Although marijuana remains illegal in Indiana, dispensaries are popping up along the Michigan border

About a third of 12th graders nationwide reported using marijuana in the past year, according to a study released March 12.

During the same period, about 11% of 12th-grade students reported using a lesser-known product: delta-8-THC, a psychoactive substance typically derived from hemp. It can produce a woozy, euphoric high similar to the THC effects of cannabis, but is usually milder.

The 74 concluded that delta-8-THC is particularly interesting because, despite health risks, it is still considered legal at the federal level after hemp was removed from the list of controlled substances by the 2018 Farm Bill. It is legal in 22 states and Washington, DC, with limited regulations, and a number of states – including Illinois and New Jersey – have no age restrictions on purchasing it. Compounding concerns is the fact that it is found in kid-friendly products like gummy bears and chocolate, and can be purchased online or from easily accessible vendors like gas stations.

The findings on marijuana and delta-8 THC use come from the recently released Monitor the Future study, which annually surveys teenagers across the U.S. and is conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan. The study, the first to report the extent of delta-8 THC use, included 22,318 surveys conducted between February and June 2023 among students at 235 public and private schools across the country. Questions about delta-8 THC were asked to a randomly selected third of 12th grade students, or 2,186 high school seniors, in 27 states.

“(Eleven percent) is a lot of people — that’s at least one or two students in every average-sized high school class who may be using Delta-8. We don’t know enough about these drugs, but we see that they are already very easily accessible to teens,” Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in a statement. “Cannabis use in general is associated with negative effects on the teen brain, so we need to be careful about what types of cannabis products teens are using, educate young people about potential risks, and ensure that cannabis use disorder treatment and appropriate mental health care are provided for those who need it.”

The latest study adds to our understanding of how young people use cannabis and related products at a time when legalization is widespread and overwhelmingly supported: 74 percent of Americans currently live in a state where marijuana is legal for either recreational or medical use, and 88 percent support legalization for both purposes, according to two Pew Research Center analyses released last month.

Ryan Sultan, an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and an expert on cannabis use, said the current climate requires a more nuanced approach to the effects of marijuana.

“The story that cannabis was ‘stoner madness’ and was going to ruin everyone’s life – that was a lie,” he said. “And the story that cannabis was a magical, natural, harmless cure-all for everything – that’s not true either.”

At the same time, Sultan warns that young users remain particularly at risk.

“The biggest implication we consider in the area of ​​child development is that the younger you are, the more problematic the use of substances that are potentially psychoactive, addictive and have developmental effects can be,” he said. “And cannabis is one of them.”

Many teenagers believe that marijuana helps with anxiety and depression, but that doesn’t seem to be true in the long term, Sultan says. “The problem is that chronic use doesn’t seem to do that. Chronic use actually seems to make these symptoms worse.”

Cannabis is much more potent today than it was decades ago, allowing it to bind more effectively to receptors in the brain, so when you stop using it, Sultan says, you experience even worse symptoms.

Sultan published a study last year that showed that adolescents who had recently used cannabis but did not meet the criteria for marijuana use disorder had a two to four times higher risk of severe depression, suicidal thoughts, difficulty concentrating, lower grade point averages, and a number of other negative outcomes. These findings also confirm the results of previous studies.

Sultan analyzed responses from 68,263 adolescents ages 12 to 17 from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health between 2015 and 2019. However, he noted that the study failed to establish a causal link: It is not clear that marijuana use directly led to these mental health problems and other outcomes.

“It’s more of a vicious cycle,” he said. While people with depression and anxiety are more likely to resort to using cannabis to self-medicate their symptoms, it can eventually “spread out of control.”

“So it’s not a question of what came first, the chicken or the egg. Both were there, both are happening and both are interacting with each other.”

Yet most teens do not consider marijuana harmful: Over the past decade, perceived risk has dropped by nearly half, while use among those over 12 has increased from about 12% to about 18%. Several studies show that they view edibles in particular as less harmful, ignoring concerns about potency, regulation and delayed effects.

A 2023 study from UC Davis Health and the University of Washington that surveyed teens over a six-month period found that they get intoxicated for pleasure and to cope with problems. Those who used it to forget their problems tended to experience more negative consequences, such as difficulty concentrating. Lead author Nicole Schultz noted that understanding teens’ motivations for getting intoxicated is an important first step in developing strategies for early intervention.

Even after the pandemic, marijuana remains one of the three most commonly used substances among young people, along with alcohol and nicotine e-cigarettes.

In 2022, the percentage of young adults between the ages of 19 and 30 who reported using marijuana reached a record high, according to a study funded by the National Institute of Health: About 44% of respondents reported using marijuana in the past year – a significant increase from the 25% who said so in 2012. Young adults also reported record-high use of marijuana vaping in 2022: 21%, up from 12% in 2017, when this parameter was first included in the study.

A meta-analysis published in 2020 found that adolescents and adults who vape nicotine were also more likely to use alcohol and marijuana. The association was much stronger among adolescents: Those who vaped were 4.5 to six times more likely to report using alcohol and marijuana, and were particularly likely to report binge drinking.

According to a recent study, vaping is one of the two most popular ways for teens to get high, although the long-term health consequences are unclear. In fact, the risk of lung damage, seizures and acute psychiatric symptoms may even be higher than with smoking.

Vaping is also a more accessible and discreet way to consume marijuana, allowing teens to use it in more settings, including schools, without getting caught. Teachers and students in New York City have reported that more and younger students are coming to school high and smoking throughout the day, with some educators hypothesizing that kids are using weed to ease residual pain and anxiety from the pandemic.

This harder-to-detect delivery method puts a lot of pressure on people to control the frequency of their use, Sultan said, which is particularly challenging for teens who may have problems with impulse control.

Ultimately, however, much of the existing research on cannabis in general is outdated because it is based on weaker strains of the substance from years ago, Sultan said: “We are behind on cannabis.”

This story was produced by The 74 and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.