As New York State gears up to open its legal marijuana market, the New York Times has published a comprehensive study of how high THC levels in today’s cannabis products are making some teenagers dangerously ill—from psychosis, addiction, and chronic vomiting. The Times, which usually runs lighthearted weed stories in its Style section, explores the growing evidence that pot isn’t as benign as many of its advocates routinely proclaim. While marijuana is not as dangerous or life threatening as opioids, the paper says, it is potentially harmful for young people, whose brains are still developing, and has also led to an increase in cases of cannabis addiction, uncontrollable vomiting, and psychotic episodes that could eventually lead to lifelong psychatric disorders iincluding depression and suicidal ideation. Despite these risks, new legal pot markets in the U.S. remain largely unregulated, with dispensaries free to sell cannabis products such as oils and edibles that have high levels of THC—the psychoactive component of marijuana—that in some cases exceed 95 percent, up from about 4 percent in 1995. Although cannabis is now legal in 19 states and Washington, D.C., only Vermont and Connecticut ban concentrates above 60 percent and do not permit plant material to exceed 30 percent. One particular concern is that many of these dangerously high levels of pot are consumed in e-cigarettes by young people, with the number of kids who reported vaping marijuana rising among all grades between 2017 and 2019 and nearly tripled among high school seniors. In California, which legalized marijuana nearly five years ago without a word about health dangers, doctors and lawmakers are now considering mental health warning labels on cannabis products, specifying that the drug may contribute to psychotic disorders—a model that should be made mandatory on a national level in all legal states.
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Rosenthal Center for AddictIon Studies