families wait until things are so bad that there’s no question as to whether
they should go for help,” said Walker. “There’s no harm in an individual
therapist having those conversations.”
Don’t be discouraged if the drug
use persists. “Unfortunately, stopping the progression of a substance use
disorder in the early stages is incredibly hard because the nature of it is
that the adverse consequences haven’t gotten to a point where it’s going to
change their behavior, especially when you’re young and you’re not thinking big
picture,” he said.
Find out more
To learn more about how the diocese is helping people with
substance use disorder and their families, go here.