Addiction Experts Raise Alarm About Cannabis Use Among Oregon’s Youth

(OPB) Attractively marketed, low priced and high-potency marijuana appeals to kids who think it’s safe to use, but it also poses serious mental health risks, including psychosis, for young users.

High-potency cannabis use among Oregon’s adolescents is putting them at risk of psychosis and other mental health problems, according to mental health and addiction experts who want the state to adopt policies that will curb underage use.

Invited experts, officials and advocates testified Tuesday before the state’s senate Committee on Early Childhood and Behavioral Health on the danger marijuana poses to children and young adults. Speakers included David Rettew, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and the medical director with Lane County Behavioral Health.

“I don’t want to be apocalyptic about cannabis — I don’t think it’s the most toxic substance on Earth, but it is particularly risky for youth,” Rettew told the committee. “And unlike many other substances, there is an enormous gap between cannabis’ actual risk and its perceived risk.

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