At Least 11% of High School Seniors Using Over-the-Counter Synthetic Marijuana

What the fuck is “synthetic marijuana”?

Back in my day, 11% of high school seniors smoked organic marijuana. Actually, it was probably a significantly higher percentage than that. Maybe 35%.

New York Post:

New medical research in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that 11% of high school seniors admit to using a prevalent and easily accessible synthetic marijuana, known as delta-8 THC.

That number translates to “at least one or two students in every average-sized high school class,” according to Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

A lack of federal regulation means there’s no age restriction on the over-the-counter product, found readily in gas stations, online and in convenience stores in many states — leaving experts worried.

And it’s not just easy access that’s keeping them awake at night — there’s also the concern about the effects and ingredients of variations like delta-8, which is typically targeted and packaged to attract young people.

Teens are especially susceptible, as the human brain isn’t fully formed until age 25.

With teens [these products] have an impact that is much more significant [compared to] what happens to the adult brain,” Heather Hugelmeyer, director of behavioral health at Northwell Health’s Garden City Patient Center, told The Post.

Heather Hugelmeyer

In other words, young users could be in for something way more serious than a bad case of the munchies.

“I can say there have been multiple, situations around the country that have been documented where people were using these synthetic derivatives that then had terrible reactions,” she said, adding that the realistic number of 12th-grade users is likely much higher than 11%.

“Whether it was psychotic symptoms, passing out or other different types of reactions that were potentially, medically dangerous to that individual — or they became agitated or behaved in a way that put others at risk.”

It’s also important to note that back in my day, marijuana was not causing schizophrenia and other forms of violent psychosis.

Since the beginning of the “medical marijuana” legalized grow systems (which started after I was out of high school), they’ve brought in mad scientists to make marijuana into super marijuana.

I smoked one hit of that science weed maybe ten years ago and felt like I’d just eaten an entire sheet of acid. I couldn’t believe how powerful it was, and just how different the experience was from when I was in high school.

These pills are presumably even worse.

See: Court Upholds Town Ordinance Banning Tobacco Sales to People Born in 21st Century

Elvis Dunderhoff contributed to this article.