CHIMACUM — Parents and teachers need to inform teenagers of the potential dangers of smoking marijuana at a young age, but it will be challenging to get the message across.
So said a state health worker to a Chimacum audience this week.
“If you get someone like me — a ‘stranger guy’ — in front of a room telling kids what to think and do, it gets about zero traction,” said Scott McCarty on Monday night.
“We need to get parents and other people in the community to work on the messaging. Saying these things a single time won’t make a difference, but the 50th time, it may sink in.
“You need to continue; you can’t abandon the message.”
McCarty is the prevention systems project manager in the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery for the state Department of Social and Health Services.
He travels the state making scientifically based presentations on the effects of marijuana, often at the invitation of community groups.
McCarty addressed about 50 people in the Chimacum High School library at an event sponsored by the Chimacum Prevention Coalition.
Marijuana approval
Washington state voters approved Initiative 502 in November 2012, legalizing the possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana and the establishment of a retail network to sell pot products.
Possession and consumption are still illegal for anyone younger than 21.
This might not be enough due to the drug’s effect on brain development, which is not complete until around age 25, McCarty said.
“Marijuana doesn’t kill brain cells,” he said. “It just makes them uncoordinated and breaks connections.
“These connections never come back, and this impairs the ability to turn short-term memories into long-term memories.”
McCarty said a teenage brain “isn’t just an adult brain with fewer miles on it.”
Rather, it is unformed in its ability to make sound decisions, McCarty said, adding that one factor that increases the risk is the drug’s increased potency over the past 50 years: Newer strains can have up to 20 percent THC, while most pre-1978 marijuana in the United States ranged from 1 percent to 4 percent, he said.
McCarty said there are no reported fatal marijuana overdoses because the drug doesn’t suppress breathing like heroin or alcohol, resulting in death.
It does affect judgment, as in one case where a Colorado man jumped to his death after a heavy dose of edibles or in other cases when an impaired bicyclist cuts in front of a bus.
“This kind of thing is never reported as a drug-related death,” he said.
“It is always attributed to ‘oops,’ and the impairment isn’t mentioned.”
Edible products
The availability of edible products poses a considerable danger, McCarty said, due to inconsistent doses and no assurance that a dose listed on one product is the same as another.
Washington state has limited 10 milligrams of THC for edibles, something McCarty calls “a made up number.”
A greater variety of edibles is available in the medical market than in retail, although with fewer regulations, he said.
McCarty showed a slide of one dessert product that was rated at 110 milligrams, far above the average dose.
A special danger, he said, happens when a bag of pot candy is left on a counter for a minute, during which time a child could steal and eat the contents.
Other new smoke technologies such as “dabbing” and the creation of a crack-like smokable substance increase the danger to developing minds.
“Kids are drawn to highly concentrated versions of whatever substances they may be using,” said Chimacum High School Principal Whitney Meissner after the meeting.
“I’ve seen this with nicotine and other drugs. They are looking to get an instant rush at an intense, high level.”
Contradiction alleged
McCarty said he’s observed a contradiction in pot smokers who are opposed to genetic modification of food processes.
“There is no agricultural product with more time, money and effort spent to make it stronger and more potent and more resistant to bugs than marijuana,” McCarty said.
“So I find it strange when heavy pot smokers are so opposed to GMO.”
The meeting was attended by elected officials, parents and teachers as well as a few children.
Tanner Wolfe, 9, attending with his stepmother, said that what he heard convinced him to stay away from the drug.
“I’m not going to do it,” he said.
“I thought about trying it, but it seems like a lot of people have tried it and it hasn’t worked out for them.”
Julia Danskin, a nurse in the Jefferson County Department of Public Health, said the effort to discourage kids from smoking at a young age hinges on opening up an honest dialogue with other community members.
“My role as a prevention coordinator is to identify ways we can reduce underage use of alcohol and marijuana,” she said.
“One way to do this is to make sure parents and kids have great relationships and can talk to each other so the kids can make the healthy choices.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.