A person smokes a cannabis concentrate product during the Mile High 420 Festival in Denver on April 20, 2022. A marijuana prevention speaker will soon visit Weld County school districts including Weld RE-4 to discuss the dangers of today’s highly potent marijuana products. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
Though many school students have sat through presentations about the dangers of drugs, some community members worry about the tactics of an upcoming speaker in the Weld RE-4 School District.
Laura Stack, founder of the marijuana prevention nonprofit Johnny’s Ambassadors, will speak this month at multiple schools across Weld County, teaching students and their guardians about the negative impact of THC, the component of cannabis that makes users feel high.
Stack said her findings are based on research about the difference between today’s marijuana and the marijuana past generations ingested.
In 2022, 30.7% of 12th graders reported using marijuana in the past year, and 6.3% reported using marijuana daily in the past 30 days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Stack intertwines her son’s story with marijuana use into her attempts to wean middle and high school students off or keep clear of marijuana.
Three days before Johnny, Stack’s son, died by suicide at the age of 19, he told his mother that weed ruined his life and his mind. Stack said Johnny began using marijuana at 14 in the form of heating and inhaling highly potent marijuana concentrates, known as “dabbing.”
Stack’s upcoming stops in the Weld RE-4 School District to educate children about the dangers of THC generated a handful of concerned community members and parents who question Stack’s credibility and bias, arguing she conveys a fear-based approach that may not have the intended effect.
The Weld RE-4 School District reported only three parents and community members, out of more than 4,000 who received an email regarding the assembly, expressed concerns to the district.
Community member John Padora, who served as an addiction recovery advocate for many years, believes equating the death of Stack’s son to marijuana usage will circulate “propagandized lies” to students because marijuana wasn’t his cause of death.
Padora, one of four Democrats running for the 4th Congressional District, a seat for which 10 Republican candidates are also vying — has no objections to educating kids about safe and efficient abstinence from drugs and called for a licensed substance abuse counselor with a medical degree to conduct any drug prevention presentations to youth.
Jennifer Roe, a parent of Weld RE-4 students, seconded Padora’s views about Stack’s lack of credentials in drug-related, scientific, counseling or medical fields. She worries Stack speaking from her personal experience won’t provide a balanced presentation.
“As a mother, my heart breaks that she’s lost her son,” Roe said. “But we don’t know what her bias is going to be. If we’re going to put information out there, great. But let’s make sure it’s accurate and complete, and not slanted toward one viewpoint.”
Both the Weld RE-4 School District and Stack ensure Johnny’s Ambassadors teach science and research-based topics about THC’s negative impact on an adolescent brain due to the dangerous THC products. The organization’s work, which is guided by a Scientific Advisory Board, uses a “non-judgmental, non-preachy” approach that lacks scare tactics, according to Stack.
Stack urged people to look at the thousands of research studies on Johnny’s Ambassadors’ website that she cites in prevention efforts.
“I am considered one of the world’s experts in marijuana and THC and its impact on the brain,” Stack said. “You don’t just call yourself an expert. People say you are an expert.”
Drug crisis, marijuana benefits
Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2014 and medical marijuana in 2000.
Parental and community apprehensions about Stack’s presentation focus on her emphasis on the bad and the ugly of marijuana use. These opposers make the point that many people rely on medical marijuana and CBD for pain and symptom management, as well as solutions to serious health concerns.
Some children even within the district use medical marijuana to help with autism, seizures and ADHD. Those students may feel “ostracized and isolated” by Stack’s presentation, Padora argued.
“This is how we alienate our kids,” Padora said. “So many people close to me have personally benefited from marijuana usage on a medical aspect.”
Stack said she doesn’t judge parents who let their children use medical marijuana or CBD and that her prevention centers on kids who use weed as a party drug to get high.
But amid the greatest addiction and overdose crises driven by opioids the nation has ever seen, Padora critiques the school districts’ prioritization of fixating on the dangers of marijuana usage.
Based on his research into Stack, he found she cites cannabis as a gateway drug, meaning it will lead people to experiment with other, more serious drugs. Padora said this analysis has been debunked.
The CDC reported a lack of evidence suggesting that using marijuana increases the risk of using other drugs and that most people who use marijuana do not go on to use other, “harder” drugs.
Padora referred to Stack’s ideas that using marijuana will cause teens to become “psychotic and suicidal” as resurfaced propaganda from the “Reefer Madness” movement, founded on “lies, racism, bigotry and misinformation in the 1930s.”
“What really alarms me is that we’re using fear to motivate instead of truth,” Padora said. “What’s dangerous about a fear-based approach is that it’s scientifically proven to be ineffective.”
Presentations on prevention won’t successfully stop kids from using marijuana, similar to failed attempts to halt drug use in the 1980s with the “Just Say No” campaign, according to Roe.
Padora added he fears that when young people try marijuana and have a good experience, they will start to believe Stack and the school district lied to them about cannabis. Padora worries this could lead students down the path of assuming their school lied to them about other, more harmful drugs, such as cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. Curiosity can then lead these students to experiment with harder drugs, Padora said.
Roe, who works as a professional researcher, plans to investigate every assembly going forward after the announcement of Stack’s presentation.
“We fully support the district. We want to be there for them, but we also want to hold them accountable,” Roe said.
In a statement from Weld RE-4, a spokesperson for the district assured Stack’s presentation complements the district’s existing standards-based health curriculum because it “focuses on recreational marijuana use with data from peer-reviewed, scientific research” and is “free from scare tactics, judgment or the influence of political agendas.”
In the statement, the district further confirmed its willingness to review any educational ideas and presentations about marijuana usage. But so far, the district has not received any alternative suggestions.
Parent and student presentations
Four school districts, including Eaton and Greeley-Evans District 6, recommended Johnny’s Ambassadors to Weld RE-4 Superintendent Michelle Scallon, according to the statement. The Eaton School District has previously hosted Stack, having her return to speak to seventh- to ninth-graders this January.
All Weld RE-4 middle and high school students have the opportunity to attend the Johnny’s Ambassadors assembly, sponsored by the Weld Trust, on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24. A presentation for parents of middle and high school students, sponsored by the Windsor Rotary Club, will take place from 6-8 p.m. Jan. 23 in the Windsor High School Auditorium.
“The Windsor Rotary Club reached out to the school district to partner on an opportunity for students and parents to also hear her impactful message,” the statement from Weld RE-4 said. “We are aware that our community, like others nationwide, faces challenges with marijuana use and the potential harmful effects of today’s concentrated THC. Teens are especially susceptible and vulnerable to harmful THC concentrates.”
Parents have the choice to opt their students out of the assembly to instead attend a study group at each school’s library, according to Weld RE-4.
Roe hopes Stack’s presentation has scientific proof to show the significant change in cannabis that kids experience today but doesn’t know what to expect. She plans to attend the parent presentation to see how Stack frames the preventive information.
To ease these parents’ minds, Stack explained the student assembly entailed a “very neuroscience-heavy” approach. She walks kids through how to refuse marijuana in party settings and the definitions of marijuana terminology, such as CBD, hemp, THC, Delta 8 and Delta 9.
But her focus remains on what the kids use in today’s culture — vapes, dabs, edibles, gummies, wax and more, she said. She does so by showcasing the difference between cannabis in the 1960s-1990s, compared to today’s marijuana, specifically concentrates.
Concentrates range from 60% to 99% potency, the Johnny’s Ambassadors website said. Until the ‘90s, marijuana averaged between 2-5% THC.
Today, it’s hard to find marijuana flower, the smokeable buds of a cannabis plant, in dispensaries under 10% THC, Stack said. She reported that anything over 15% THC is considered high potency.
A young woman’s brain doesn’t finish forming until 25, and for men, the development occurs between the ages of 28-30, Stack said. Her presentation uses visuals, such as brain scans, for students to fully understand how THC makes people high and what it can do to their developing minds.
The brain scans utilized by Stack demonstrate thinning in the prefrontal cortex of youth who use marijuana, which can cause depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and psychosis, according to her research.
Stack cited the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment saying suicide is a leading cause of death for the state’s youth. Stack added the top substance found in these youth toxicology reports is THC.
Alcohol has consistently been the top substance detected among all suicide deaths in Colorado, but marijuana has become the second highest in the past five years, according to a Colorado Health Institute report.
In Colorado, 30% of suicide deaths among youth ages 15-19 had marijuana present from 2014-2018, the report said. Alcohol was found in 12.1% of suicide deaths among 15- to 19-year-olds between 2014-2018.
However, while the study indicated usage has been linked to mental illness, the causation has not been established.
Toxicology tests on suicide victims also show that 75% of suicides involve one or more substances, according to American Addiction Centers.
Knowing marijuana’s legalization and accessibility in Colorado, Stack aims to give students the tools needed to make informed decisions regarding cannabis in the real world. She’s talked to more than 100,000 teens in 2023 and does about 200 presentations per year.
The Johnny’s Ambassadors program designed for parents, an 18-plus event with a Q&A session, offers a different presentation than the one students receive. But much of the content similarly explains how THC products have evolved.
She shares that when her son started using marijuana at 14, she had no idea about the potential threats of high-potency concentrates.
“We want the parents to show up because most of them are as ignorant as I was,” Stack said.
An outline for the parent presentation, provided by Weld RE-4, includes:
- A photo tour of a Colorado dispensary and products used by today’s youth;
- Information about the endocannabinoid system and how THC interferes with adolescent brain development;
- The results of legalizing medical marijuana for 18-year-olds in Colorado;
- How adolescent marijuana use can lead to mental illness and psychosis;
- The connection between youth marijuana use and suicidal tendencies.
“What we’re working to do is just increase awareness that this isn’t this harmless, benign drug for children,” Stack said. “I believe we’ve really sacrificed our children’s health, and sadly, their mental health on on the altar of revenues.”
Conversations about marijuana
Stack encourages parents to attend the event or look into her research with an open mind, and then have a conversation with their children.
Research shows kids who have conversations with their parents about the dangers or alcohol and drug use are 50% less likely to use substances than those who don’t have the conversations, Weld RE-4 reported, pulling a quote from a National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence article.
The district cited the data as why staff looked into parent and student presentations.
Padora said he plans to wrangle up a group of others with concerns to attend the parent presentation to ask questions and push back on notions they consider misinformation.
To view more information about Johnny’s Ambassadors and Stack’s work, go to johnnysambassadors.org.