How Today's High-Potency Marijuana Products Affect Youth Mental Health

Marijuana is legal so it must be safe, right? Maybe you’re thinking that today’s marijuana resembles what it was “in the good old days.” The reality is - marijuana has changed enormously since the 1980s and today’s lab-created high potency THC products can cause harmful impacts on adolescent brain development, mental illness, and suicide – facts that every parent, grandparent, educator, and community member need to know.

Education is the most powerful tool for both parents and students to prevent negative life outcomes and tragedies from high potency THC products. The West Hartford community can learn more about it from Laura Stack, a renowned speaker, Johnny Stack’s mom and the Founder and CEO of Johnny’s Ambassadors Youth THC Prevention, on Monday, May 11 at 6 p.m. for a presentation at Bristow Middle School, located at 34 Highland Street. Stack will talk about cannabis (THC) prevention, present awareness information and share her personal story. A best-selling author of eight books, her world came crashing down, when her 19-year-old son, Johnny, died by suicide. Johnny had become psychotic from vaping and dabbing high-THC marijuana concentrates.

Johnny was a computer whiz with a 4.0 GPA, a perfect math score on the SAT, and a college scholarship until his THC use sabotaged his plans. Three days before his death, Johnny told his mom how using marijuana had ruined his mind and his life. By weaving Johnny’s story with current research, Stack hopes to help teens, their families, and their communities understand how using THC can cause harm. By sharing Johnny’s own warning about marijuana, she is determined to start a movement to bring teen marijuana use, mental illness, and suicide into the spotlight and get them to #StopDabbing. A powerful speaker, Stack has presented to parents, concerned adults, educators, prevention advocates, law enforcement, and community groups. Additionally, she has given nearly 1000 presentations to over 500,000 teens over the past five years.

Registration is required to attend the May 11 event. Register.

The event, organized by the West Hartford Prevention Partnership, with the support of West Hartford Public Schools, is brought to the West Hartford community by a generous donation from a West Hartford community member.

For more information about the West Hartford Prevention Partnership, visit Prevention Town of West Hartford. For more information about Johnny’s Ambassadors, visit Youth THC Prevention | High-Potency Marijuana | Johnny's Ambassadors.