New Jersey Family and Addiction Institute
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So My Child is Smoking Marijuana. Is It Harmful? At the New Jersey Family and Addiction Institute in Morris County we work with a lot of high school students and young adults. Frequently parents contact us when their child is smoking marijuana and they are unsure of what to do. Commonly parents are fearful but […]
At the New Jersey Family and Addiction Institute in Morris County we work with a lot of high school students and young adults. Frequently parents contact us when their child is smoking marijuana and they are unsure of what to do.
Commonly parents are fearful but rationalize the harmful effects by saying “I smoked weed as a teen and I turned out okay.” While this seems like a logical thought below we outline why it is not necessarily accurate. Now we realize that for many parents they experience this thought because they are full of worry about their child and they are trying to rationalize away the fears they have. Simply put marijuana today is different than in decades past.
Christian Hopfer, a professor of psychiatry from the University of Colorado’s medical campus set out to answer that exact question. During the course of his research he went around to different marijuana dispensaries to look study the potency of the marijuana.
Officials measure Marijuana’s by its tetrahydrocannabinol content (THC). This is the ingredient that causes the “high” feeling that smoking marijuana produces. The chart below shows the THC levels from 1983 up until 2010.
Between the 1960s and 1996 marijuana had about a 4% THC content. Then marijuana started to be engineered to be stronger and more potent. By 2011 it was up to 11%. Recently Christian Hopfer found in his visits to various dispensaries recently that the THC content was up to 25%.
The marijuana Christian found is 625% stronger than marijuana from the 1960s through 1996.
Simply put the marijuana today is not the marijuana that parents grew up smoking. Marijuana today is much stronger than the marijuana of years past. It only resembles marijuana in name and in form (and only sometimes).
Dabs, also known as butane hash oil (BHO), is a really potent form of marijuana that resembles honey. This concentrated form of marijuana has THC contents that range between 60-90%. Highly specialized dabs can have THC contents that approach 100%. With an average THC content of 80% dabs are 20 times stronger than the marijuana available when adults were teenagers.
Marijuana today hardly resembles marijuana from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Today weed is much stronger. Recent advancements in increasing the THC content have far eclipsed studies on the effects of today’s super strong marijuana. Researchers are still studying the long-term impacts of using such strong marijuana. If you or a loved one is struggling with marijuana please reach out to us at the New Jersey Family and Addiction Institute. We are happy to provide whatever assistance we can. For parents who have children that have been experimenting with marijuana please realize that this is not harmless behavior. Seek out further information and seek consultation with mental health professionals.
Sources:
https://www.livescience.com/24553-what-is-thc.html
http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/04/29/not-your-fathers-cannabis/
http://www.cannabisrestorationandprotectionact.org/dab-vs-weed-how-strong-are-dabs-compared-to-weed/
https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/dabbing-cannabis-oil-concentrates-dosage
Is Video Game Addiction Real? With the explosion in the popularity of Fortnite parents, educators, and community members are starting to look at the potential for video game addiction. Common questions parents are asking include “Is video game addiction real” and “Is my child addicted to video games?” As an expert on video game addiction […]
With the explosion in the popularity of Fortnite parents, educators, and community members are starting to look at the potential for video game addiction. Common questions parents are asking include “Is video game addiction real” and “Is my child addicted to video games?” As an expert on video game addiction I frequently encounter these questions. While I need to conduct an assessment to determine if an individual child is suffering from video game addiction, I can answer unequivocally that yes video game addiction is real. While we are just starting to have these conversations in the United States, Asian countries have been treating video game addiction as a public health crisis since 2003.
Recent studies have shown that up to 8.5% of U.S. youth are addicted to video games. I live and work in Florham Park which has a population of approximately 12,000 residents of which 15% are under the age of 18. Based on these statistics over 155 youth struggle with video game addiction in Florham Park alone. Expanding the scope to Morris County overall shows that up to 7,100 youth suffer from video game addiction.
This problem is very real and is affecting a large portion of our youth population. Florham Park, Madison, Chatham, East Hanover, Morristown, Summit, Short Hills, etc. are all family focused towns. These towns and other towns are unaware that video game addiction is a silent epidemic affecting huge numbers of our youth.
Below is a research chart that shows some troubling behaviors and consequences of youth and excessive video game play.
| Behavior | Percentage (%) of youth who report engaging in behavior |
| Play as a way of escaping from problems or feeling bad | 29% of boys
19% of girls |
| Have lied to family or friends about how much they play | 17% of boys
10% of girls |
| Sometimes skip homework to play video games | 29% of boys
15% of girls |
| Have done poorly on school assignment or test due to playing video games | 26% of boys
11% of girls |
| Sometimes skip household chores to play video games | 40% of boys
24% of girls |
Parents are typically angry when they realize that their children have lied to them or skipped chores to play video games. Anger is a normal response in these situations and is easily processed in therapy. Parents may have fear about what will happen if their child continues to perform poorly academically. Additionally parents hearts’ typically start to ache when they realize that such a large percentage of our kids are trying to escape problems or feeling bad.
Video game addiction is very real and is something that we need to start talking about. While it can be scary to realize that your child may be addicted to video games there is help for it. Once we admit that a problem exists we can start to work on addressing it. There is hope.
What Do I Do If I Am Concerned About A Loved One’s Video Game Usage?
If you are concerned about how much a loved one is playing video games or the impact it has you have several options. First you can read the other articles on this website about video game addiction. Second you can always contact us here at the New Jersey Family and Addiction Institute.
Alcohol Use Among Teens At the New Jersey Family and Addiction Institute we see clients from Florham Park, Madison, Chatham, Morristown, Summit, and other surrounding towns. One of the most common inquiries we get is from parents after they catch their high school child with alcohol or their child gets into legal trouble. Other times […]
At the New Jersey Family and Addiction Institute we see clients from Florham Park, Madison, Chatham, Morristown, Summit, and other surrounding towns. One of the most common inquiries we get is from parents after they catch their high school child with alcohol or their child gets into legal trouble. Other times we get contacted by parents concerned about their children in college and their drinking.
Years ago alcohol abuse among teens and young adults was a major focus of governmental agencies, schools, and other organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving. With the worsening of the opioid crisis the focus has shifted to trying to slow the rising opioid overdose death rates.
However alcohol continues to be the most used substance amongst teenagers. Boys usually take their first drink at age 11 and girls take their first drink at 13.
Millions of adolescents drink alcohol. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) conducts an annual survey called the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey. This survey tracks the use of alcohol and drugs among teens. The chart below shows alcohol use in the past year among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders.
Opioids are very serious and need to continue to remain in the spotlight. However as the chart above illustrates alcohol continues to be widely used among youth. The MTF study also found some other important statistics.
Ridgedale middle school is located in Florham Park and has approximately 340 students in grades 6-8. When graduation comes around in June just over 100 8th graders will move onto high school. The ceremony is on the front lawn of the school and many attended. Family and friends come out to celebrate the accomplishment and transition onto the next stage in life.
While this is a time of celebration I do feel a twinge of sadness as I look at the kids on the platform. I know statistically that among this group of very young adults that 8-10 of the 100 graduates have drank alcohol in the past month.
I find this so concerning because consuming alcohol is not a harmless activity. It can have tremendous negative consequences up to and including death. Right now parents and the country overall is hypersensitive to anything and everything to do with opioids. I applaud the efforts we are taking and hope to see them continue.
However please remember that alcohol use is much more prevalent and can have just as serious consequences.
First underage alcohol use is illegal. While here at the New Jersey Family and Addiction Institute we do not believe in telling parents how to raise their children we do seek to educate. We do not weigh in on the morality of drinking in the home with parents etc. However we do want parents to know that underage alcohol use is associated with adverse effects. A child’s brain is continues until they are in their 20’s. We are here to provide education, guidance, and assistance for those who have loved for whom alcohol is an issue. If you or a loved one is struggling with alcohol please call us to set up a consultation.
Sources:
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/monitoring-future-survey-high-school-youth-trends
https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=alcohol-use-among-teens-is-epidemic-1-2443
