Posted on April 21, 2024 View all news
As a primary care physician, I have begun seeing marijuana-injured young people on at least a weekly basis now. The studies on the impact of THC on the adolescent and young adult brain are no longer just statistics when you see the hurting young person or their family face-to-face. But nothing brought so much clarity to the crisis as seeing my own adopted son succumb to it.
Ulyesses entered our family from foster care and had already been introduced to marijuana in his early teens. So many messages from his peers and “experts“ on his phone had convinced him it was not just harmless but beneficial.
But, after beginning to use the substance regularly, he dropped out of school, exhibited antisocial behaviors, and eventually committed a foolish but serious crime under the persistent influence of THC.
He is now in prison and unable to be with us or his baby daughter. He finally recognizes what it was doing to him. But he is still an addict and at risk of returning to use and failing at life when he is released.
It is relatively rare for someone to develop addiction or psychiatric injury from THC if they weren’t first introduced to it in their teens or early 20s. This vulnerable population is the primary customer for the marijuana industry, and it will take a concerted effort from the rest of society to protect them from these predators. But protect them, we must. For their sake and ours.
Dr. Matt Poling
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