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In 2019, Alex Berenson wrote, Tell Your Children The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence. The book contains a warning about the harmful effects of marijuana especially that it causes psychosis and leads to violence.  I blogged on this book several months ago.  The warning has largely gone unheeded and many states have pushed to legalize marijuana as a medicine and as a recreational drug even though the Food and Drug Administration has not approved it as such.  Marijuana did not undergo rigorous testing by the FDA before being made available to the public as a medicine.  This by itself is outrageous.  Now, the harmful effects warned about in 2019 by Berenson are coming to fruition.  The gut-wrenching story of Johnny Stack is evidence of that fact.  This story appeared in The Epoch Times, Oct. 14-20, 2020 and was written by Charlotte Cuthbertson.  The title of the article is, High-Potency Marijuana, Psychosis, and Suicide: Johnny Stack’s Story.  I am going to give the highlights in this brief blog.
Johnny was 19 and addicted to high-potency marijuana.  His mother, Laura Stack, remarked to the Epoch Times, “I just can’t believe that he had to grow up in Colorado–the first state to legalize it–and my son has to be the victim.”  Johnny started smoking marijuana in 2014 after the state legalized its commercial use.  He was 14.  The real problems started in 2016, when Johnny started taking “dabs” (high potency marijuana) which could contain more than 80 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in the cannabis plant.  Dabbing is a fairly new and popular way to consume concentrated THC. The THC is stripped out of the cannabis plant most commonly using butane (making butane hash oil) or propane.  A further process then strips away the butane, leaving a dabble concentrate, which is vaporized–via glass rig or vaping device–into smoke that’s inhaled.  It can be odorless.  Other forms of butane hash oil include waxes, shatters, and budders–which are similar, but have different textures. In 1995, the average potency (THC level) was around 4 percent. Now, even regular marijuana buds sold at a dispensary can have 25 percent potency.  The state (Colorado) that went all-in on marijuana is facing the ugly side of a drug that’s now so potent, it’s triggering cannabis-induced psychosis, especially in teens.  After Johnny started dabbing, he went from being a happy teenager with a 4.2 GPA to failing classes and becoming withdrawn.  Eventually, he dropped out of all the activities he was involved in.  He stopped associating with previous friends and became more defiant.  His father, John Stack, attributed the change in behavior to teenage rebellion.  Neither parent connected the changes to marijuana.  They knew nothing about dabbing.  By 18, Johnny moved away from home.  He told his parents that he loved marijuana.  By August, 2018, Johnny was attending Colorado State University in Fort Collins and was dabbing every day.  He was addicted to high-potency marijuana.  Two weeks into college, Laura received a text from Johnny saying he was nervous about not making friends.  Laura responded that it was perfectly natural to be nervous about not making friends.  Johnny replied, “Is it perfectly natural to think about killing yourself every day?”  Laura and John immediately went and got Johnny and  disenrolled him from school.  He was placed in a hospital and was suicidal.  The hospital held Johnny for 72 hours and released him.  He told his mom while on the phone with her that when they let him go, he was going to try and kill himself.  Later, Johnny tried to hang himself in his dorm room.  Laura called the police and they were able to reach him and stop him.  His parents took him to the hospital.  He was suicidal, psychotic.  This time Johnny stayed in the hospital for two weeks until all of the marijuana was out of his system.  Marijana can be detected in a chronic users urine for more than 30 days after his/her last hit.  Over the next three months, Johnny sobered up.  He got a job working at a kennel.  He attended classes to help with his anxiety.  He told his parents that he was ready to go back to college.  So, they sent him to the University of Northern Colorado.  A few weeks later, Johnny started dabbing again.  By April, he was delusional.  Laura related, “He called me at 3 o’clock in the morning and said his phone was bugged, his dorm was bugged.”  Johnny was 19 and his parents were blocked from his medical information.  His parents grew frustrated with the system and they were not able to find out about his medical condition.  Johnny was at UNC and he thought the mob was after him and his parents were helpless.  Johnny ended up in another mental hospital for several weeks.  He was put on antipsychotic medications and his parents were told that it might take six to 12 months to recover.  Johnny left the hospital and went to a program center in Denver called Urban Peak.  They really helped him.  He became sober, got a place to rent and started working at Panera.  By June, Johnny seemed to be doing well.  He was working at PetSmart and his parents bought him a dog for support.  However, he stopped taking his medications and started dabbing again.  Then, all of sudden he told his parents he was not going to do weed anymore.  In November, he went to his parents house and opened up about his addiction.  He admitted that his parents were right about marijuana and said that the drug had ruined his mind and his life.  He told them he was sorry.  He told his mother that he loved her.  Then, three days later on Nov. 20, 2019, he jumped off a six-story building and ended his life.
The vast majority of youth in Christian Thurstone’s substance treatment program are obtaining marijuana through the medical route.  In Colorado, youth can obtain a medical marijuana card at 18.  The legal age for recreational use is 21.  50 percent of 18-year-olds are still in high school and any of these can easily become a dealer for the whole high school.  Thurstone states that “historically, only 6 percent of adolescents who need substance treatment get it.”  The link between marijuana and suicide is evident.  In Colorado, suicide was the leading cause of death among youth aged 10 to 18 between 2013 and 2017 according to the state’s health department.  In 2004, 26 percent of young people had alcohol in their bodies at the time, while 15 percent had marijuana. In 2017, 9 percent had alcohol and 32 percent had marijuana.
Johnny Stack’s story is being repeated across America.  His parents are attempting to spread the word about the dangers of marijuana.  They want others to know what Johnny said himself, “that marijuana ruined my mind and my life.”  I have dedicated this blog to helping them reach others with this message.  Hopefully, we can help other families avoid a grief that is “unimaginable, deep, raw, and ever present.”

Alex Berenson wrote, “Tell Your Children The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence” in which he exposes six myths about marijuana. In Part 1, the information about how marijuana became a medicine was related. The story reveals the first myth: marijuana is a medicine. Marijuana may have some benefit for cancer-related wasting. However, this has not been proven since THC (one active ingredient of marijuana) nor cannabis itself has ever been show to work in randomized clinical trials. These are the only trials that reliably prove a drug works. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never approved marijuana as a medicine (p. xix). Marijuana is still considered an illegal drug by the Federal government. An Australian study recently cast doubt on its effectiveness in chronic pain (p. xviii). In the mid-1970’s marijuana consumed in the U. S. was less than 2 percent THC. Today, it is 25 percent THC. The marijuana being used today is much more potent. Heavy use of cannabis in the U. S. has soared in the last decade–nearly tripling (p. xix). Two hundred million Americans have gained access to medical or recreational marijuana in the last twenty years. These facts mean that we really do not know how marijuana use will affect the general public.
Myth Number Two: marijuana is harmless. Marijuana causes schizophrenia and psychosis. Schizophrenia and psychosis cause violence. These facts are the main thesis of Berenson’s book. THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) is one of the active chemicals in marijuana. THC induces euphoria, enhances sensation, distorts the perception of time, and increases hunger. Marijuana is an intoxicant (similar to alcohol) and a psychoactive drug (a mind altering drug). The dangerous effects of marijuana are one reason that it has been illegal in the U. S. (marijuana is still illegal on the Federal level, but some states have begun to legalize it medically and others both medically and recreationally).
Myth number three: there are no documented deaths due to marijuana. Gary Johnson, the libertarian candidate for president said this in August, 2016. He is wrong. Cannabis can be lethal in many ways. First, it increases the risk of heart attack. Second, marijuana impaired driving is killing people on our highways. Third, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) relates that more than 1,000 people died between 1999 and 2016 and cannabis or cannabinoids and no other drugs were listed on their death certificates as a secondary cause (p. xx).
Myth Number Four: marijuana can help stem the opiate epidemic by weaning people off of drugs like heroin. In fact, Berenson observes, marijuana is a gateway drug that often leads to use of other drugs (p. xxi). Opiate deaths are rising as fast or faster in states that have legalized cannabis (p. xxi).
Myth Number Five: marijuana does not cause mental illness. The first comprehensive guide to herbs and drugs ever created, A Chinese pharmacopeia called the Pen-ts’ao Ching, warned that excessive cannabis smoking caused “seeing devils” (p. xxiii). By about 100 A.D., Chinese physicians believed the drug “stimulated uncontrollable violence and criminal inclinations” (p. xxiii). Most will not have a psychotic episode while using marijuana, but a minority will and doctors have no way of predicting who they will be (p. xxiv). The link between marijuana and mental illness has been proven. The National Academy of Medicine issued a 468-page research report, titled, “The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids.” They state, “Cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses; the higher the use, the greater the risk” (p. xxv). The number of people showing up in hospitals with psychosis has soared since 2006, alongside marijuana use. Emergency rooms saw a 50 percent increase in the number of cases where someone received a primary diagnosis of a psychotic disorder between 2006 and 2014. By 2014, more than 2,000 Americans eery day showed up or were brought to emergency rooms for schizophrenia and other psychoses–810,000 people in all (p. xxvi). By 2014, 11 percent of Americans who showed up in emergency rooms with a psychotic disorder also had a secondary diagnosis of marijuana misuse (p. xxvi). Mexico criminalized marijuana in 1920, 17 years before the U. S. after Mexican lawmakers became convinced the drug caused mental illness and violence (p. xxix).
Myth Number six: violence has fallen in states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use. In 2017, Cory Booker, a democratic senator from New Jersey, introduced a bill to legalize marijuana nationally. Booker said that states that have legalized marijuana “are seeing decreases in violent crime” (p. xxxi). Booker is wrong. Berenson provides much more information in his book and sites many studies that prove his thesis. Marijuana is a dangerous drug that should continue to be illegal in the U.S.

Alex Berenson has written an important book that reveals the truth about marijuana. The book is titled, Tell Your Children The Truth About Marijuana.
Berenson destroys six myths about marijuana. But, before we examine each myth, the story about how marijuana came to be used as medicine needs to be known. Ethan Nedelmann is perhaps the most influential person behind the movement to legalize medical marijuana. Nadelmann was born in 1957 and grew up in Westchester County, north of New York City. He went to college at McGill in Montreal before transferring to Harvard. He graduated in 1979 and entered a joint law-PhD program also at Harvard. The drug war grabbed his attention. He decided to write his PhD thesis about the effort to block supply of drugs from the source on an international level. Nadelmann opposed America’s war on drugs. In 1992, Nadelmann met George Soros for lunch. Soros was a billionaire at the time and was interested in liberalizing drug policy. In 1994, Nadelmann, with Soros’ backing, started the Lindesmith Center (Alfred Lindesmith was a sociologist who questioned whether drugs were as addictive as they seemed). In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected president of the United States. In that same year, Proposition 215 took off from San Francisco and Nadelmann became involved. Prop 215 was the first medical marijuana initiative. It offered to give California’s voters the chance to change the state’s laws so that anyone 18 or older could use marijuana with a physician’s authorization. Initiatives allow voters to vote yes or no on issues directly. They don’t exist on the national level. California is one of the states where they are most frequently used. Lester Grinspoon in Marijuana Reconsidered, devoted a thirteen page chapter to the idea of medical marijuana, but otherwise the concept did not receive much attention. Not much thought was given to marijuana as medicine. However, AIDS activists in San Francisco began using marijuana to treat AIDS-related wasting. Clinical trials would show that marijuana was only marginally helpful in treating the syndrome. Activists insisted that dying patients should be able to use marijuana. Nadelmann paid for a private statewide poll to see if Prop 215 had a chance to win. To his surprise, it did. He brought the results to George Soros who liked the idea of medical marijuana and spent $550,000.00 to back the initiative. Two other rich men were supporters: Peter Lewis, the billionaire chairman of Progressive Insurance and George Zimmer, the founder of Men’s Warehouse who, together, added another $750,000.00. Lewis and Zimmer actively used marijuana. On Nov. 5, 1996, Prop. 215 won approval in California–clearing the way for medical marijuana use in the state and eventually across America. The long-term importance of Prop. 215 is hard to overstate. Also, in 1996, Bill Clinton won re-election as president of the U.S. The concept of medical marijuana is really a misnomer. The Food and Drug Administration has never approved of marijuana as a medicine! (Part 2 to follow).

There is a strong push to legalize marijuana in the United States.  However, the dangers of this drug are not completely known.  We are still in the process of discovering all of the detrimental aspects of its use.  A recent study published March 12, 2015 in the journal Hippocampus revealed that teens who were heavy marijuana users–smoking it daily for three years–had an abnormally shaped hippocampus and performed poorly on long-term memory tasks.
The hippocampus is that part of the brain important to long-term memory (also known as episodic memory), which is the ability to remember autobiographical or life events.  Young adults who abused cannabis as teens performed about 18 percent worse on long-term memory tests than young adults who never abused cannabis.  “The memory processes that appear to be affected by cannabis are ones that we use every day to solve common problems and to sustain our relationships with friends and family” (Dr. John Csernansky, the Lizzie Gilman professor and chair of psychiatry and behavior sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern Memorial Hospital–a senior author of the study).
The study is the first to say the hippocampus is shaped differently in heavy marijuana smokers and the different looking shape is directly related to poor long-term memory performance. Previous research by the same Northwestern team showed poor short-term and working memory performance and abnormal shapes of brain structures in the sub-cortex including the striatum, globus pallidus and thalamus.  Marijuana is detrimental to brain function.  Decriminalization will inevitably lead to greater abuse.  In the United States, marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug.  Young adults have the highest and growing prevalence of use.  Young adults who abuse this drug are damaging their brains and  mortgaging their futures.
The study also found that young adults with schizophrenia who abused cannabis as teens performed about 26 percent more poorly on memory tests than young adults with schizophrenia who never abused cannabis.
The study is titled, “Cannabis-related episodic memory deficits and hippocampal morphological differences in healthy individuals and schizophrenia subjects.” The other Northwestern authors include: senior authors Lei Wang and  Hans C. Breiter and coauthors Derin J. Cobia, James L. Reilly, Andrea G. Roberts and Kathryn I. Alpert.  The study was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health. (The details of the study were reported at www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2015).
While we are concerned about the physical effects of obesity among our young people and spending large sums of money to improve their health, we, at the same time, are pushing to legalize marijuana which is damaging to their brains!  Such hypocrisy is tolerated only because we are driven by greed and desire to indulge the flesh.  The lusts of the flesh war against the soul (I Peter 2:11).
The Christian virtue of temperance is sorely needed today (II Pet. 1:5-8).  Temperance is self-control.  Every Christian should strive to bring their body under the control of God’s will and wisdom.

What is happening in America?  At least 20 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical purposes (these are restricted).  Two states (Washington and Colorado) have legalized marijuana for recreational use.  Other states are watching this experiment and will have to decide if they will legalize this drug or not.
The President of the United States minimized the use of marijuana comparing it to alcohol and cigarettes.  He said, “As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life.  I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol” (Huffington Post, 1/19/2014).  Please refer to the article that I wrote on this blog site titled, “Alcohol and Marijuana” to see the dangers of alcohol and that 88,000 Americans lose their lives each year to heavy drinking of alcohol.
What is Marijuana?
Marijuana refers to the dried leaves, flowers, stems, and seeds from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa, which contains the psychoactive (mind-altering) chemical delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), as well as other related compounds. This plant material can be smoked or concentrated into a resin called hashish or a sticky black liquid called hash oil (National Institutes of Health).
Facts About Marijuana
1.  Marijuana is the most common illicit drug used in the United States.
2.  The drug is being used more among young people (since 2007) and at the same time viewed as being less harmful.
3.  Marijuana is usually smoked (rolled in cigarette wrappers) called “joints” or in pipes called “bongs.”
4.  Marijuana smoke has a pungent and distinctive usually sweet-and-sour odor.
5.  Marijuana can be mixed with tea or used in food products.
General Effects of Marijuana
1.  Short-term memory loss.  Slowness of learning.
2.  Impaired lung function (similar to that found in cigarettes).
3.  Extended use–causes cancer and other lung disease.
4.  Causes decreased sperm count and sperm mobility.
5.  Impairs immune response.
6.  Adverse effects on heart function.  Increase of heart rate–20-100 percent after smoking.
7.  Developmental effects in children and adolescents:  amotivational syndrome–energy loss, poor school performance leading to dropouts, harmed parental relationships, behavior disruptions and psychotic episodes.
Effects on the Brain
1.  THC acts on specific molecular targets on brain cells called cannabinoid receptors.  These in turn affect other neural receptors and play an important part in brain development and function.  Marijuana affects every part of the brain.
2.  THC affects the parts of the brain responsible for pleasure, memory, thinking, concentration, sensory and time perception, and coordinated movement.
3.  THC produces altered perceptions and mood, impaired coordination, difficulty with thinking and problem solving, and disrupted learning and memory.
4.  THC also affects brain development.  Prolonged use can have permanent results.  A long-term study in New Zealand showed that heavy users lost an average of 8 points in IQ between the ages of 13 and 38.  (National Institute on Drug Abuse).
Is Marijuana Addictive?
Contrary to public myth, marijuana is addictive.  It can also lead to the use of more potent drugs like cocaine or heroin.  It is referred to as a “gateway” drug for this reason.
Is Marijuana Medicine?
Clinical evidence has not shown that the therapeutic benefits of the marijuana plant outweigh its health risks (NIDA).  There are many harmful ingredients in marijuana that have not been fully evaluated at this time.
Marijuana and the Bible
The Bible teaches that the body of a Christian belongs to God by virtue of redemption through Jesus Christ (I Cor. 6:19-20).  The body must be used for the glory of God and not for drug abuse or fornication.
Christians are not to pursue the lusts of the flesh, but rather the spiritual things of God.  Rom. 8:5-10; Col. 3:1-5.
Christians must not be brought under the power of any illicit drug that impairs judgment and compromises personal restraint against sin.  When a person is “high” there is a loss of self-control (temperance) II Pet. 1:6.
Marijuana is a means of seeking  pleasure through a mind-altering drug.  The pleasures of sin must be rejected.  Heb. 11:24-25 (The example of Moses).
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:1-2).

In an interview with the New Yorker’s David Remnick, President Obama said, “As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a y0ung person up through a big chunk of my adult life.  I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol” (Molly Reilly, www.huffingtonpost.com, 1/19/2014 updated: 1/25/2014).
Perhaps we should ask, “how dangerous is alcohol?”  There are approximately 88,000 deaths attributable to excessive alcohol use each year in the U.S.  This makes excessive alcohol use the 3rd leading lifestyle-related cause of death for the nation.  Excessive alcohol use is responsible for 2.5 million years of potential life lost annually, or an average of about 30 years of potential life lost for each death.  In 2006, there were more than 1.2 million emergency room visits and 2.7 million physician office visits due to excessive drinking.  The economic costs of excessive alcohol consumption in 2006 were estimated at $223.5 billion.  (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention–Fact Sheet Alcohol Use and Health).
The standard measure for a drink is 0.6 ounces (1.2 tablespoons) of pure alcohol.  Generally, this amount of alcohol is found in:  12-ounces of regular beer or wine cooler; 8-ounces of malt-liquor; 5-ounces of wine; or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits or liquor (gin, rum, vodka, whiskey) (Center for Disease Control and Prevention).  Binge drinking is defined for women as 4 or more drinks during a single occasion.  For men, 5 or more drinks during a single occasion.  Heavy drinking for women is more than 1 drink per day on average and for men it is more than 2 drinks per day on average!  A small amount of alcohol becomes very dangerous very quickly.
Here is a list of the immediate health risks of excessive alcohol use:  unintential injuries, including traffic injuries, falls, drownings, burns, and unintential firearm injuries;  violence including intimate partner violence and child maltreatment.  About 35% of victims report that offenders are under the influence of alcohol.  Alcohol use is also associated with 2 out of 3 incidents of intimate partner violence.  Alcohol is the leading factor in child maltreatment and neglect cases, and is the most frequent substance abused among these parents;  risky sexual behaviors, including unprotected sex, sex with multiple partners, and increased risk of sexual assault.  These behaviors can result in unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases;  miscarriage and still birth among pregnant women, and a combination of physical and mental birth defects among children that last throughout life;  and alcohol poisoning, a medical emergency that results from high blood alcohol levels that suppress the central nervous system and can cause loss of consciousness, low blood pressure and body temperature, coma, respiratory depression, or death.
Some of the long-term health risks of excessive alcohol use are:  neurological problems, including dementia, stroke and neuropathy;  cardiovascular problems, including myocardial infarction, cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation and hypertension;  psychiatric problems including depression, anxiety, and suicide;  social problems including unemployment, lost productivity, and family problems and  cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, colon, and breast.  In general, the risk of cancer increases with increasing amounts of alcohol.  Liver diseases including, alcoholic hepatitis, cirrhosis, which is among the 15 leading causes of all deaths in the United States, and among persons with Hepatitis C virus, worsening of liver function and interference with medications used to treat this condition. Excessive alcohol use also causes gastrointestinal problems, including pancreatitis and gastritis (Center for Disease Control and Prevention).  I gave this list because I wanted you to read what the President of the United States left out of his statement that marijuana is not any more dangerous than alcohol.  Do you see how dangerous alcohol is?  Do we need another drug that destroys the brain and other vital organs of the body?  Do we need another drug that will rob of life, peace and happiness?  By our choices we reflect a penchant for the indulgence of the flesh at the expense of our own well-being and that of others.  Such self-indulgence leads to self-destruction!  Be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is!  The President of the United States was minimizing a grave danger.  Don’t be fooled.