Beruseruku Desu
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- Oct 10, 2018
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Teenagers' use of 'nuclear-strength weed' in the United States is causing concern
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/ameri...-weed-in-the-united-states-is-causing-concern
The first two US states to legalise recreational marijuana are starting to grapple with teenagers' growing use of highly potent pot, even as both boost the industry and reap huge tax windfalls from its sales.
Though the legal purchase age is 21 in Colorado and Washington, parents, educators and physicians say youths are easily getting hold of edibles infused with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive component that causes a high, and concentrates such as "shatter," a brittle, honey-colored substance that is heated and then inhaled through a special device.
Each poses serious risks to adolescents' physical and mental health.
"Underage kids have unbelievable access to nuclear-strength weed," said Andrew Brandt, a Boulder, Colorado, software executive whose son got hooked while in high school.
With some marijuana products averaging 68 per cent THC - exponentially greater than the pot baby boomers once smoked - calls to poison control centres and visits to emergency rooms have risen. In the Denver area, visits to Children's Hospital Colorado facilities for treatment of cyclic vomiting, paranoia, psychosis and other acute cannabis-related symptoms jumped to 777 in 2015, from 161 in 2005.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/ameri...-weed-in-the-united-states-is-causing-concern