Americans who care about their children and their communities need to wake up to a dangerous reality: today’s cannabis is not the harmless herb our grandparents knew. Potency has skyrocketed, concentrates and vape cartridges deliver doses that would have been unimaginable decades ago, and the recreational industry has raced to monetize whatever will sell—even products that appeal to kids.
The scientific evidence is stark and getting harder to ignore: daily use of high‑THC cannabis is strongly associated with first‑episode psychosis and more severe psychotic symptoms than the low‑potency marijuana of the past. Researchers following thousands of patients across Europe have tied high‑potency strains and frequent use to dramatically higher odds of schizophrenia‑type illnesses, a public‑health problem that should alarm every parent and policymaker.
At the same time, the market is flooded with novel and semi‑legal products—vape pens, THC distillates, and delta‑8 offerings—that skirt regulations while delivering unpredictable effects. Federal agencies have warned that delta‑8 products can be contaminated, intoxicating, and dangerously packaged to attract children, yet retailers and online vendors keep pushing them into the mainstream. That is negligence dressed up as entrepreneurship, and it must stop.
Worse still are synthetic cannabinoids—the so‑called K2, Spice, HHC, and other lab‑made chemicals—which are far more toxic than plant cannabis and are repeatedly linked to emergency room visits, seizures, kidney damage, and acute psychosis. These Frankenstein drugs are not medicine; they are chemical weapons against young brains sold in convenience stores and online, and conservatives should join every sensible voice in demanding harsher enforcement.
There is a better, commonsense approach to the mental‑health crisis than medicating every kid and prescribing yet another pill: diet, exercise, human connection, and purpose actually work and should be the first line of defense. The medical literature shows exercise and lifestyle changes can meaningfully reduce depressive symptoms and serve as powerful adjuncts to traditional care, which means we should be building families, churches, schools, and community programs that restore real life to young people.
This is a moment for conservative leadership: protect our kids, regulate dangerous synthetic and semi‑legal cannabinoids, crack down on illicit vape cartridges that poisoned hundreds during the EVALI outbreak, and refuse to let profit‑hungry corporations lobby their way past common‑sense safeguards. Law and order, parental rights, and community responsibility matter here more than the latest progressive talking point about normalization and tax revenue.
We can choose a future where young Americans grow up resilient, purposeful, and free from chemically induced psychosis, or we can surrender our children to a market that values profit over people. Roll up your sleeves, talk to your neighbors, hold school boards and local lawmakers accountable, and demand that public health and common sense come before corporate greed. Our communities are worth fighting for, and protecting the next generation starts with telling the uncomfortable truth about modern cannabis.
