THC: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

to be real clear about what this podcast is intended for it is intended for entertainment and informational purposes but not considered help if you actually need real help and you're in need of help please seek that out if you're in dire need of help you can go to your nearest emergency room or you can check into a rehab center or call a counselor like me and talk about your problems and work through them but don't rely on a podcast to be that form of help it's not it's just a podcast it's for

entertainment and information only so let's keep it in that light all right have a good time learn something and then get the real help that you need from a professional there's a lot of research that's been going on over the last oh i don't know 10 years related to marijuana usage And I am getting, as I have said multiple times in podcasts in the past, flooded with teenagers.

All of a sudden getting calls from families of teenagers who are at a loss as to what to do about their kids who are using marijuana. And it's an interesting situation that I find myself in. As a clinician, the families will call me. Because it's always the family. It's never the kid that calls and says, hey, I need some help. And they call and they want to know what they can do to kind of address the situation that they got going on with their kids. And so they bring their...

The first thing I ask them to do is to come in before I ever see their son or daughter. Because I really need to kind of get a sense of what's going on with the parents and where they are in their involvement. and contributing, enabling, or complicit kind of behaviors in this child who has this problem. And there are a number of things that I note. One is that they dismiss the usage, just part of growing up, they think. And I think that perhaps is a generational problem.

They don't view it as anything other than just like some kind of phase. And second... that they don't really understand the usage, the means that people are using THC products these days. Edibles, dabs, oils, waxes, that's very confusing to the parents who have no idea. They usually either haven't researched it and they've never really looked at it or they haven't bothered to look at it at all.

But I can almost guarantee that Most of the parents, if not all of them, that come into my office have no idea what it is. They've seen the paraphernalia that the kid has as a dab pen or they've got a pipe they're using. They've seen the edibles, but they have no idea how it works. They don't know what that is. But as far as how to use it or what to notice or what does it mean, they're at a loss. Sometimes I do get parents that are pretty well versed in it, but usually not. So that's number two.

And number three, which I think is kind of the big one, is that they completely underestimate the effect of the usage, and they do not recognize the usage, or the amount of the usage, rather. I guess that's a better way to put it, the amount of the usage. And so what I typically get is a kid who's 15, 16, 17, sometimes 18 years old, but usually lower than 18, And the parents come in and say, we know they're using, but we just want to try to get them to stop.

And so when I question them about how much are they using or how are they using or what are they using, they will mention that they have some kind of a vape pen or pipe or something they call it, and that's about it. They have no idea what the edibles are. They have no idea what the oils and the derivatives of that, the powders, nothing. They know nothing. And so they totally underestimate the amount of THC that's being consumed by their child.

And as a comparison, the NIH studies and the various studies look at the percentages of THC in marijuana. Back in the 70s, it was about 8% THC. And in the concentrates that we're now seeing, high as 15, sometimes 20 or 25%. When you start talking about... you know, the liquid forms, you're talking about 60 and 80% THC. So you get a, if you're dabbing, you're getting a full dose of that amount of THC, which is not what these parents are understanding.

And they don't, so they don't have any idea what they've got on their hands when they've got this kid who has this issue. And so they'll come in and I talk to them and they realize that the kid's got a, you know, some kind of a problem. And it's usually... It's really funny. They're usually so focused on the behavior problems that the kid has, where they're belligerent and oppositional, or they keep running away, disappearing. They seem violent at times. They're so focused on that behavior.

They want the behavior to go away. But then they'll also mention that their kid is using drugs. And that seems like it's a secondary nuisance, not the real problem. So if you're... A fully respectful, compliant, high-grade, achieving student in high school, but you're using drugs like crazy, I'm guessing your parents would probably not bother you.

But that's not the case, because drug usage causes all kinds of emotional and behavioral dysregulation, which is... one of the presentations of the addictive nature, particularly of marijuana. You have a lot of emotional dysregulation. So that comes with noncompliance and then belligerence and arguing and so on and so on. So they just really do not understand that the THC, that this child that they have on their hands, is a massive amount of THC. It's not a small amount.

And so they really don't know what to do with it. And they just keep focusing on the behavior. And lastly, when they come in, what they want me to do is they want me to somehow reparent their child who they brought in when they were 16, 17, almost 18 years old. And at that point, there's very little that I can do, sadly, because I only have a year, months, sometimes weeks left. And they're like, hey, we're going to send him off to college. And I'm like, wow, what do you want me to do?

Figure out some way to reparent your child that you haven't parented for the last 10 years? It's a little bit of a problem for me. I'm at a loss sometimes. So I wanted to go over a few things for you who think that marijuana is not really... affecting you negatively or that it's not a problem. That you can't get addicted to it. It's not a big issue. Has no effect on you long term. There's a lot of information out there.

And if you do consult with Dr. Google, you will get, you know, you will find whatever you want to support or whatever you want to find to support your ideas about what you're claiming is the truth. But what I find is that usually people, they ignore science. Science is where you find the information. Now, here's a sad fact about marijuana. It was not legal to test with it because it would say there's still a federal law that says that that is a controlled substance.

So scientists were not able to really study it. Now, you could in other countries, and so they were, but here's another issue. When you're studying science and it relates to chemical usage, you have to have people using the chemical. And therein lies another problem, because if you're using the chemical, and you're admitting it, you're admitting that you're committing a crime. So how do you study that?

And then the second part of the research that is always confounding to researchers is, unless you're doing a twin study and you've got identical twins, it's very difficult to say... hey, if you're using marijuana or you're using this chemical, you're using alcohol, what's the long-term effect?

Because you don't have the same person living in some kind of parallel existence that you could say, well, this is the person, the person, the test subject, not on that chemical, and here's the test subject on the chemical. So we know that we have a difference there. However, let's pick something. Let's pick IQ. So between the ages of 7 to 13 years old, You can do an IQ test on somebody and the IQ test is going to be normal, stable into adulthood. It's going to be the same IQ.

They age adjust the IQ testing so that it comes out to be normative. And the average IQ is 100, right? So everything above it and below it is not average. And they pick it for a reason because, and if you fall below average, the average being 100, you're still within normal, but you're normal below average, right? If you're above 100, then you're normal above average. And there are the outliers, of course, and the people that don't fit in those.

So if 100 is normal, and we know that somebody who uses marijuana prior to the age of 18, and there seems to be this magic window of usage, 13 to... 13 to 16, I think it is, if I remember correctly. And you use, in that magic window, you are going to have magically disappearing IQ points. And it can be anywhere from 4 to 8 points. Now, it may not seem like a lot if you've got 100 IQ and you're dead on average. But if you lose 8, now you're at 92. Alright?

Just to give you an idea... of how severe that can be and how impactful that can be in the military. The military has been conducting IQ tests for, oh my gosh, it's probably over 100 years now. And they've got an incredible amount of data that show the outcomes of those IQ tests on every single person that joins the military. They conduct an IQ test. And so they have all this data that shows that if you have... an 84 IQ that you are not eligible for enlistment.

I'm going to try to remember if it's 84. It's 84. I believe it's 84. 85 is the breakpoint. That means that the military has concluded after hundreds and hundreds of thousands of IQ tests and they have people that come into the military that they have to train to conduct some type of function that if you are eligible 84 IQ, you are untrainable. So you are not eligible for enlistment. And when we had the draft conscription, so they will not accept you if you score an 84 on an IQ test.

If you score an 85, that's the minimal amount and we can actually train you. So one point difference is trainable versus untrainable. So think about that. So if you unfortunately have an 85 IQ and you start smoking pot when you're 14 and you're smoking a lot and you lose six points, you're not trainable according to the military. You can't even function with pushing a broom and being trained basic KP duty. That's significant. So is it possible for it to affect you? Absolutely.

Now let's talk about the effects of high levels of THC all at once. Let's say you're dabbing. You're dabbing something that's like 15% THC or if it's even higher. You're taking all of that THC in a single hit all at once. What happens is you can end up with THC psychosis. I've had a number of clients who are in the teenage age group who think that it's really cool to use massive amounts of marijuana and they will get a hold of a dab and they'll use it and they end up becoming psychotic.

And the only thing that they test positive for is THC. And the parents would call me and say, you know, I don't know what to do. My kid is acting crazy in the car. And I say, we'll take him to the hospital. And he's diagnosed with a psychotic break. And, you know, are you using any drugs? No. Well, he's using marijuana. And they'll test him out and they'll say he's got marijuana. That's the only thing he has. Well, that's THC psychosis.

Psychosis is a condition where you are mistakenly believing just whatever enters into your head. So, for example... If you looked at your arm and you saw a sword and you said, my arm is a sword, it's not that the person is thinking that his arm can be a sword and could cut something. He's actually seeing a sword. The We used to have problems with people who were taking different types of drugs and having psychotic breaks or psychosis was happening.

And they'd jump out a window thinking they could fly. Well, why would they think they could fly? Because their arms were wings. And they really did think. They saw a wing on their arms. Psychosis is something that really is severe. So when somebody calls me and says, hey, can you help me? And I'm like, what's the problem? Well, in comes the person and they're saying that they're using this or that. And that's all that they're saying.

The child is, you know, this 16-year-old, 17, 18-year-old kid is saying this is what I'm using. And he's saying that in front of his parents. And then I find out, you know, when I start working with him, that he's actually using something way beyond that. And a lot more than he's reporting. So all of these conditions that they're presenting with in... the psych units and in the emergency rooms are caused by multiple drugs of choice and drugs that they're using.

And so the parents are confused about what they're seeing. Now, all that to say that when I have a large number of people calling me and the parents are meeting with me and they ask the question, like, well, what can we do? They don't like the answers. I've had parents come in for a single meeting and never come back. I've had parents stay with me and try, and then they butt up against a kid who's refusing to comply, and then they stop pushing. But the answer is, your kid needs real help.

And we have a psychiatric condition, and we have a dependence issue and condition. And we ought to treat both. But it's hard to disentangle the two because is the mental health condition caused by the drug usage in the form of psychosis or delusion or paranoia? Or is there something else going on? Now, interestingly, there's a lot of research going on with the effect of exposure to THC in that magic window time that...

There seems to be a correlation between schizophrenia and THC consumption in that magic window. Now, it's interesting. The studies that I've seen, they're still having a problem trying to figure out what the correlation is. Is the correlation that the THC exposure and then the resulting schizophrenia later in life, is the THC exposure causing or influencing the schizophrenia? Or is it the other way around?

Is it the schizophrenic person using marijuana in that magic window of time and then they become schizophrenic because there is a correlation but they don't know what the causation is they don't know if it's one or the other very interesting but in the words of researchers there's inconclusive or uh it's it's difficult to say and that further research is needed now sadly we have the ability to research it um Because we keep legalizing marijuana, which for me is very sad because it sends the

wrong message to children. Adults, if you want to use and destroy your lives, that's fine. But the consequence is the children and anybody under 18. And when we lose enough children, then all of a sudden we take note, right? So they keep changing the laws around alcohol. When I was a kid, you could drink if you were 18. A couple of years later, they changed the laws where I live to 21. Because why? Because kids shouldn't be drinking.

So you can try to stop people from drinking, and they have strict distribution laws, according to the states, on who you can sell to. And selling to minors will cause you serious consequential harm. But see, the thing that's different about alcohol versus marijuana is that it's kind of complicated and hard and time consuming to try to make your own alcohol. Making a dab is super easy. And it's, you know, growing, you know, marijuana is a plant. You put a seed in the ground and you can grow it.

You can't grow vodka. You know, you have to make it. So the ease of access to it is incredible. And these kids who are using their skills as chemists come up with all kinds of different consumable drugs. The one thing they're not doing, I noticed, is they're not making alcohol. Interesting. You're not making alcohol. Why? Because it's too hard to make.

I guess unless you're a prisoner and you learn how to use a sock, bread, and some potato peels to ferment it and turn it into alcohol, but it's not easy to do. So kids are getting marijuana easily, like they're getting other drugs like fentanyl. It's everywhere, and it's so easy to access. So these kids who are in high school and they end up going to college, the worst place they can be is college. ask any college student about the availability of drugs on campus.

It's not only available everywhere, it's encouraged. It's taking the place of alcohol. You're still seeing alcohol poisoning deaths in college campuses. You absolutely are. But the frequency doesn't seem to be there as much.

I've anecdotally noticed that i mean there was a death just i think a week and a half ago of a kid who was you know just consumed a huge amount of vodka and very little amount of time and his you know stupid friends are stepping over his body as he's unconscious and then he goes into respiratory arrest but it just seems like i'm not seeing as much of that because i i just again it's anecdotal i haven't done any research or looked at it but the people anecdotally that I treat that then go to

college, they report that the amount of drug availability is astounding on college campuses. It's worse than I'm saying it is to them when they leave. Those are the exact words I've heard from every single kid who's gone to college who was a client of mine. Hey, Dr. DeBroecker, you know, when you were talking about the use of drugs on campus, it's worse than you said. And it's way more variety of what's available. So Is marijuana available? It's available. And kids are doing it.

And they're doing it right in front of their parents without the parents even realizing what they're doing. So when you're finding a pen, a vape pen, or a dab pen on your kid, your kid's gone way far into marijuana usage. Way more than you think. And that's an issue. So... Hey, I'm a clinician, so I'm treating these people. So it's my business. I'd love to put myself out of business. I wish there was a way I could do it because I didn't have anybody to treat or I'd have to change specialties.

Unfortunately, I picked one that seems to be growing in its demand. So I'm in a growth industry. So what do you do? Well, you know what?

If you're listening to this and you're a teenager, I'm not just, you know, blow and smoke up your proverbial rear end uh i'm not it's dangerous it's a problem and it's affecting your iq it's affecting your ability to be mentally stable there's all kinds of memory problems and cognitive issues there's all kinds of behavioral issues attached to it it's because of your marijuana usage honestly if if you could just it'd be great if the law was followed And with parents would have a hard line on

usage. And if your kid's using, he needs to go to rehab. And if you're using, you got to stop. You're actually long-term harming yourself. The research still needs to be conducted. Yes, I'm agreeing with that. But preliminarily, what we're seeing... is an incredible effect. Now, when I was in high school, everybody was smoking, you know, they're smoking weed, but it was, you know, 8% THC. It was nothing compared to today. But alcohol was a thing.

Well, my, my usage of alcohol was excessive in high school. I didn't give it much thought. I just thought it was fun. And it really wasn't until after I got out of high school that it was brought to my attention that it was a problem. Because I really didn't have anything other than social entanglements. I did have one legal entanglement caused by alcohol usage. But it was destroying my social and my relations with other people. And certainly my family. Alcohol destroyed my family.

But it's not something I took seriously. And to hear some guy say, you know, you've got to stop.

smoking marijuana so much it's bad for your health son you gotta stop just say no i'm turning into nancy reagan just say no just say no to that it's bad you know they're not gonna you're not gonna listen to that and i i know that and it's unfortunate because alcohol didn't lower my iq it did make me uh have problems with my friends and it did cause me all kinds of issues with my My health, which I have recovered from, like it was affecting my liver, it was affecting my health.

THC is a different thing, man. It's causing problems. It is causing problems for you. You just don't realize it because you can't see it. It's kind of like obesity. Until you start getting really fat, you don't realize that, hey, I'm overweight. It's like my liver, I can't breathe as well. My heart has got... You know, cholesterol is a problem. It's when you get to like 400 pounds, 500 pounds, and people are calling you fat that it is an issue. Before that, it's not. THC, same kind of thing.

You don't know it's a problem until it's too late because it's a problem. I'm not talking about being arrested. I'm talking about mental problems that are not reversible, and that's the issue.

Because the research does show, unfortunately, that usage in that magic window results... problems and scientists who are neurologists neurological researchers are deeply concerned about this it is going to affect generations of people and once that happens once you have those brain deficiencies that are set in place there's no going back and I don't know about you but I wish I was a bit smarter and Don't you wish you were a bit smarter?

And why would you then take away some of your intelligence? It just seems silly. Just wait. Wait till you're legally able to do it. It's okay to do that. Well, that's this episode of Doc Shock, Your Addiction Life. If you are in need of help getting into recovery, please go out and get it. You can do it very easily. Go to a hospital, emergency room. That's a good place to start. But you can also check into a rehab. And man, there are so many good rehabs out there.

Or find somebody, a specialist like me, who can help guide you into your path of recovery. So there's no reason that you can't live a life where you're Sane, stable, and sober. So get out there and do it. Take the leap. Jump back into the world of the living rather than the zombies. It's a much better place to be. So thanks for listening to this episode of Doc Shock Your Addiction Lifeguard. And I'll catch you on the next episode. See ya.