Cannabis ‘normalized,’ say Sonoma teens

Are teenagers agnostic about the hazards of cannabis? Has weed’s sudden ubiquity given them permission to use it?

“One hundred percent,” a SVHS sophomore honors student told the Index-Tribune.

“You normalize it and it doesn’t seem that bad,” agreed a St. Francis eighth grader whose name, like the other teens quoted in this story, the Index-Tribune is withholding for privacy purposes.

Sarah Cunningham and Richard Von Feldt agree with the kids and, as founders of the North Bay “marijuana prevention” company Panaptic, brought parents up to speed on the dangers of teen cannabis use in “Parenting in the Age of Legal Marijuana,” a presentation at Adele Harrison Middle School on Feb. 28.

“With cannabis gaining cultural acceptance, young people are a lot more likely to use,” Von Feldt said. “Since 2009, the industry - expected by 2024 to be valued between 55 and 85 billion - has gotten a lot better at marketing, and the perception of danger has dropped sharply.”

In 2016, recreational cannabis was legalized in California by Prop 64. Now, it is widely available across much of America, legal in 10 states and the District of Columbia, and permitted medicinally in 32. In Colorado, which - along with the state of Washington - was first to allow cannabis use in all forms, there are more dispensaries than there are Starbucks, McDonald’s, and 7-11’s combined.

Closer to home, Mayor Amy Harrington predicted at a recent city council meeting that Sonoma would likely have two cannabis businesses in town by 2020; the Sonoma City Council last month voted to move forward with an ordinance that would allow one walk-in dispensary, and one delivery-only dispensary in town.

So if cannabis is OK for grown-ups to use, what makes it dangerous for teens?

Cannabis, Cunningham and Von Feldt said, significantly affects the developing teen brain, specifically the frontal lobe, which is actively growing until age 25. “The frontal lobe is responsible for the development of good judgment, it’s the part of the brain where we set goals and plan the steps needed to achieve them. It functions sort of like brakes on a car,” Cunningham said. “Adolescents who alter their frontal lobes with regular marijuana use become adults with limited capacity for good judgment. They’re like fully functioning race cars without adequate brakes.”

Despite that, Von Feldt warned, slick marketing campaigns and cultural normalization have led teens to mis-classify marijuana as a benign, mild intoxicant.

A stroll through the parking lot at Sonoma Valley High School, where juniors and seniors are allowed to hang out during lunch, produced conversations that bore out those assertions.

“It’s natural. It’s just a plant,” said a senior parked in the back row of the lot.

“It’s better for us than alcohol,” added his friend.

The Panaptic team is concerned that these kinds of teen users are missing the forest for the trees. “This crucial period of development and growth determines the structure and future functioning of the adult brain. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component in cannabis that delivers the so-called “high,” can impede the brain’s growth and alter its structure,” Cunningham said.

“And once the reward centers of the brain are rewired by addiction, they’re rewired permanently,” added Von Feldt.

Historically, adult warnings about unforeseen hazards do not always produce the desired outcome in children. In the case of cannabis, it is particularly difficult to dissuade teenagers, because the sensations achieved when the drug is ingested are generally pleasurable. “Weed makes kids feel more invincible than they already do,” one student said.

Many teens credit marijuana with easing anxiety, and some see it as a viable alternative to pharmaceutical mental health management.

“It helps when I feel sad or stressed out,” one SVHS student admitted. “It’s like an anti-depressant, only natural.”

Cunningham and Von Feldt cited longitudinal peer-reviewed studies to dispute the idea of marijuana as medicine for mental health. “Teens that use marijuana once a week or more are 2.5 times more likely to struggle with anxiety,” Von Feldt said.

“And regular users are at increased risk of suicide later in life. They are 2.5 to 3.5 times more likely to attempt it,” Cunningham added.

The potency of today’s marijuana is far greater than years past, Von Feldt said, and that fact alone is a large part of the problem. “In the 1960s, marijuana had a potency of about 2 percent. In the 1980s it was closer to 3. But the marijuana kids are smoking today can be up to 33 percent THC, with some of the edibles and concentrates measuring between 64 and 99 percent.”

Those potencies are affecting long-term intelligence, Von Feldt said, with chronic users showing declines of as much as 10 IQ points in some studies. “That’s the difference between normal intelligence and low intelligence,” he said. “Marijuana is sticky. It remains plugged into receptor sites. The dendrites start to dwindle, the fibres wear away, the nerves stop firing, and that prevents that part of the brain from working.”

Intangible and distant repercussions are a hard sell for teenagers. Especially when cannabis use is so common.

“It is everywhere,” said the sophomore. “Kids vape weed in their classes. I think they see it as just something to do. No big deal, like drinking water.”

Email Kate at kate.williams@sonomanews.com