Many of you know that the courts ordered JUUL Labs, Inc. to pay $463 million to six states for their nefarious marketing practices to teens (you can see more about their marketing practices in Screenagers Under The Influence). The ongoing high rate of nicotine use among youth is incredibly sad and problematic. Besides the problems with this practice, a study showed that teens who report using e-cigarettes were 3.5 times more likely to report using cannabis than non-e-cigarettes users.
Today, let's talk about cannabis — or, as teens mainly refer to it, weed. Weed is by far the most common term. “Pot” is rarely used by younger people. I have worked hard in my clinic to refrain from using that word. I also do not use the term marijuana, although that term often gets used in research papers.
Here are four important topics/ questions to discuss with youth in your life:
Many teens tell me the ways that cannabis comes up in their feeds. In Screenagers Under The Influence, we hear these examples:
A high school boy in California says, “People will literally just post them smoking a joint. You'll see a lot of celebrities.”
A teen girl in Seattle says, “Instagram, the explorer page, and there's a shop section, people selling bongs or stuff for marijuana.”
A young man in Oregon says, “Ads for dispensaries.”
Over the past several years perceived riskiness of cannabis in teens has been declining, yet research reveals that teens who believe that cannabis use has risks are less likely to use it.
Sadly myths prevail. For example, in the study I just mentioned, some teens believed things like “marijuana can help teenagers focus in school” and that “marijuana is safe because it’s natural,” and if they believed these statements, they were more likely to report use.
Therefore discussing the risks of cannabis, and dispelling myths, is a wise practice supported by research. What do kids think when asked this question? Talk about the merits of periodic conversations in which everyone shares science and societal observations regarding cannabis moving forward.
Weed is not the same as it was in our day. For many years cannabis plants have been specially bred to increase THC concentration. THC is the part of the plant responsible for the thoughts and mood changes that happen from cannabis.
The neuroscientist Yasmin Hurd, Ph.D., who is in Screenagers Under The Influence, states:
“Cannabis today is completely different from what it was in the past. The original plant had about two to 4% THC. Today strains of cannabis consumed recreationally can have anywhere from 16 to 24% THC, and can even go up to 80 or 90% THC.”
There are several issues, but today, I’m sharing data from Dr. Sharon Levy, who analyzed responses from a survey given to 14 to 18-year-old teens regarding their experiences using cannabis. Dr. Levy, who is in the Screenagers Under The Influence, is the Director of the Adolescent Substance Abuse Program at Boston Children’s Hospital. She and her team found that 27% of the teens that use cannabis reported experiencing hallucinations. (The actual survey question asked whether they had “seen, felt, or heard things that were not really there.”)
Sharon told me, “When I saw that number come out of the analysis, I thought, wow, who would dream that 27% of kids would say “yes” about hallucinations? We're seeing this more commonly now that the products are more potent.”
In addition, 34% reported feeling “anxious or paranoid.” In total, 43% reported having at least one of those symptoms.
Let me add that this was a small study and was not a nationally represented sample. Yet that said, there is no reason to think these numbers are too far off.
Many of you know that the courts ordered JUUL Labs, Inc. to pay $463 million to six states for their nefarious marketing practices to teens (you can see more about their marketing practices in Screenagers Under The Influence). The ongoing high rate of nicotine use among youth is incredibly sad and problematic. Besides the problems with this practice, a study showed that teens who report using e-cigarettes were 3.5 times more likely to report using cannabis than non-e-cigarettes users.
Today, let's talk about cannabis — or, as teens mainly refer to it, weed. Weed is by far the most common term. “Pot” is rarely used by younger people. I have worked hard in my clinic to refrain from using that word. I also do not use the term marijuana, although that term often gets used in research papers.
Here are four important topics/ questions to discuss with youth in your life:
Many teens tell me the ways that cannabis comes up in their feeds. In Screenagers Under The Influence, we hear these examples:
A high school boy in California says, “People will literally just post them smoking a joint. You'll see a lot of celebrities.”
A teen girl in Seattle says, “Instagram, the explorer page, and there's a shop section, people selling bongs or stuff for marijuana.”
A young man in Oregon says, “Ads for dispensaries.”
What do AI, substance use, and video gaming have in common? They all can tempt people, including youth, to engage in sneaky behaviors, including youth. Kids can feel tempted to do shortcuts, workarounds, or cheat for various reasons. Perhaps they hate a subject in school and want to get the homework done but don’t actually want to do it. Maybe reading is painfully difficult for them due to something like dyslexia, so they want to find a way to avoid having to do it. Perhaps a teen knows that their family has a rule that does not allow them to play a specific video game because of its intense violent graphics and misogyny. Yet that is the game many friends are playing and want to join in. Maybe an 8th-grade boy is with a group of friends at lunch, and someone pulls out a vape pen and starts passing it around. Do they partake in this sneaky and illegal behavior? Today, I explore the temptations and three things to say to kids and teens that can help strengthen their wise-minded brains and add a little more weight to the healthier decision-making side of the scale.
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A few weeks back, a teen told me to listen to Emma Chamberlain’s (a mega young influencer) podcast episode, Nicotine Addiction. In the episode, Chamberlain reveals that she has been vaping for several years and has finally decided to try to quit. I appreciated that Emma spoke about how she purposely never revealed her vaping habit to her audience until then because she never wanted to influence anyone to start vaping. I applaud her for that. Sadly, many other influencers did not make similar choices when they decided to be paid by Juul Labs, Inc. to influence millions of young people to start vaping. Today, I share some of the dirty tactics used by the nicotine industry and then, most importantly, discuss things we, and our youth, can do to make a difference.
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In the news, podcasts, social media, and shows, there is a lot of talk about magic mushrooms, aka “shrooms,” and their potential benefits through their psychoactive component called psilocybin. For example, people talk about how consuming mushrooms can create life-changing experiences in full or microdoses. In addition, there is a lot of buzz about the important research being done to uncover potential medical applications. However, what concerns me is that all these media outlets often fail to address the risks of psychedelics and ways to prevent such risks. I’ve written this blog to offer an effective way to talk to teens about these risks, knowing that such conversations can be tricky.
READ MORE >for more like this, DR. DELANEY RUSTON'S NEW BOOK, PARENTING IN THE SCREEN AGE, IS THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE FOR TODAY’S PARENTS. WITH INSIGHTS ON SCREEN TIME FROM RESEARCHERS, INPUT FROM KIDS & TEENS, THIS BOOK IS PACKED WITH SOLUTIONS FOR HOW TO START AND SUSTAIN PRODUCTIVE FAMILY TALKS ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND IT’S IMPACT ON OUR MENTAL WELLBEING.
