Tag Archives: Parent Movement 2.0

Mental Health

Poppot.org launches new website: Every Brain Matters

Can we tell our youth that, once they’re an adult, it’s ok to have a joint once every week,  just as drinking a glass of wine or beer once a week can be done without lasting harm?

The answer is no, particularly in regards to psychotic outcomes. Every Brain Matters, our new website, addresses all aspects of the drug policy, with a special emphasis on saving brains. Some individuals experience acute psychosis after their first use.   

A substantial percentage of the population cannot use marijuana without major adverse consequences.

The biggest risks from marijuana use are psychological risks, and these risks greatly increase if a person begins use when the brain is developing. Unfortunately, most North American youth have the wrong information and believe marijuana is relatively harmless.

The frequency of psychotic outcomes has increased exponentially during the 21st century. Stronger, more potent forms of marijuana have become the common forms sold in dispensaries and all efforts to cap the THC in commercial stores have failed in states with legal pot shops. The marijuana of the 1960s, 70s and 80s also triggered psychosis in some individuals, but less frequently. (For example, see two of our multi-part testimonies: A tale of two friends and Years of pot, drug addiction and homelessness.)

How the misconceptions affect drug policy

We shouldn’t make a policy based on the very few people who appear to use marijuana with impunity.  Family history and genetic testing cannot determine who will face adverse consequences.

We must reject all attempts to accept and normalize pot use, to open stores, and to legalize in the name of generating tax money, because every brain matters.  

Most of us think we shouldn’t control what people do in the privacy of the home. That belief doesn’t square off with the fact that most people have no idea how dangerous marijuana is.  They have no idea of the risks they’re taking when they’re starting and continuing to smoke pot, and Every Brain Matters corrects the misconceptions.    Keeping drugs illegal is a “harm reduction” policy.

Groups like Parents Opposed to Pot, Parent Movement 2.0  and One Chance to Grow up (Smart Colorado) have reached out to youth, warning of the dangers of early pot use. Many teens have come to the new idea of not using before age 18. They get the notion that marijuana can wait and then wait until senior year or age 19 or 20. This delayed use also comes with great risk, and marijuana actually is not safe for any age.

The Mission of Every Brain Matters

Every Brain Matters is a community and a unifying alliance of organizations and individuals that educate about the dangers of marijuana and the drug culture expansion.

We work together to bring about a cultural movement through advocacy, support/recovery, science, visual public awareness by encouraging the use of the EBM merchandise, and by promoting optimal brain and environmental health.

Please check out the website, everybrainmatters.org, and help us spread the message. There are numerous ways you can donate.

Politics

Response to New York Times Article

A New York Times article by Jonah Engel Bromwich last weekend reveled in 21st century American escapism, the notion that we can magically will away the vicissitudes of life by using drugs.

A few days later, the New York Times did it again, suggesting people simply can’t live without a crutch. The election’s over but not the stress. Any edibles left?  Drug enthusiasts in the media hype anxiety, as if all of us must be neurotics.  It’s not only COVID anxiety they’re pushing. The pot industry and its proponents want local politicians to see marijuana as the solution to lost revenue revenue from restaurant closings, no matter what the medical costs. The clever public relations approach covers many bases, creating a mystique, but forgets to mention that the tax revenues from marijuana fall far below expectations.

Kevin Sabet of SAM is not alone in fighting against marijuana legalization.  Other opponents to marijuana legalization have not left the scene, something Style section author Bromwich gets wrong.  Parents Opposed to Pot, as well as Americans Against Legalizing Marijuana and MomsStrong in California, make up a strong bipartisan opposition.  Bromwich interviewed author Emily Dufton, who told another journalist that it’s possible a new parent movement will arise. Dufton was correct — Parent Movement 2.0 began this year in California.  Johnny’s Ambassadors, a new group formed by Laura Stack and her family  in Colorado, sounds the alarm about “dabbing,” and the tragic loss of her son, a victim of marijuana-induced psychosis. 

While apparently in awe of the ballots passed by numerous states, the author deliberately avoids the fact that vast infusions of money bought those ballot votes.  Billionaires fund New Approach PAC, which, in turn, gives the money for marijuana ballot campaigns.  Just since the election, Alexandra Cohen, wife of a New York hedge fund manager, gave $750,000 to New Approach PAC.  Money and clever messaging buy the votes for this anti-science drug policy. Rather than grassroots efforts, it’s the clearest example in politics today that money can buy an outcome. 

Stakes are high as we lose kids to drug addiction

The new generation of opposition thinks differently from “Just Say No” or the DARE approach of the nineties.  We believe children or teens deserve an explanation why it’s preferable not to use or need drugs to get through life.  We emphasize that there are healthy ways to embrace life, and find joy, without anxiety or the need for drugs. Continue reading Response to New York Times Article →