There is No Safe Level of THC in the Developing Adolescent Brain
In this episode, Dave is joined by Laura Stack, the mother behind Johnny's Ambassadors, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating parents and teens about the risks associated with adolescent marijuana use. The organization was named after Laura's son Johnny, who tragically lost his life after struggling with marijuana addiction and the onset of mental health issues. In this conversation, Laura shares the wealth of resources and materials available on Johnny's Ambassador's website, including videos, educational content, toolkits, and even a program for substance abuse counselors. Laura encourages listeners to reach out and make use of these free resources, and also invites them to attend their educational conference. Listen in for a heartfelt discussion on adolescent mental health, the dangers of marijuana use, and the power of preventive education.
Key Takeaways:
The devastating effects of marijuana on the developing adolescent brain.
The mission of Johnny's Ambassadors to educate and prevent marijuana use among teens.
The vast range of educational materials and resources available for free on the Johnny's Ambassadors website.
The importance of educating not just the teens, but parents and teachers too.
Invitation to attend the Johnny's Ambassadors Educational Conference.
The power of sharing Johnny's story to help others and promote prevention.
Links and Resources:
Laura's Email: laura@johnnysambassadors.org
"There is no safe level of THC in the developing adolescent brain." - Laura Stack
The Dangerous Truth About Today's Marijuana: Johnny Stack's Life and Death Story https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRYZP9SY
Stopdabbingwalk.org
Justsayknow.org
https://johnnysambassadors.org/education ← download and share
DJC Solution Links:
www.preventionmastery.om
TRANSCRIPT
Dave: In prevention, we are all leaders. Whether you're leading a nationwide prevention initiative, facilitating statewide prevention community, you're a coalition coordinator or a one person shop, you are a prevention leader. How we show up and how we engage with others to create positive change takes all types of leadership.
So sit back and enjoy these conversations with your fellow prevention leaders from across the globe for sharing their lessons learned best practices, and strategies for success.
Dave: All right, podcast listeners, here we are back for another wonderful conversation. So without further ado, welcome to the podcast, Laura.
Laura: Thank you so much, Dave. Happy to be here.
Dave: Oh, I'm, I'm glad that we're able to reconnect Backstory for the listeners. I actually first saw Laura speak, goodness, was it 2020 in, Tampa, Florida for Drug-Free America Foundation's annual Summit. And
Laura: That's right.
Dave: it's like, Hey, all right, we're gonna have to reconnect.
Laura: Thank you so much.
Dave: Yes, absolutely. And. Since I know your background and I've heard you share Johnny's story, but our listeners have not, would you mind just kinda introducing yourself a little bit, kinda who you are, where you're at, and what you do?
Laura: Sure. Well, Laura Stack, I'm the founder and CEO of Johnny's Ambassadors, which is a youth marijuana prevention nonprofit based in Denver, Colorado, which was formed in 2020, about six months after. Sadly, my son Johnny died by suicide at the age of 19. After he became psychotic from using high potency THC products, where we live here in Colorado at ground zero, when it was legalized in 2012, he was 12 years old.
And it came out into the dispensaries in 2014 and he was a freshman in high school and he went to his first party after the dispensaries opened. And there was a boy whose brother at the time was 18 and had a medical marijuana card. And he used marijuana because, he told me, he told us when he got home, mom, there was, there was marijuana there.
All the boys wanted to try to get high and someone handed it to me and I didn't know what to do and I didn't know what to say and so I did it. So that was at 14 years old and he died at 19. It was the beginning of a very long five year struggle with his marijuana addiction that sadly ended up in his demise, after he thought the mob was after him.
And the FBI was knew who he was and everybody. Knew everything about him and before this all happened, I mean, he was just, A great kid. Just your normal, you know, average kid, he was busy in school. He ran cross country track, he played the piano, the guitar. We are a, a religious family, so he grew up in the church.
we taught Sunday school with our younger son and our older daughter for many years, for four year olds. He loved younger kids. He was really smart had a perfect SAT score in math 800 out of 800 and a 4.0. GPA never got a B until his senior year, second semester when he got four Ds. he had a scholarship to Colorado State University.
And I think if he hadn't had discovered marijuana, he literally could have done anything he wanted to do with his life. And after Johnny died, it was covid. And, um, we were locked down and I was basically in a fetal position for six months and I had written some books prior and that is very therapeutic for me.
So I started to write his story mostly cuz I was afraid I was gonna forget it. But just trying to piece together, you know, how can this happen? That's kind of how it started it all. Like I came out with a book called The Dangerous Truth about Today's Marijuana, Johnny Stack's Life and Death Story.
And David's been, such a huge mission now to see this go out in Dr. Phil and People magazine in the Wall Street Journal in New York Times, and all the places where Johnny's story has touched people and have parents who reach out to say, oh my gosh, you know, I have a Johnny. and the biggest thing that we do now is we go to schools and I do school assemblies three a day.
I stand up in front of a couple thousand teens and tell them Johnny's story, but mostly share the science and the facts and tell them why THC is harmful for their brain and show them MRIs and, it's working. And for me it's been very healing as a journey because every time a teen comes up to me to say, you know, I'm using, and thanks to Johnny's story and what you just shared, I think I might have a problem and I'm gonna try to get help and I'm gonna try to stop and I get a hug.
And that's, that is like nirvana for me. Just being able to know that I, I touched a teen's life and kept that teen from going down Johnny's path. So that's kind of the long and the short of who I am and, and why I'm doing what I'm doing.
Dave: Just in that, that condensed version of Johnny's story and, and your story. I, I got goosebumps twice.
Laura: Mm.
Dave: One being, when you, you shared Johnny's story, even though I've heard it before, it is just, ugh,
Laura: Yeah. It's
Dave: feel this wake come over me. but then on the other end, Imagining putting myself, like when a, a student, a teen comes up and hugs you.
That is the other spectrum of, of goosebumps as well, and
Laura: It's the best, you know, and just the emails I get. We have 1200 teen Johnny's ambassadors now on Instagram. You know, they, they're sharing, they're, they're helping. They, they write me, thanks to what you've shared, I now have the courage to tell my best friend that I'm concerned about the vape, the THC vape she's using, or.
Dave: Mm-hmm.
Laura: You know, thanks to what you just shared, I didn't think I ever was gonna use, but I was on the fence and now I'm definitely not gonna use, you know, we get just the whole spectrum of kids and how it, it reaches them and you'd think middle schoolers and high schoolers, which is, that's our, our audience are kind of squirrely and they.
Don't listen in, in assemblies and, and they are completely focused and riveted. And I just, if there's no scare tactics, there's no trying to make people sad. I mean, I don't lecture them or tell them, don't do drugs. Drugs are bad. I just, I share Johnny with them and they see themselves in Johnny and
Dave: Mm-hmm.
Laura: I share his warning.
It was the warning he gave three days before he died, he came over to our house for dinner. He was 19 years old and he said, mom, I just, I want you to know you were right. And I said About what? He said about the marijuana. He said, you may not remember, but years ago when I told you I used, you told me, don't ever do that again because it will ruin that beautiful brain of yours.
And mom, it has ruined my mind and my life, and I'm really sorry and I love you. And three days later he was gone. And I keep repeating his warning that marijuana ruined my mind and my life. And they see him. I show him at 14, 15, 16, 17. I share his struggles, his challenges, and they go, wow, that can be me.
And you know, I promise you Johnny never thought he was having a problem with marijuana. He'd be like, what do you want, mom? I got a 4.0. Right. And they realize that it can, it can happen to them too. And they just, they really relate to John and Johnny. And you can just, you can just hear a pin drop. And they're very reflective and thoughtful and we have these great little magnets.
They say hashtag stop dabbing johnny's ambassadors.org, and they're for lockers and cars. And we usually just have a little stash. And I say, if anybody would like to be an ambassador, I would love to give you one of these magnets, and I will gratefully accept a hug if you'll give me one. So the best part is these teachers and principals who are just stunned at the line of people who are waiting to get a magnet and a hug, they cannot believe the hug line.
And it's like, no, these teens are incredible. I have so much hope for them and so much faith in them. And they're, they're so affectionate and they just are yearning. For a real connection. And, I just, I want that for all of us. I want us all to be able to touch them. They're, they're just my jam. I, I love, love teens and I think that that was supposed to be my ministry all the time, this whole time. I, as a professional speaker for 30 years
Dave: Mm-hmm.
Laura: and an author of books, and then this happened to Johnny. For me, it was very simple to just flip my platform around. Right. I knew conferences, I knew events, I knew branding, I knew marketing, I knew social and you know, write a book on it, get some media, put up a a website, get out there, start sharing and talking.
And it's been three years, since we started. We have about 10,000 ambassadors now on our mailing list. So I really feel like we're moving the needle. You know, when I first started, there was no Johnny's ambassadors. There was nobody anywhere. No one believed marijuana was addictive. Nobody believed it caused psychosis and mental health issues.
You know, reefer madness, you know, but now it's out there, you know, there's no denying that It causes psychosis and mental health issues and anxiety and depression and addiction and on and on and on. And there's finally a critical mass, where you have just as many people arguing that it's bad for teens as you do going, nah.
You know, it's just weed. so I really think it's, it's making a difference. We have to just keep sharing our stories and we can't be silent. and, and, we have to speak up. And that's, that I think gives people courage when they see that I lost my son and I can stand up there and show grief openly, you know, and, and tell his story.
It gives, it gives other people courage to share too. And the more times you talk to people, they go, you know, me too. My, this, my that. My cousin, my niece, my mom, you know, uses weed, is addicted to vape dabs. And, it's far more common than any of us actually realize, I think.
Dave: Yes. And so many different thoughts and things. I'd love to just hold onto and, and kinda talk a little bit about, but one thing that I'm sure you've heard before, johnny is changing the world through you, what I see as happening.
Laura: he is still, you know, I'm able to, to, to share Johnny with other teens and he is, In a way, you know, I think the Lord gave him to me for 19 years, you know, so that I could share him. And, I miss him. I miss him a lot, but he's still here, you know, he's with me. He's, he's with me every day and it's hard to talk about.
I mean, every day I have to relive his death. And, but it, it's. It touches people, it changes people, and it's, it puts kind of his face on the message. It's, it's hard to, you can do all the science and the, and we do, we do a ton of neuroscience and thc and why does it make you high and what does it do to the brain and all of that.
But it, it really is about Johnny and I think I. I was given this unique position. Well, and I, of course, God knew what I would do when it happened. I mean, cause you know, he knows, he knows me and, he knew that I would be angry, when I found out. After he died and we were able to get into his computer and his devices, and I found out that a doctor had given my perfectly healthy 18 year old son a medical, marijuana card.
I mean, I would have, I, I tried to find out who it was. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment protected that doctor. I never did find out. I would've sued the pants off him. I was so mad. But I didn't find all these things out until after he died. He was buying legal marijuana in a legal dispensary with this legal quote unquote card of his.
And then on Snapchat, I find out after he died, he was selling it. He was selling it to all the kids in the school. He was a drug dealer, you know, and my son was a victim. I get so angry about it, you know, he should have never had access to these products in the first place. And, He wasn't a criminal. He was a wonderful, he loved Jesus.
He, he was a great kid. You know, and parents say this to me all the time. They're like, oh, that would never happen to my kid. Like, my kid's an athlete, or my kid is a straight A student, or My kid goes to church, oh this. And it's, so did mine. Like all the protective factors that you think should be in place, it can happen to anyone.
And, I think it opens a lot of parent's eyes too. We do a lot of parent nights and community events in communities and, you know, drug prevention conferences especially, but people are just on the ground because they've, they've never actually seen real products from dispensaries that kids are using.
They've never understood dosage, they've never seen the MRIs and the science, so it's, It's just not a common thing. Parents today just kind of think, you know, it's the same stuff I used when I was a kid and, so giving, having this gift, I now think it is a gift that Johnny was always supposed to depart this world.
And of course God knew he would and he knew how I would respond. And, I think that was a plan. It's taken me a while to not be bitter about it, but, I'm trying to be obedient. Yeah.
Dave: Another, another thing that really stood out to me was when you shared about the, the teens waiting in line for, for a magnet
Laura: Give her a magnet. I know. These crazy magnets 50 cents.
Dave: I mean, I might be reading into it more, but to me that says, these teens are saying we don't want this. And you know, somewhere like in culture, in the media, you, oh, this is the norm.
This is where everything's going. It's okay. But there's a whole gymnasium full of teens that are saying, eh, we're good. We don't want this.
Laura: I, we give out and, and they don't have to come to my line. They have, we have teachers who are handing them out. My husband John, hands them out at exits so they don't have to come up to me, but they will wait in line to get a magnet and a hug from me.
Dave: Mm-hmm.
Laura: and I think it's because they just, they want to connect.
and, and a lot of them say Here, you know, your son can't hug you, so I will, oh my gosh. It just, it makes me, it makes me cry every time. And I just say, oh, you know, I love your hugs. Thank you. And they, they're, they're angry. It to the extent that everyone thinks it's harmless, you know, they see it taking their friends down.
they see it everywhere in school. They see kids misbehaving and, and they don't want it, and they're back there holding their magnet up. They wanna do selfies, you know, they're posting all these, uh, these photos. So there is a huge contingency of youth out there who are very against. THC products, and we need to use those as, as mouthpieces, as instruments, as leaders, as you know, on our councils, showing people, you know, you don't have to use this stuff, you don't have to go down this path.
There are lots of other ways that, you know, we can be high on life and, and enjoy a substance free existence and just trying to be that role model. And it's because they, they, they shine their light and, and they are, They're, they're reflecting I think God's goodness and grace through them. And, and they're trying to show that to other people.
And so if, if this is something they resonate with, you know, stop dabbing and they want a magnet, my gosh, we, we just printed another 5,000 of them because I never want to not have a magnet to give a kid who wants one. You
Dave: Mm-hmm.
Laura: something silly as that.
Dave: Yeah. Oh, and just the, yes. Their voices. We as adults, as caregivers, need to need to shut up and listen, and then lift them up, empower them.
Laura: Yeah. And, what can we do to, you know, we're thinking about a lot of 'em wanna do clubs, can we do a Johnny's Ambassador's club? It's like, oh boy, okay. There's one more thing. Sure. You know, so it, you know how it is when you're a non-profit. I mean, you just, you just kind of take stuff on and, and that's really how it all.
Started because it, for me it was just cuz it was Covid when we started our nonprofit. You remember how that was Dave? It's like podcast, podcast radio show. Zoom. Zoom, zoom. Podcast. Podcast. You know, so it was all virtual and nothing was open. And so I just started talking to anybody and everybody who would listen.
I didn't care how many people were on the radio show. You know, I would get on and then suddenly people started asking me for, well, do you have. You know, a graphic of this or do you have a one sheet that explains this? Or could you put together, right. And if you, if you listen and the teens will tell you, they're like, oh, we need posters.
Great posters, fabulous. How big do you want them on it? Right. And now we have 35, you know, 11 by whatever they are. 20 posters free. See, and everything has to be free because, Teens don't have any money. so you, you know, you really have to just meet them where they are. Oh, I need, memes that I can post on Insta.
Right. And short videos. It can't be more than two minutes. Okay. Right. And so just. Listening and understanding what, what they want, and what will resonate. But at the same time, we also have their parents who are still, so in the eighties and nineties, you know, this stuff is, they have no clue what's going on.
you know, so really creating materials for them. But then the principles. When I started speaking in schools years ago and doing assemblies, they're like, Hey, what do we do when kids start getting in trouble for using T H C at school? They're vaping and blah, blah, blah. Oh, well maybe we need to come up with, a suspension alternative.
I'll create that for you. Like everything that we did was something that, you know, I just, I listen to what people want and how we can be of service and, everything that we have is free. Everything. That is what our nonprofit does. We take all our donations, all our program fees, and we create materials.
we have a beautiful 16 page prevention magazine, full color, that we ship by the thousands out to, to healthcare teachers, to pe teachers, to biology teachers, to counselors, to school nurses, and, and they're using them in the classroom, you know, with a teacher guide. But we, I wouldn't have known to create that.
So, yeah, I think if you do, if you do listen and ask, ask the right questions and really kind of meet them where they are and ask them, what, what can we give you, that will help you, help us
Dave: Mm-hmm.
Laura: get the message out. And that's why called an ambassadors like that, that is the meaning of an ambassador. A person who represents a certain.
Message or an activity and our prevention message is there is no safe level of THC in the developing adolescent brain. That's it. That's, and we never actually tell them, don't use drunk. Right. We just, we say scientifically, why there is no safe level of THC in the developing adolescent brain. And we, we teach them that and what are the outcomes and show them research science.
They're very, very fact driven and. I'm trying to meet them where they are. I mean, I wear sparkly tennis shoes, jeans, you know, Johnny's ambassador's, t-shirts. I, I can't be like their mom. I'm not there to preach at them. I just, I wanna be on their level and just share, and I ask them permission and can I have, may I have your permission to share my son's story with you from my heart and give you some information that I believe is critical for you as you are making decisions.
You know, and, and you, you just kind of put it out there what you believe is important and let them think about it. And, they get to choose, you know, if they, if they resonate with it.
So it's been, it's just been such a blessing. It's been so healing and, I don't know what I'd be doing. I don't know.
I'd probably still be in a fetal position in my bed if I, hadn't started going out to schools. But, Yeah, when school's in session, we're on the road full-time, February through May, and then, August through
November. Yeah.
Dave: goodness. Go, go, go. Well, you already teased out a bunch of the, the free resources and stuff, but I wanna set those just just to the side, not too far away, so we can bring 'em back up and chat about them. But tell me more about. The problem, the high THC marijuana.
Laura: Well that's, you know, really going through. What did it used to look like? Why did it change? You know, how did the plant max out what it could hold in terms of THC percentage? how do they extract THC outta the machine? How are concentrates made? I mean, I go th I walk through the whole process. I explain potency.
What does it mean if it's 3% t h c per gram of flour, right? Or what does it mean if it's 80% vape or 80% dab? And why is that different? And we translate it, in terms of dosage. Right? Mm-hmm. And if you hit a vape at 80%, why is every puff four milligrams? Right? And how do you actually do the math? I want them to understand, you know, you have to look at the label.
Where does it say T HC on it, right? If, if it says T hc, it's psychoactive. It doesn't matter if it came from C B D derived from hemp, right? Delta eight T hc delta nine, delta 10, T h c o t h c A. You know, we. We want them to be able to, if someone hands them something, you know, a gummy, a typical HaBO gummy bear size has 50 milligrams of THC.
That's five servings. One serving is 10 milligrams. It's an ear.
Dave: my goodness.
Laura: you picture that? And so I, I have them all walk through this exercise with me because teens just put the whole thing in their mouth. Boom. There was five mil, five servings. 50 milligrams. And then what happens? Nothing, because you now have to digest it.
When you smoke it, it goes in your lungs, in your bloodstream, in your brain. You're high in about 10 seconds when you eat it 30 to 60 minutes. So the kids go, oh, I guess it didn't work. I should eat another one. I should eat another one. This is how overdoses happen. Right. So we walk through all of that. the difference, the PowerPoint is very different for the teens as it is for the adults, as you can imagine.
I'm very big into not showing teens drug photos. I don't want to, as we know from past prevention efforts, unfortunately, insight, curiosity, inadvertently increase use, or worse, give teens a lesson in how to use. Some of these products, but you don't need to, you don't need to show the photos.
Now, with the adult presentations and conferences, I show them a tour of a Colorado dispensary and show them stuff that they have never seen before and explain dosage, like how much are you actually getting? So trying to explain that a dab. Which is about times New Roman 20 a period. That's a serving size of a dab concentrate is about 50, 5 0 joints from the 1980s at 3% T H C per, gram of flower that I smoked when I was a high schooler.
And so showing them those types of math. Equations really help because it drives home the point, oh my gosh, you know, this is not the same drug. you know, and really giving comparisons. Cocaine to crack, you know, a Coors Light beer to a fifth
of Everclear, a drip coffee to 30 Starbucks triple shot energy drinks right in doing the math so they can relate it to stuff that they understand.
So, You know, there are going to be kids who are using, I mean, we know that, we know from the national data that out of every 10, 12th graders, three of them, are using or have used, two of them will probably never use Right. And five of them are on the fence. So we're really trying to reach the five who are on the fence, right?
And, and help them make their own decision and teach them how to set boundaries. When someone says, here, hit this. What do you say? Right? So we wanna teach them that and teach them to be the ones who are never gonna use, the ones who are never gonna use are even more solidified, like they weren't gonna use anyway.
Thank you very much Mrs. Stack. Nice to have you here. But I wasn't gonna use anyway, but now I'm really not gonna use, but also really to give hope to the ones who are using, because they're there and, and I can usually tell who they are. Their body image, their signals, their non-verbals, their, you know, slight elbows and rolling of the eyes that you get in the beginning fades away very quickly.
And then they are very focused and really paying attention to me because they didn't think they were gonna have any problems either. But we wanna give them hope, right? We wanna let them know, look, you can always change your mind. You can always choose if you want to, to stop. And if you do, here's what's gonna happen.
These five things are gonna happen to you and this is how you're going to feel right and encouraging them. Your brain is very neuroplastic. You can stop this process and your brain will continue to grow this way and improve this
Dave: Mm-hmm.
Laura: And so we just try to meet everybody where they're at because in a gym with 2000 high schoolers, you have got the whole gamut in, in that room and really just trying to, have a message for each person.
But I think, you know, they have become better knowledgeable consumers that are hopefully never going to consume, right? I want them to understand. Look at the package, right? What is the tty? What is the dosage? How many servings? How do you, you know, stuff that they would never do if someone just handed you something.
Don't ever, ever use something that someone just hands you, oh my gosh, you know? And especially in today's age.
with stuff could be laced, you know, but we teach them that it's, it's on its own. THC is narcotic strength. Johnny never tested positive for anything but th hc, he had no mental health issues.
Zero. He had no medical issues. We even had him tested for the genome mind because we thought, well, maybe he's got like some kind of schizophrenia genetics or something that we don't know about. he didn't test positive for any of those gene clusters. So, being able to, to walk through real pictures of him on his Snapchat because he's a high schooler, just like them with the pictures I show and they're like, wow, you know, this is real.
Like this actually happened to this person and this can happen to me. And, and the more we can share, Real relatable stories that are not just want w you know, fact fact, fact fact, science, science sign, right? Get into their world and, and connect with them emotionally. Share something from your
world. that's when they perk up and they really, really listen.
Dave: Mm-hmm. Prevention leaders. Hopefully you're taking notes. One being that telling stories, personal stories that are relatable are all so powerful. I know y'all have felt it when you've been watching a movie where you've really connected with the, the main character, their story, and you can connect to a story.
That hooks you and brings you in, but also prevention leaders. Don't you just love how Laura also brings in prevention science? Ah, I love, I I, I love as a prevention professional, I love that you have that one, two combo. It, that, that often the, that, number two, the prevention science can sometimes get left out.
Forgot about, but your part, mad chemist and, and just mathematician. Professional speaker, mother. yeah.
Laura: Well, I mean, even just anchoring it with a point, you know when T H C binds to the CB one receptor in the basal ganglia or the cerebellum, and you lose reaction time and coordination and you can't drive and then anchoring it, I show a picture of. Wrecked cars. Johnny wrecked all these cars. He kept getting traffic tickets.
He, he had videos of himself driving while he was vaping his T HC pen, you know, so you anchor something that you want to teach
with. This is what it looks like. He had a two ton weapon in his hands. Never get in a car with anybody who's been using thc. He endangered his life, the life of his passengers and those on the street because.
And, and they go, wow. And that's, they remember that. But you know, you're trying to anchor the point about T HC and the receptor and the basal ganglia and the cerebellum reaction time, and now you're teaching them, why don't you ever want to drive? Because it just changes the lesson. If you're just saying, don't drink, you know, don't drug or drink when drive, but you know, to, to put a story to the science.
they will remember that. They will remember that.
Dave: Total random thought. literally last night at dinner, I was having a conversation with a colleague about norms. When it comes to Ubers and Lyfts. If you've got an Uber, Lyft and you just, they reeked of alcohol, you'd be like, oh, nope. No way. But now you get into so many, and I mean, I can smell weed
Laura: You know, rental car companies are having huge problems with this because they rent out their cars In places where it's legal people smoke weed in the car, it gets in the fabric in the carpet and you then you go rent the car after that person and you like, whoa. It just stinks. And they're having people give cars back.
They refuse to rent them and it's almost impossible to get that smell out. so that's so funny that you mentioned that. Cause I was just reading an
article about how. Rental car companies. And even in, like in Vegas, in the casinos, when you're in the parking garage, they can't get the smell out of the parking garage cuz there's no ventilation.
I mean, just how it, really changes the experience. Unfortunately, for so many things that we've come to expect as fun, like run a car, go to a casino. Ugh, I'm not going to Vegas anymore. Boo.
Dave: Right. And well now, like when I travel for speaking engagements and stuff, if I'm getting an Uber and it smells like that, and then my mind like, wait, how recent did they smoke? How recent did they consume? are they, they, I intox under the influence now.
Laura: passenger or was it them? Right. Are they driving with this?
Dave: Like my mind just goes in, also a.
I guess it's a fun story. So when I was a campus police officer, when we would have to, you know, respond to older of a, a cannabis coming from a residence hall room kind of thing, and have to go investigate that when, when I would get around real strong smelling cannabis, it's almost like I, I get real hot and flush and kind of like, almost like I'm allergic to it, and it's like, we didn't need a canine.
He's like, yep, there's weed in here somewhere.
Laura: Dave's Flushing.
Dave: Right. Like, woo. Oh man. Yeah.
Laura: some people just have such a reaction to it. It bothers them more than others, you know? In a way it is kind of like two analogy, like, you know, certain grasses, trees, weeds, flowers, whatever. Bother. Certain people. So I think there probably is something physiological, for some people that it really, disturbs their senses versus others that are like, oh, what?
You know, and they're not as bothered by it. You could have had another job as a, as a, sniffer.
Dave: Right. I know.
Laura: a sniffer.
Dave: Oh, man. Yes. so, all right, so we talked a little bit about high thc marijuana. you talked about the concept of Johnny's ambassadors, but we need to unpack that more for our listeners because prevention leaders, if, if you're not already going to the show notes to go to johnny's ambassadors.org to check out all the resources to join, Untapped resource that is guided by prevention science.
Y'all need to, but yes. Let's unpack who are Johnny's ambassadors?
Laura: Well, anybody can be an ambassador. we, we tell the teens each one reach one. We, we want you to go tell one other friend something that you didn't know. And, and share. tell your, go talk with your parents. Hey, did you know about this? You know, because we didn't take biology in the, in the eighties and nineties.
We didn't even, the, the endocannabinoid system wasn't even discovered until the late 1990s. so most of these kids are educating their parents. so they go back, and they have conversations and that's, that's what we want. We usually follow the assemblies with the parent night cuz we want the parents.
To be able to be like, whoa, I had no idea about any of this. so there's really good conversations that happen after that. So that's all ambassadors do is share our resources and use our resources and talk about youth marijuana prevention. We are a single substance, provider. We do. Talk about how people who use marijuana tend to use other drugs.
We know that CDC says lifetime marijuana use is the number one predictor. Whether teens will have abused opioids in the past 30 days. I mean, we do talk about how it impacts other things and other substance use, but We are so full-time busy just dealing with marijuana because of how legalization has been marching on.
and now 39 states have medical and I believe we're up to 18 now, possibly 20 with recreational. And, and so I don't think it's going away. More and more and more and more schools are reaching out saying, help. We have never had these kind of problems with T H C and sadly, the teens think. Because it's legal, that it's harmless.
We've had a 55% decrease in perception of harm in our Colorado students since legalization. And so we really need to educate them, that it isn't just natural, right? These dabs are made in a lab. These are all commercial. This is, there's nothing, natural about any of this. and to share whether it's graphics or
billboards. We have billboards that you can put up and we have a grant, that you can put a billboard up. you know, posters, magazines, one sheet, PowerPoint, suspension Alternatives, curriculum online. We have an eight module online program, so we just say, reach out. If we don't have it, we can, we could create it.
I mean, that is literally how all our resources were, created, was just one at a time. From someone asking, I have probably summarized a thousand research studies myself, in the past three years. I read them, I interpret them, I translate them into people speak, not scientific speak and, and put them on our website.
So we have a whole menu just for research, because you really have to understand when someone says something that's outlandish, that's just not true. You have to be able to back it up, you know, and, and speak intelligently about the research cuz you'll get it. Oh gosh. Reefer madness. Oh, you know, you're just, so, we ignore those people.
We we're not, we aren't gonna get to those people. I have incredibly thick skin. I get hate mail every day. delete next, you know, I am just, I'm trying to reach the people who are, are reachable. and we are not trying to, we don't get involved with adult use. We are. Teens. Teens. Teens. That's all, that's all we are about, is, is reaching them.
And, and I like seventh and eighth grade best actually, because I still think in our focus groups Anyway, we found out they, they don't really know a lot still. They're filling in the blanks a lot and making a lot of assumptions. and they're still persuadable, still have a little bit of,malleable minds.
You can, you can. Really influence. so we really like middle school sixth, seventh, eighth, but that's not usually, you know, usually we're asked to bring, come into high schools because of problems, unfortunately. Yeah. you know, and, but the age of initiation sadly is middle school. One in 10 of our middle schoolers here in Colorado is addicted.
so there's so many things you can do as an ambassador. You can join us on Facebook. there's about 3000 now in our group, and just hit share. I post something literally every day. if something speaks to you, share it there. You're an ambassador. we have a, a walk every year. It's our annual stop dabbing walk, for youth marijuana prevention and raising awareness.
And that this year is on September 10th. So that's at stop dabbing.org. the Stop Dabbing Walk is, and, and I'll send you a link for that too. If they go to stop dabbing walk.org, they can be a team and they can sign their school up. And, that's a great way to raise awareness with these teen leaders.
anything like that that they want to do. We've got a page on our website called Join in all sorts of different ways, that they can get involved as ambassadors.
Dave: Rocking, rocking. is there something, so like a, a logo or graphic that somebody could put on, like a website that says, Hey, I'm a Johnny's ambassador.
Laura: Yeah, it says I am one of Johnny's ambassadors. Yes. so we have our, logos, we have logo wear. I wear t-shirts that say I am one of Johnny's ambassadors, Scott dabbing.org. Johnny's ambassadors.org. It all literally goes to the same place. but yes, they can put a logo on there. We have a new, public service.
Campaign we are using called Just say no k n o W. so just say no.org. We're starting to use that are, little facts, little tidbits, you know, did you know, and, and kind of dispelling some of the myths, that are out there. so they can go to just say no.org, k n o w, kind of a takeoff on the old Nancy Reagan.
Just say no, you know, but we're saying. And it's a, it's a great fun logo that anybody can use. Everything literally on our website is free. The only thing that costs any money is if they want me to come in and do a school assembly. That's, that's the only thing that costs any money, and that's how we make our program fees for Johnny's ambassadors.
I'm on a small salary and we have a program fee, and then we turn around and spend that money on creating resources that then are free for schools to use. And that is, how our nonprofit functions. So in a way, the schools who do bring me in are helping all the other schools. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Who are not, because there's only one of me, and we're just a very small nonprofit.
So not very many people, you know, know about us. So, but we're, we're plenty, busy just, trying to reach the ones we have. And we have about a hundred certified trainers now. teachers who see me. And they go, wow, can I have your PowerPoint? Yes, here you go. Use it in your health class. You know, go teach it to your middle schoolers.
Dave: Yeah. Okay. So I gotta, I gotta hone in on that one because, prevention leaders y'all may be looking to, to add a new presentation, new training to your menu of offerings.
Laura: some people are like, I don't wanna go stand up in front of a thousand teens. No thank you. But, you know, community nights, Staff development, parent nights, behavioral healthcare. You know, we have a lot of, other certified trainers who just work in different, one, just provides a, a training at her library every month, and they put it in a little catalog and people come in and listen to her talk, and that's
Dave: Yeah.
Laura: she, that's fantastic.
You know? Mm-hmm. 20 people a month. Great. We're, you know, we just, we need a lot of people, we need a lot of people who are willing to be ambassadors and, and just share and, keep other teens from following Joni's path. That's the main thing.
Dave: What, what would be kind of the, the path if say, one of the, the folks listening right now is like, Ooh, I wanna know more about this training and explore maybe getting to be a, a certified trainer.
Laura: Yeah, they just go to our website, johnny's ambassadors.org, and there's a menu that says education. So under that, it'll have how to become a trainer. you know, my book, our educational resources. Our suspension alternative, our magazines, our graphics, our one sheet, everything is there. It's all under that education menu.
And again, there's so much. It's a little overwhelming. We have toolkits, we have videos, we have, it's probably the biggest collection of anti-marijuana and, you know, prevention materials that you can find. I believe I haven't seen anything more robust, than what we provide on the website. And take it, take it and use it. That's why it's there.
Dave: So what I'm hearing is folks need to go to johnny's ambassadors.org and bookmark that, and then jump in, get connected on social media as well, to stay even more up to date on what all y'all got
Laura: Twitter, Insta, LinkedIn, Facebook, everywhere we are, you know, join anything YouTube and share away.
Dave: Yeah. So touched on the training, the, the posters, the magazine, the, the parents' presentation as well. Are there any other, of the educational offerings that you, you want to highlight to make sure our listeners know about?
Laura: Well, the biggest thing that's used is by, substance abuse counselors in school who are working one-on-one with teens who are in trouble, and who get caught. So when Johnny got suspended for marijuana at school, they just sent him home. He, he got no education, no training. It was like he was on vacation for a week and I had to put up with him at home.
and so I swore that was never gonna happen, that, you know, we need to, if, if someone gets in trouble, There has to be some sort of knowledge share, that, that they have to sign off on. They have to bring, handouts home and, and do reflection questions with their parents, and they have to be signed off on, they have to do an eight module online, self-paced, a curriculum, and get a certificate of completion afterward that they can then send to the, the counselor or the principal so they can.
Get back into good standing. Right. You know, so we put together a whole program that's on our website, again, under the education, online curriculum or, or suspension alternative. And even if they're being suspended, In-house, you know, there are still things that they can do, to put an educational program together.
And again, there's no cost. Our very generous sponsors and donors cover the cost of all of the teens all over the US who go through that, that program. So that's probably the most used resource that we have right now.
Dave: All right, take notes, listeners. And you do school assemblies. I saw you speak at a conference. is that something that our listeners could, you know, reach out and say, Hey, can you come speak at my event? Here's
Laura: Oh, absolutely, yes. A ton of drug prevention conferences and summits. parent nights, community nights. I do a lot of work with coalitions, schools. It's just kind of all over the board. we usually fly on Mondays. My husband is our chairman of the board. He is an unpaid volunteer. He works full-time for free, for Johnny's ambassadors.
And so he flies with me, does all our logistics. I speak usually three assemblies or. Two assemblies and a parent night. On Tuesdays, we fly Wednesdays, three presentations on Thursdays. We fly back on Fridays and then we do laundry, have one day of rest, and we back on the road again on Monday. That that is our life.
We are road warriors, so yes, whether it's schools, Conferences, parent nights, that's, what we do full-time. And we follow the school schedule. So we do get a little break, you know, over the summers and around the holidays. There's kind of a natural break in there. When the kids are on break, we're on break, you know, and we do conferences and exhibit and go to cod, good things like that.
But, It gives us so much joy. That's, just what we've decided to do with the rest of our lives. You know, I was so ignorant as a parent and so naive and, didn't understand anything, and I am just determined that I'm going to teach as many people as I can, what I did wrong and what I didn't know, and that they're going to know.
so they. Can actually do something different and change the, the course of their child's life and that the teens themselves can choose to make different decisions and actually be armed with the facts. They, they really love data and if you don't come at 'em with all this malarkey, they, really appreciate that.
And, just really gotta, gotta keep teens from using, it's taking so many generations of our teens with mental health issues, with addiction, sadly, many of them, having psychosis issues, a sevenfold in suicidality. We've seen those who use marijuana every day, 17 years or under. It's, it's just a horrible, horrible time with crucial brain formation going on, and they're all so curious at that age.
It's just, Oh, we just gotta get 'em through that. Just gotta get 'em through that. I'm just so obsessed with it. I just, so far I haven't gotten tired, but I imagine this, this schedule eventually catch up to me, but right now it hasn't. So I just go with it. I just go with it.
Dave: Well, I'm gonna interrupt this, this broadcast, something that I, I, I make it a point to do in prevention because we're, we're helpers, we're always so people focused. Are you, stopping, pausing to, to take care of yourself at all?
Laura: Oh yeah. Well, you know, I have two days on the weekend, but we have a cruise scheduled for the summer. Okay. Yeah, we are, we just had a new grandbaby. I babysit every Saturday. I get my grandbaby, so, oh, yes. I'm, I'm really good in that regard. I sleep a ton. I eat well. I've just, I try to take care of myself, but I, I like to travel.
I like to be on the road. I like to go, I kind of have to drag my husband a lot. Sometimes. He's not quite so sure he likes his road warrior thing, but I mean, before this happened to Johnny, I had already flown 2 million miles. Ununited. I'm up to nearly 3 million miles now. So I mean, this, this always was my life.
I, I just totally different topic, you know, now I'm in youth drug prevention, where before I was in productivity and corporate work, you know, so it's just really kind of flipping things, um mm-hmm. But that's always been my life, so I get energized by it.
I get a little bored if I sit home too long. Yeah.
I'm weird.
Dave: No, no, no. You are you not weird. You are you. And, I don't think you'll be bored, babysitting a new grandbaby.
Laura: he's so yummy. I get to see him every week. I hoo Megan and her husband away. Go do something. Go shopping. Go. Go to breakfast. Go away.
Dave: before I, I wrap us up, anything else you wanna touch on before we kind of bring this to close?
Laura: Well, I, I would just love, if anybody wants to reach out to me, please email me. Everyone thinks that, you know, they're bothering you. It's funny. They always apologize. I know you're so busy and I don't wanna, it's like, what? That's. That's why I'm here. Please bother me. Please ask me how I, you can help. What resources do you need?
So my email is laura, l a u a, Johnny's ambassadors.org. I'm happy to provide you with any materials. Tell me about the situations that you're dealing with. What I can do, I can provide, suggestions and opportunities. That's my passion, is just getting all these materials into people's hands. I would love more than anything to invite anybody listening to be.
One of Johnny's ambassadors, and let me help you do that. And, we can really, I think, change the world and save lives. I, I believe with all my heart that that's, that's happening out there. And I know a hundred percent if Johnny hadn't found marijuana, it'd still be here. And it's, it's tragic, but it is, it's 100% preventable.
I know it, I see it. I get emails every day from teens, from parents. I know that it's making a difference. So, I believe in everybody who is, is working hard, in this, and I just wanna make your job easier. So please, ask me what, what we can do to help you, and we will get those prevention materials into your hands.
Dave: Clearly listeners, you can tell why I said I've gotta reach out and reconnect with Laura because it's pretty clear to me that she believes what I believe, and that's prevention is better together and together we are stronger.
Laura: Yes.
Dave: That that's my tagline.
Laura: I love it. You should say that all the time. That's a good
Dave: Yes, I may have it printed on some t-shirts, a tote bag, and a
Laura: God. It's kinda like each one. each one.
Dave: Yep, Yep, exactly. Prevention is better together. well, the show notes are loaded up with links and the website is loaded with free resources for y'all listening.
Laura: Free.
Dave: Not even free. 99. Just free.
Laura: How about free? Yes.
And if I can make, a plug, we do have one. Paid educational conference with CCEs each year. and it's around seven 10 day, which is dab day. So it is on July 10th and 11th in Denver, Colorado. And we have, it's very inexpensive. It's $149 for all two days of education, including all the recordings.
And we have an incredible lineup, of faculty. So that is July. 10th and 11th, it's gonna be held in Denver, Colorado, where I live, live with all our instructors. So it's a hybrid event, so you can either come in person for $349 all two days, all materials, all food, everything. or you can just do the recordings for 1 49, the live stream.
you can still ask questions of the instructor, so if I could just put that little plug in, would love for people to, and join us at the conference, johnny's ambassadors.org/conference.
Dave: Awesome. Links will be in the show notes of that one as well, and so, My final question, totally putting you on the spot, but if you were to say to our listeners, if you're gonna remember one thing from this episode, remember this, what would that be?
Laura: I would have them use our prevention tagline, which is, there is no safe level of T H C. In the developing adolescent brain, and then you better be able to back it up with science. So they've gotta go and do all that work. We have literally 75 hours of videos with doctors and, experts and psychiatrists.
I mean, it's, it's gonna be overwhelming when they, they hit that website.
Dave: Mm-hmm.
Laura: take a few days and dig through it all. You will be, yes, you will be armed and ready
to go.
Dave: And you may have just named the, the episode as well.
Laura: What I say, sometimes I say things, I don't know what I
Dave: oh, your, your takeaway.
Laura: Oh, there is no safe level of thc. The developing adolescent brain.
Dave: Yes. Yeah. Right.
Laura: and I always show, remember, anchor your story with emotion. There's a photo of Johnny in Hawaii
Dave: Mm-hmm.
Laura: he died. With a little, we had a little tiki guy that we had our arms around and were hamming
and he was sober at the time and had, recovered another time from use.
Mm-hmm. And we use his warning that marijuana ruined my mind and my life. And that's one of the last things that we leave them with. And, wow. They are very reflective after that. But that brings that point home, baby. That's what you gotta, that's what you gotta do.
Dave: Absolutely. Well, this has been a journey that you have taken, taken us on, and I can't thank you enough for, for taking time, of course, to, to chat with us, but to, to yet again, share Johnny's story again and again and again. Doing, doing what you are doing and being who you are. Thank you very much.
Laura: You, Dave. That means the world. That so much. Thanks to everyone listening and come and be
Johnny's ambassadors.
Dave: Absolutely. You'll see an influx after this episode goes live. Alright, until then, take care of yourself.
Laura: thanks Dave. You too.
Dave: That concludes this episode. Thanks for tuning in. Be sure to hit the subscribe button and share this episode with a friend before you leave and we look forward to seeing you on social media cause prevention is better. Together. Together we are stronger
