The Dangerous Truth About Today’s Marijuana: Johnny Stack’s Life and Death Story

Marijuana and skull

The Dangerous Truth About Today’s Marijuana: Johnny Stack’s Life and Death Story

-Laura Stack

Laura StackMy 19-year-old son, Johnny, died by suicide after he become psychotic from using high potency THC vapes, wax, and marijuana. He started using it at age 14, after marijuana was first legalized in our home state of Colorado. He got his first marijuana from a friend’s older brother, who had a “medical” marijuana card. Johnny got his own “medical” marijuana card at 18 years old from an unknown doctor. He had no mental or mental condition — he just wanted to get high with his friends.

Today’s marijuana plant is very high in THC content (Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the euphoria producing-addicting substance in cannabis products), and the products derived from it (vapes, wax, edibles) are even higher in THC. Even where marijuana is illegal, Delta-8-THC and other THC products derived from hemp (now illegal under new legislation) are widespread. Today’s cannabis is destroying the health and social structure of Colorado and likely in your community, too. According to the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, out of nearly 3 million past-year cannabis users age 12 to 17, almost 45% have Cannabis Use Disorder, or addiction. Problematic use is particularly damaging to young people whose brains are still forming into their late 20s. Marijuana, whether obtained with a medical marijuana card or purchased illegally for recreational use, can harm the mental and physical health of young people (https://JohnnysAmbassadors.org/research). I’m sure you’ve already seen an uptick in use and addiction over the last few years. As far as parents and community members are concerned, we must do everything in our power to keep this from happening. Let’s talk more about these high potency THC products.

High THC Concentrates

Hash oil is a concentrated cannabis extract that can be smoked, vaped, eaten, or rubbed onto the skin. Hash oil products first appeared around 2010. Medical pot dispensaries began to carry early versions known as budders, saps, and waxes. They weren’t common in 2012 when voters in Colorado legalized recreational marijuana. But by 2015, these novel high-potency waxes and extracts were being used by high schoolers. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment started tracking “dabbing” on its annual Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS). I’d never heard of concentrates and didn’t know a “dab” of marijuana from a dance move. In fact, it wasn’t until Johnny left for his scholarship at Colorado State University that we found a “Nectar Collector” in his dorm room and said, “What is this stuff?”

Dabs and Dabbing

“Dabs” are extracted concentrates of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the chemical (cannabinoid) in marijuana that makes users “high.” The 2019 HKCS reported that 10.2% of high school students use dabs, and of those who admit to using marijuana, 52% report dabbing — a nearly 70% increase in only two years.

Here’s how dabs are made. Cannabis flowers are run through a solvent such as butane, ethanol, or propane. The THC leaves the plant material and dissolves into the solvent. The concentrated THC solution is filtered to remove most of the solvent and dried in a tray. The result is a sticky, bronze-colored oily substance that looks like beeswax or earwax. These can be additionally processed into distillates, which are more pure THC oils and extracts. Dabs are a chemical, not a plant, and they are highly potent, containing up to 99% THC. Dabs are typically heated on a hot surface, and the vapors are inhaled through a dab rig or dab pen.

Dabs are usually called by their consistency, such as shatter, wax, budder, sugar, live resin, or honey. Many advocates defend dabbing as no worse than smoking pot. But dabbing is far more potent and carries a lot more risk for mental illness and addiction than smoking. Even the plant today is considered high potency. You can’t find Woodstock weed any longer. THC potency isn’t restricted.

Here are the ways to ingest THC:

  1. Smoking (the dried flowers of the marijuana plant). In practice, it could include seeds, bits of stems, and shredded leaves as well. Users often refer to any cannabis plant matter by the catch-all terms flower, herb, bud, or grass. Until the 1990s, THC potency in herb averaged 3-5%; now, it varies between about 12-25%, depending on the cannabis strain, with an average of 20% in Colorado in 20251. Growers continually increase herb potency through selective breeding, and they boast strains from 30-40% THC. It’s usually smoked using a pipe or a bong or rolled into a joint.
  2. Eating (edibles such as candy and brownies). Edibles are made either directly with the dried flower or with THC concentrates, so potency varies widely. In Colorado, one serving in an edible is measured in milligrams rather than percentages and is 10mg THC per serving. However, not all states are regulated. Be aware that one gummy can be 50mg (five servings), and one package (such as a candy bar) could contain 1,000mg or more, so the serving size is extremely important.
  3. Vaping (such as dabs and oil). Dabs are solid concentrates (dab pens). Vapes are liquid concentrates (vape pens). Users vape high-THC oil in a pen. Distillates go through extra refinement to remove additional compounds. Once the THC has been distilled, it is recondensed, and the finished product can be anywhere from 15% to 99% pure THC. Distillates like these are usually vaporized, but users also put them under the tongue, dab them, smoke them, ingest them in a capsule, or infuse them into an edible.
  4. Other products (such as THC-infused drinks, drops, tampons, nasal sprays, suppositories, and toothpicks). The cannabis industry has created countless ways to get THC into the body through any opening.

A dab of 80% concentrate contains as much THC as 50 marijuana joints at 2% THC when I was a kid in the 80s. These products aren’t natural. Concentrates are to marijuana what crack is to cocaine. For example, one serving of an edible in Colorado is 10mg. But in one gram of 80% wax or oil in a cart, there is 800mg of THC!

High Potency THC Users Are Getting Younger and Younger

In addition to no regulatory oversight, here’s what’s worse, vaping and dabbing have become popular among very young people2. Many kids start dabbing by age 14, with the age of initiation in middle school. Most of the time, their parents don’t have a clue. Dab vapor doesn’t have the skunky smell most marijuana smoke has. It may not even have a scent at all, so kids can do it behind their parents’ backs at home and their teachers’ backs in school. Vaping THC doesn’t always make your breath stink in the same way tobacco and grass do, so they don’t have to be quite as sneaky. Vaping devices can look just like nicotine vaping devices, so check the cartridges. They may tell you they are “just vaping,” but be aware they could be vaping THC. “Vaping” can refer to nicotine or THC while dabbing is only marijuana.

Many parents think their child is just being a typical teen. Or it’s a phase he will outgrow. Or maybe they think it’s harmless because it’s legal. Perhaps you used it when you were a kid, and it didn’t hurt you. Maybe you think your student is getting straight "A"s, so marijuana can’t be affecting him/her. Or your kid wouldn’t do that because you go to church. Well, I used to think all of that, too. Many parents believe it’s harmless until it impacts their child.

Until the mid-to-late 20s, a person’s brain is still developing3, and intoxicants can damage brain development. Hence, one reason why 21 is the legal age for alcohol, pot, and cigarettes. Except “medical” marijuana when the legal age is 18, which is an oxymoron because cannabis has not been approved by the FDA as medicine. Numerous medical studies show dabbing can slow mental development, cause anxiety and depression4, and trigger schizophrenia5. And these mental illnesses can lead to suicide6. According to the Colorado Violent Death Reporting System, the number one cause of death in Colorado for youth ages 15-18 is suicide, and the number one substance found in their toxicology reports is THC.

The 2020 report from the Retail Marijuana Public Health Advisory Committee, which is part of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, issued this public warning statement:

“The RMPHAC reviewed the relationships between adolescent and young adult marijuana use and cognitive abilities, academic performance, mental health, and future substance use. Weekly marijuana use by adolescents is associated with deficits in academic and cognitive abilities, even 28 days after last use. Weekly use is also associated with failure to graduate from high school or complete a college degree. Adolescents and young adults who use marijuana are more likely to experience psychotic symptoms as adults (such as hallucinations, paranoia, and delusional beliefs), future psychotic disorders (such as schizophrenia), and suicidal thoughts or attempting suicide. Evidence shows that adolescents who use marijuana can become addicted to marijuana, and that treatment for marijuana addiction can decrease use and dependence. Additionally, those who quit using marijuana have lower risks of adverse cognitive and mental health outcomes than those who continue to use. Marijuana use is also associated with future use and use disorder for tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. Adolescent use of marijuana with higher THC concentration (>10% THC) is associated with continued use and development of future mental health symptoms and disorders."

My Johnny’s Suicide Was Caused by Dabbing

Three days before Johnny killed himself, he came over for dinner. He lived in our condo a couple miles down the street and would often pop in for a home-cooked meal.

“I need to tell you that you were right,” he said to me.

“Right about what?” I asked.

“Right about the marijuana. You told me marijuana would hurt my brain. It’s ruined my mind and my life, and I’m sorry. I love you.”

He died by suicide three days later, a victim of an acute psychotic episode. After he died, we recovered his journal, where he had just written, “the mob is after me” and “the whole world knows about me.” Johnny was diagnosed with “THC abuse – severe” by a psychiatric hospital. Johnny was a great person who made some bad choices, but he was a victim of the addiction-for-profit marijuana industry. He should never have had access to these products in the first place.

Devastated by his death, I formed a nonprofit, Johnny’s Ambassadors Youth THC Prevention, to educate teens, parents, and communities about the dangers of today’s potent THC products (marijuana, dabs, vapes, edibles) on adolescent brain development, mental illness, and suicidality. I researched high potency THC products and wrote a 300-page book with 176 scientific citations, The Dangerous Truth About Today’s Marijuana: Johnny Stack’s Life and Death Story. Today, we give 200+ scientific presentations each year at middle and high schools, community events, and prevention conferences. Our nonprofit offers free educational resources to support schools with their prevention efforts, thanks to our generous donors. Please visit JohnnysAmbassadors.org or email me at Laura@JohnnysAmbassadors.org if you’re interested in receiving links to these resources to use in your schools or community.

I hope this article has given you some new information. Through our family’s tragic tale and nonprofit work, we hope to raise awareness on the dangers of youth THC misuse and keep other teens from following Johnny’s path. Please become one of Johnny’s Ambassadors and help us prevent youth THC use. We would love to support your efforts.

References

1. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Marijuana Potency. 8 July 2020, www.drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/marijuana/marijuana-potency. 

2. Gillespie, Claire. “’Dabbing' Pot is The New Dangerous Trend Among Teens—Here's What to Know.” Health.com, 18 Feb. 2020, www.health.com/condition/smoking/dangers-of-dabbing-pot. 

3. Gogtay, Nitin, et al. “Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 101,21 (2004): 8174-9. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0402680101.

4. NIDA. "What are marijuana's long-term effects on the brain?" National Institute on Drug Abuse, 8 Apr. 2020, https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/what-are-marijuanas-long-term-effects-brain. Accessed 13 Mar. 2021.

5. Di Forti, Marta, et al. “Daily use, especially of high-potency cannabis, drives the earlier onset of psychosis in cannabis users.” Schizophrenia bulletin vol. 40,6 (2014): 1509-17. DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbt181.

6. Price, Ceri, et al. “Cannabis and suicide: longitudinal study.” The British Journal of Psychiatry: the Journal of Mental Science, vol. 195,6 (2009): 492-7. DOI: 10.1192/bjp.bp.109.065227.

For 30 years, Laura Stack was best known in the business world as “The Productivity Pro.” Her career as a keynote speaker, bestselling author of eight books, and corporate spokesperson came to a screeching halt on November 20, 2019, when her 19-year-old son, Johnny, died by suicide after becoming psychotic from dabbing high-THC marijuana concentrates. Laura responded by forming the nonprofit, Johnny’s Ambassadors, to educate parents, teens, and communities about the dangers of today’s high-THC marijuana on adolescent brain development, psychosis, and suicide. Her platform now brings prevention education to drug prevention conferences, community groups, and schools to stop youth marijuana use. Johnny’s story has been told in People Magazine, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Epoch Times, "The Ingraham Angle," "The Untold Story" with Martha MacCallum, and PBS. Laura is the recipient of the Drug-Free America Foundation’s Moxie Award for protecting youth from substances, the Leadership in Advocacy Award from the National Speakers Association, and the American Association of Suicidology’s Loss Survivor of the Year Award. Laura is a powerful speaker who brings Johnny’s personal warning and solid research together in her book, The Dangerous Truth About Today’s Marijuana: Johnny Stack’s Life and Death Story. Described as a force of nature with unstoppable drive and unwavering purpose, Laura is determined to get teens to #StopDabbing.