More states are on the cusp of marijuana legalization. That in mind, the federal government should carefully observe the policy and political dynamics playing out in Colorado and Washington.
It should look closely at the marijuana industry’s deflection of any responsibility for youth use of the narcotic. After all, regardless of how each of us views adult use of marijuana, we should all agree that this intoxicating substance harms teenagers and their developing brains. Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams issued a marijuana advisory in 2019. He stated that “the risks of physical dependence, addiction, and other negative consequences increase with exposure to high concentrations of THC [tetrahydrocannabinol] and the younger the age of initiation.” Today’s commercialized marijuana has little to do with a natural plant. Instead, manufacturers distill THC, the high-inducing ingredient, in an arms race to achieve unnatural potency levels. And THC concentrates make up an ever-increasing portion of sales.
Colorado and Washington state, the two earliest adopters of legal recreational marijuana usage, both issued reports on potency in 2020 that raised alarms concerning the association between ultra-potent THC use and higher rates of schizophrenia, psychosis, and generalized anxiety. They noted the particular vulnerability of adolescents and young adults. The Washington report described modern THC products: “They are as close to the cannabis plant as strawberries are to frosted strawberry pop tarts.” An analysis of the Colorado Marijuana Market since sales began in 2014 found that the average potency for marijuana bud (commonly also called flower) had increased by a third to 18.8% THC in 2019. This is 4 times higher than the average THC potency of the early 1990s. Average THC potency for concentrates had increased by almost half to 69% in 2019. Some products exceed 90% THC.
Put simply, “marijuana” or “cannabis” doesn’t adequately describe these products. This has become a THC market. Eight years since voting to regulate marijuana, Colorado faces numerous concerning measures of use by high schoolers. These include rising frequency of daily or near-daily use, a persisting shift away from smoking to using exponentially more potent THC products, use rates that are higher than adult-use rates for dabbing and vaping. All of this, despite it being illegal for anyone under 21 years to use nonmedical marijuana. Teenagers are not just sampling new forms of marijuana. They are switching to ultra-potent THC products.
These trends are tragic, considering dabbing has been compared to freebasing THC. And these problems are not restricted to Colorado but are occurring in other legal states, including Oregon and Washington. As the reality of a runaway THC industry sets in, public health officials and policymakers are waking up.
Former U.S. attorney for Colorado, Bob Troyer, recently proclaimed his support for a potency cap based on the clear research: “We Democrats must act on this science and data, or we are no better than climate deniers.” Colorado Rep. Yadira Caraveo, a practicing pediatrician and Democrat, has proposed limiting THC potency and shutting the pipeline to high schools by closing a loophole that allows 18-year-old students to buy unmonitored amounts of medical marijuana legally.
Industry lobbyists, however, have said there is no room for compromise on the proposal. Industry pushback is also forceful in Washington, where state Rep. Lauren Davis, a Democrat, recently introduced legislation to limit THC potency to 30% and raise the age limit to purchase THC concentrates from 21 to 25. Davis described her previous attempt to rein in the industry: “Borrowing from the well-worn playbooks of their forefathers, Big Tobacco and opioid manufacturers, cannabis business leaders attempted to poke holes in the science.” Monitoring the Future, a federally funded annual survey of American eighth, 10th, and 12th graders conducted by the University of Michigan, found in 2019 that THC vaping increased substantially. “In 12th grade this is the second largest increase ever measured for any substance monitored by MTF.” The largest increase in youth substance use ever recorded by MTF was for liquid nicotine from vaping.
When nationwide high school use of e-cigarettes soared by 78% in a single year, federal and state governments sprang into action with laws and regulations to ban flavored nicotine vaping liquid. Let’s make sure the nation’s children do not become collateral damage of another out-of-control industry from the THC potency arms race we are witnessing.
Rachel O’Bryan authored the new white paper, “Colorado Kids are Collateral Damage in a THC Potency Arms Race,” and co-founded One Chance to Grow Up, which shares what we’ve learned in Colorado as the first nonprofit group in the U.S. dedicated solely to protecting children in the age of legal marijuana. One Chance to Grow Up is an initiative of Smart Colorado, a project of the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center.
