Speaker warns of impact that high-potency marijuana can have on youth

MOSES LAKE – Laura Stack, Founder of Johnny’s Ambassadors, spoke at Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center Thursday evening about the impact high-potency marijuana products can have on youth development and mental health. She shared her personal story of losing her son, Johnny, to suicide — something she believes marijuana contributed to.

“If it takes another 60 years, like it did with tobacco, this is going to be a nightmare if it doesn’t get regulated,” said Stack.

She broke down the timeline that led up to her son’s death to an audience of about 40 area residents. She started by describing the changes she saw in her son as well as pivotal events over those years. She said Johnny first tried marijuana at a party when he was 14 years old but she didn’t start seeing changes in her son until around the time he was 16.

“He did start to withdraw from friends and he started to isolate himself a lot more. He became kind of irritable and it was hard because he’s a teen, he’s a boy – what teen boys are not irritable?” said Stack.

She said she also noticed he began to sleep a lot more and didn’t want to go to school, with the most notable differences coming at the beginning of his senior year.

“It was like an alien came down and took my child and put another child there,” said Stack. “And we were like ‘Who is this person?’”

Over the next couple of years, she said Johnny struggled with an addiction to marijuana that led to psychosis and to him starting and not completing college several times. As a result of that psychosis, Johnny took his own life on November 20, 2019, at the age of 19.

“Three days before he died he came over for dinner and he said ‘Mom, I just wanted to let you know that you were right,’ and I said ‘About what?’ and he said ‘About marijuana.’ He said ‘You may not remember what you told me years ago that it would hurt my brain and it has ruined my mind and my life and I'm really sorry and I love you,’” Stack said.

It was her son’s death that launched her on the mission to create Johnny’s Ambassadors and travel the country speaking to parents and students about her son’s story and advocating against youth marijuana use, she said. Stack has also published a book called “The Dangerous Truth about Today’s Marijuana” detailing the life and death of her son coupled with research she has found on the effects of marijuana in youth development.

According to the National Institutes of Health, marijuana contained less than 4% THC and less than .3% CBD in 1995 compared to just over 15% THC and over .35% CBD in 2021.

Stack gave parents of teens advice on what they can do to keep their children safe from using cannabis and illegal drugs. She told them to talk about cannabis use with their children, its possible effects and give them ways to say no to peer pressure. She also said to establish a zero-tolerance policy in their home of using cannabis and supervising their children’s activities closely; track their car, drug test them, have passwords to all their social media accounts and charge their phones in the parents’ room at night, among other things.

“Remember you’re not their friend, that’s not your job,” Stack said. “You are not buddies, you’re the parent.”

Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.