During that same period, about 11% of 12-grade students reported using a lesser-known product, delta-8-THC, a psychoactive substance typically derived from hemp. It can produce a fuzzy, euphoric high similar to — but typically milder than — the THC effects delivered in cannabis. 

Delta-8-THC is of particular interest because despite health risks, it’s still widely considered to be legal at the federal level after the 2018 farm bill from the list of controlled substances. It’s legal in 22 states and Washington, D.C. with limited regulation, and in a number of states — including Illinois and New Jersey — there are no age restrictions at all on purchasing it. Concerns are compounded by the fact that it can be found in kid-friendly products, like gummies and chocolates, and can be bought online or from easily accessible vendors, like gas stations.

The results on pot and delta-8-THC use came from the newly released , which annually surveys teens across the U.S. and is conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan. The study, which was the first to report the extent of delta-8-THC use, included 22,318 surveys given to students enrolled in 235 public and private schools across the country between February and June 2023. Questions about delta-8-THC were administered to a randomly selected one-third of 12th-grade students, or 2,186 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 extremely accessible to teens,” National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Nora Volkow said in “Cannabis use in general has been associated with negative impacts on the adolescent brain, so we must pay attention to the kinds of cannabis products teens are using, educate young people about potential risks, and ensure that treatment for cannabis use disorder and adequate mental health care is provided to those who need it.” 

The latest study adds to the understanding of how young people are using cannabis and related products at a time when legalization is far reaching and overwhelmingly favored —  now live in a state where marijuana is legal for either recreational or medical use and for those two purposes, according to two Pew Research Center analyses released over the last month. 

Ryan Sultan, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and a cannabis-use expert, said the current climate calls for a more nuanced approach to marijuana’s effects.

“The narrative of cannabis as a ‘reefer madness’ and ruining everyone’s life — that one was a lie,” he said. “And the narrative that cannabis is a magical, natural, benign panacea for everything — that one is also not true.”

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

“The biggest consequence that we think about in the field of child development … is that using substances that are potentially psychoactive and addictive and have effects on development … the younger you are, the more problematic they might be,” he said. “And cannabis is included in that.”

A number of teenagers believe that marijuana is helpful for anxiety and depression, which doesn’t appear to be true in the long term, Sultan said. “The problem is that chronic use seems to not do that. Chronic use seems to actually result in a worsening of that symptomatology.” 

Cannabis today is far more potent than it was decades ago, allowing it to bind to receptors in the brain more effectively. So when you stop using it, you end up with even worse symptoms, according to Sultan. 

Sultan published a last year showing that adolescents who recently used cannabis but did not meet the criteria for a marijuana use disorder had two to four times greater odds of major depression, suicidal ideation, difficulty concentrating, lower GPA and a number of other negative outcomes. These results reinforce those of earlier as well. 

Sultan analyzed responses from 68,263 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health between 2015 and 2019.

He noted, though, that the study did not demonstrate causation: it’s not clear that the marijuana use directly led to these mental health issues and other outcomes.

“It’s more like a cycle,” he said, in which people who are depressed and anxious are more likely to use cannabis in the first place to self-medicate their symptoms but this can end up “spinning out of control.”

“So rather than which came first, the chicken or the egg? They both came and they’re both happening and they’re both interacting with each other.” 

Yet, most adolescents don’t think of weed as harmful: Over the past decade, the perceived risk of harm decreased by nearly half, while use for people 12 and over increased from about demonstrate that they think of edibles, in particular, as less harmful, failing to account for concerns around potency, regulation and delayed effects. 

A at UC Davis Health and the University of Washington, which surveyed teens over a six-month period, found that they get high for enjoyment and to cope. Those who used it to forget their problems typically experienced more negative consequences like difficulty concentrating. Lead author Nicole Schultz noted that understanding teens’ motivation for getting high is an important first step in developing strategies to intervene early. 

Post-pandemic, marijuana remains one of the three substances used by adolescents, along with alcohol and nicotine vaping. 

In 2022, the percentage of young adults 19 to 30 years old who reported marijuana use reached record highs, according to a National Institute of Health-funded : About 44% of those surveyed reported use in the past year — a significant increase from the 25% who reported the same in 2012. Young adults also reported a record-high use of marijuana vaping in 2022: 21% up from 12% in 2017, when the measure was first added to the study.

A published in 2020 found that adolescents and adults who vape nicotine were also more likely to also use alcohol and marijuana. In adolescents, the relationship was much stronger: those who vaped were 4.5 to six times as likely to report alcohol and marijuana use and were particularly likely to report binge drinking.

According to a , vaping has emerged as one of the two most popular methods for teens to get high, despite its unclear long-term health implications. In fact, it may actually be associated with greater risk than smoking for lung injuries, seizures and acute psychiatric symptoms. 

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. New York City teachers and students have more and younger students are coming to school high and are smoking throughout the day, with hypothesizing that kids are using weed to blunt residual pain and anxiety from the pandemic. 

This harder-to-detect delivery method puts a lot of pressure on individuals to manage how often they’re using it, according to Sultan, which is particularly challenging for adolescents who may struggle with impulse control. 

Ultimately, though, much of the research that exists on cannabis generally is outdated because it’s based on weaker strains of the substance from years ago, Sultan said: “We are behind the eight ball on cannabis.”

Like most colleges, posters and artwork line the hallways at the Cleveland School of Cannabis. Except the key difference here is what’s featured on the posters — marijuana.

The Cleveland School of Cannabis prepares students to work in the marijuana industry by giving them hands-on experience in the school’s grow room, dispensary, and cooking lab.

“We’re not sitting around smoking all day,” said Nicole Fenix, the school’s director of education. “We do have fun, but it is like any other educational institute.”

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The school expects to see a boom in Ohio’s cannabis industry if Issue 2 passes next week.

The citizen initiative would legalize and . It would also legalize home grow for Ohioans 21 and up with a limit of six plants per person and 12 plants per residence, and impose a 10% tax at the point of sale for each transaction.

A recent  estimates the potential annual tax revenue from legalizing marijuana ranges from $276 million to $403 million in the fifth year of an operational cannabis market.

While Fenix is excited Issue 2 is on the ballot, she said it’s been disheartening hearing from the opposition.

“You feel like you’re making such great strides, and then you hear all this rhetoric come back up,” Fenix said. “It’s a shame that (marijuana has) been ostracized and villainized for as long as it has been.”

Protect Ohio Workers and Families, the opposition to marijuana legalization, predicts Ohio would see an additional 48 fatal vehicle crashes and 2,298 more injury crashes if voters approve Issue 2, based on projections using the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s crash statistics and research from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety.

“Legalization of marijuana use leads to public safety issues as well, including higher percentages of fatal car crashes directly attributed to the marijuana impaired drivers,” Delaware County Sheriff Jeff Balzer said in a .

Doug Berman, the executive director at the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center at Ohio State University, previously told the

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who is against legalizing cannabis, has previously said “this is not your grandfather’s marijuana.”

Fenix agrees with the governor’s assessment.

“Now we test it to make sure it’s safe,” Fenix said. “It’s regulated, it’s a better quality, it’s gonna have more medicinal effects. … The cannabis industry is a science from growing the plant, to how the plant works in the body to processing. So chemistry, biology and a little bit of physics.”

Cleveland School of Cannabis

CSC opened in 2017 — one year after medical marijuana was legalized in Ohio, but the state’s first dispensary didn’t open until 2019. 

Students are not smoking marijuana in classes and it is not a licensed cultivator or dispensary, so the school is not actually growing or selling medical marijuana. Instead, the school uses hemp which is destroyed after it’s been fully used.

The school received state approval from the Ohio State Board of Career College and Schools and their certificate program teaches students in five different areas — cannabis dispensaries, cannabis horticulture, cannabis processing, industrial hemp and medical applications of cannabis. There is also an executive program, which is a combination of all five certificate programs.

CSC’s tuition ranges from $7,500 to $14,000 and it is the only State Approved Career School for Cannabis education east of Colorado.

The school — which offers a mix of in-person and online classes — usually has between 130-150 students per term. More than 900 students have graduated from the school, which has an 82% graduation rate.

“Our students have a good foundation of understanding what their job is going to be,” Fenix said.

CSC has capped their in-person classes to 24 students and they try to keep their online classes between 30-35 students. They offer six-week terms and six terms are offered per year.

A sampling of courses include history of cannabis, dispensary operations, cannabis law & policies, and CBD comprehensive, among others. Some of the career options graduates pursue include master grower, cannabis gardener, dispensary manager and cultivation consultant, to name a few.

While a majority of their students are from Ohio, it’s not uncommon for an out-of-state student to attend. One student drives in from Pittsburgh everyday, Fenix said. Most of their graduates stay in Ohio after graduation, but sometimes students move out west for the jobs.

While the school typically attracts young adults and those fresh out of high school, CSC also enrolls people in their 30-40’s who are looking to make a career change. Students have to be 18 or older to take classes, but the marijuana industry only hires people 21 and older.

From high school teacher to marijuana educator

Education is Fenix’s background. She previously taught in an alternative high school setting and also worked with homeschooled students.

But her introduction to cannabis started when her son started using medical marijuana to help treat his ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation and sores in the digestive tract.

“I really got to witness cannabis as medicinal through my son,” Fenix said. “It was just a big eye opener.”

She started working at CSC at the end of 2017, the same year the school opened.

“I’m a big believer in cannabis as medicine,” Fenix said.

Ohio Medical Marijuana

There are 29 active dispensary licenses, but 104 certificates of operation as of Sept. 21, according to the .

Twenty-three cultivators in Ohio have received Level I provisional licenses and 21 have received certificates of operation. Fourteen have received Level II provisional licenses and 13 have received certificates of operation.

There have been 822,760 medical marijuana patient recommendations (a patient can have more than one recommendation), 391,692 patients have registered and 182,068 patients have both an active registration and an active recommendation.

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