The Drug Report
The Drug Report
National Youth Marijuana Use Trends & Gov. Wes Moore's Pardons
Excerpt from Luke's interview on WMAL DMV Talkshow: Could the commercialization of marijuana be putting our youth at risk? Join us in our latest episode as we sit down with Luke Niferatos, the Executive Vice President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), to unpack the alarming rise in daily marijuana use among teenagers and young adults. Luke sheds light on the health risks linked to high-potency marijuana, such as psychosis, depression, and academic decline, and how these concerns have been overlooked by states hurrying to legalize recreational cannabis. This conversation is a must-listen for anyone concerned about the well-being of our younger generations and the unforeseen public health consequences of marijuana legalization.
Luke also explores the intricate landscape of marijuana legalization policies, including potential rollbacks and societal impacts witnessed in places like Thailand and Colorado. We expose the misuse of social justice arguments by the marijuana industry and argue for genuine reforms such as decriminalizing low-level possession and expunging records. Using Denver as a case study, we discuss the glaring disparities in marijuana shop locations and ownership within minority communities, while also highlighting recent legislative changes in Maryland. Tune in to understand why it's crucial for policymakers to rely on scientific research, particularly concerning the mental health effects of today's high-potency marijuana.
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Speaker 2:I believe nicotine is not addictive. Yes, Congressman, cigarettes and nicotine clearly do not meet the classic definitions of addiction. I don't believe that nicotine for our products are addictive. I believe nicotine is not addictive. I believe that nicotine is not addictive.
Speaker 3:I believe that nicotine is not addictive. Welcome to DMV Spotlight here in the nation's capital, where we shine a light on the issues impacting DC, maryland and Virginia, and one of those issues has been the legalization of marijuana in states across the country and the impact, and one organization, smart Approaches to Marijuana, continues to raise some very interesting concerns and points about that and the impact that it has on various components of society. And my guest today is the Executive Vice President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, or SAM for short as it's known, luke Niferatos, and I want to thank you so much for joining me today on DMV Spotlight.
Speaker 1:Barbara, thank you for having me on, and you nailed my last name, so great work.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, and I should also mention, of course, that Luke is a widely recognized expert on drug policy across the country. So I wanted to just start by asking you. We've heard a lot about some of these reports about the impacts of marijuana on teenagers. We're seeing this now, of course, that marijuana is largely legal in various states across the country. So first of all, let's talk about what Sam is seeing in that.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, thank you again for having us on the show and I guess I want to set the stage. So there's about 24 states that have legalized recreational marijuana. So still more than half of the states in the country don't have a fully commercial marijuana system like what we see now in Maryland, for example. But to set the stage of what we're seeing on the youth aspect of things, as states have started legalizing marijuana, they've created this industry that now is basically not only invested in by Big Tobacco, but it's following the Big Tobacco playbook where they're advertising, they're using child-friendly products, and so the impact on the use rates among kids 12 to 17 is that we've seen a doubling of 12 to 17-year-olds in this country who are using marijuana on a daily or almost daily basis. So it's almost half a million teenagers now that are using marijuana on a daily basis in America, which is very concerning. And then also over the last decade, we've seen an increase in young adults 18 to 25, using marijuana just in the last month, or even on a regular basis. That's from 31% to 38%. These are from our national survey numbers done by the federal government.
Speaker 1:So the prevalence of use not just the number of people trying marijuana, but the amount of marijuana they're using is going up, particularly among our youth, and so that's concerning to public health organizations and experts such as ourselves, because we know the research says that, particularly for youth, when they're using marijuana, it increases their risk of psychosis or schizophrenia.
Speaker 1:That's a recent study that just came out in the Journal of Addiction said that if young people 16 to 18, if they're using today's high-potency marijuana, they're actually twice as likely to experience a psychotic episode a few years later in life, which is very concerning. There's also a strong linkage between depression and suicidality for young adults who are using today's high-potency marijuana. And then, as far as educational and academic outcomes, there's a number of very large studies that show for people who begin using marijuana in their teenage years, they are much more likely to have reduced academic outcomes, reduced graduation rates, et cetera, in addition to a permanent six to eight point IQ loss. So there's a lot of harms and concerns, particularly for our young people, and so when I see these rates going up because an industry is targeting them, I get very concerned about the outcomes for our next generation.
Speaker 3:You have raised so many issues here and it is extremely concerning. Is this an unintended outcome or is this something that Sam has been warning about, with the widespread legalization of recreational marijuana?
Speaker 1:Well, I think the answer is both.
Speaker 1:You know, we have been opposing the legalization of marijuana and our youth, and the impact is the primary reason.
Speaker 1:I don't think that states moved ahead with legalization, obviously intending to see half a million young people now qualifying for addiction to having a cannabis use disorder, but it was definitely something we could have foreseen happening, because when you create a large for-profit industry that's backed by tobacco, backed by alcohol, even you have the former CEO of Purdue Pharma, who wrote the playbook for OxyContin, he's in the marijuana industry as well. These people have a track record of targeting youth and increasing the levels of addiction and consumption of highly addictive drugs. And so I think a lot of people look at marijuana and they say well, marijuana is not like OxyContin, marijuana is not like these other addictive drugs. What I would say to that is you just don't know what marijuana is today, because after states legalized marijuana, the industry changed to marijuana. Now it's coming in the form of concentrates, shatters, waxes and vaping oils, all up to 99% potency, so it's a totally different drug. It was just two to 3% potent joints in the Woodstock days.
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Speaker 3:Well, and you mentioned you mentioned the money with big tobacco, and also we've seen states, of course, and they can make a lot of tax money, and that's often how that gets persuaded. But is it worth the cost, then, as you're going to have to recognize and treat these disorders?
Speaker 1:Well, we know that we lose $10 to $15 in social costs for every $1 in tobacco tax revenue. So we're losing money on our tobacco taxes because of all the downstream costs and right now it's looking like it's probably similar to that when it comes to marijuana tax revenues. So a study was done in Colorado a few years ago that found we spend $4.50 in the state of Colorado which, by the way, is where I live $4.50 for every $1 in marijuana tax revenue. So it looks like we're losing money on that as well, and I think it's important to note when we're talking about tax revenue. It should be the same conversation any company or organization has when they're talking about revenue, which is how much did we spend? You know we're talking about a P and L profit. We also need to talk about the L loss, and if we're losing more money than we're making, then that's probably not a smart decision and I think no states yet have had that honest conversation.
Speaker 3:And do you ever see a point where there would be a rollback? It's pretty hard to put that genie back in the bottle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know well, thailand just reversed. Thailand federally decriminalized marijuana and they just federally reversed that policy because they saw a tenfold, I believe, increase in emergency room visits for marijuana psychosis. They saw all kinds of societal issues within just one year of that policy, so they completely reversed it. As a country, I think that we will definitely start to see states move against these policies. You know, here in Colorado, the city of Boulder, which is a very progressive city, they are moving to ban these high-potency marijuana products, these concentrates, which are just doing so much damage to young people and adults alike. So I think we're starting to see pushback. These fights take time, though. Nothing in public health happens overnight. It takes a lot of education and people advocating and frankly, that's how it worked to get marijuana legalized in the first place was 50 years of failure and then they finally were able to get a critical mass. So I think for the side of public health and science, it'll just take time.
Speaker 3:And then there's the component as well that we have heard time and time again that some of these laws have been used against populations in our country really as a way to I don't want to put words in people's mouths, but certainly within various communities in the country that marijuana laws perhaps have not been applied evenly and that's used as an argument in terms of really legalizing it. Is that a fair argument?
Speaker 1:It's definitely a fair argument and you you know, you look at the statistics and obviously we know that. You know we have an issue of disproportionate enforcement of laws in this country, but unfortunately, what we've seen is the marijuana industry and marijuana advocates have weaponized the existence of that injustice to say, well, we should legalize recreational marijuana. That is not the way to achieve any kind of justice reform. These companies are beholden to their shareholders to deliver more profits. They are not nonprofits. They are not in the business of bringing about social justice. Again, I mentioned it's tobacco and alcohol industries leading the way with marijuana. Look at the track records of those industries as it relates to social justice and equity, and any which way you look at it, it's been a disaster.
Speaker 1:So you know, what we've seen is the argument of social justice reform being weaponized by the marijuana industry, and I think what's important to note is and this is what my organization supports is that we can have social justice reforms as it relates to marijuana, like decriminalizing low-level possession, for example, and expunging prior records for low-level possession as another example. You can do those things without legalizing and commercializing marijuana, and I think it's really important. We understand that, because you know when you allow the industry in the door. The industry then sets up all of their pot shops in communities of color. Here in Denver there's one pot shop for every 42 residents of color in our most minority-centric communities in the city of Denver, and yet the ownership is less than 4% minority owned. So the difference in ownership versus where these shops are it's very striking. I mean, it's just like what tobacco and liquor stores do, for example. So you know we shouldn't fall for the ruse that the industry will solve this. We need to focus on reforms that actually make sense.
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Speaker 1:It is possession. Is that illustrating your point? It is, and what's unfortunate about this is that he's doing this two years after Maryland legalized recreational marijuana, kind of illustrating my point, which is that they did the industry a favor first, made sure they could make you know, hundreds of millions of dollars first, which is what they've done, and then, two years later, as an afterthought, oh you know, maybe we should do something about the criminal justice reform element of this policy. So once again, we see that this, you know, these policy goals can be attained separate from legalizing marijuana. And the other thing I'll say about this is that it's really I mean, no one's talking about this.
Speaker 1:They acknowledged the state government did that. There's not a single person in Maryland's state prisons for the possession of marijuana. So his expungement and pardons Governor Moore's pardons did not apply to anybody that was currently in prison, because no one has been arrested for simple marijuana possession in a long time. So I do think that's important. It did obviously expunge records of 100,000 plus people from the past and I think that that's a good thing, but it's just really important to understand there are not people languishing in prisons for simple possession as it is.
Speaker 3:I'm speaking today with Luke Niferatos he is the executive vice president for Smart Approaches to Marijuana having a conversation about the legalization of marijuana and the impacts on teenagers and in other policy. So we've had a lot of conversation about that. What approaches going forward does Sam have in terms of sort of reining this back in?
Speaker 1:What are the steps that you might encourage others to make? Great question. So at the federal and state level, we need a renewed commitment to the science of today's high potency, high octane marijuana and the harms that it causes for mental health. When we're looking at schizophrenia, when we're looking at psychosis and addiction, when we're looking at the impacts on the roads and other such harms. We need states and governments and federal governments to start doing a public awareness campaign, much like the anti-drug campaign of years ago. That was very effective, particularly aimed at our young people, but really just the general public, about what this new marijuana looks like. I think that's the first step on the process, and then the second step in the process is we need to fight back against this marijuana industry. If there are states where they don't have legalization, they need to reject this push for legalization.
Speaker 1:In states where they do have legalization, like mine in Colorado, we need to do things to cap the potency of marijuana. It's unlimited in most of the states right now, so it can be sky high 99%. We need to cap the potency of marijuana back to what it really was in a state of nature. This plant really never had more than 3% THC in it. That's the ingredient that gets you high. So we need to have potency caps.
Speaker 1:We need to ban the advertising that this industry is doing, because the industry is normalizing this product before our very eyes and it's normalizing the heavy use of this substance, which is where it makes most of its money, just like tobacco. So we need to really treat this industry like tobacco in states where they've decided to allow it. And then I think the third step is really have a broader conversation in this country of these are experiments that states are doing. How are these experiments going? Are they going well, are they not? I think most people would say they're not going well. And then what can we do to start to fix this problem? And, you know, maybe say, as a society we don't want to have a normalized marijuana industry.
Speaker 3:Always fascinating to speak with you. Luke Niferatos, the executive vice president for SAM Smart Approaches to Marijuana. And just my very last question if people want more information, where's the best place for them to go online?
Speaker 1:Great question. Learn about SAM. That's S-A-M as in marijuana. Learnaboutsamorg is where you can find our organization. We put the science first. We're led by a science advisory board of professionals from Harvard, princeton Yale who are researching marijuana as we speak. They've reviewed all of the resources on our website. We have many different reports you can use free of charge, so check us out. Learnaboutsamorg.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for joining me today on DMV Spotlight and join us again next week at the same time. For DMV Spotlight, I'm Barbara Britt.