WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) – According to a survey done by the Marathon County Health Department published in 2021, 15% of students in high school have tried marijuana. That’s consistent with what one local School Resource Officer said kids are trying it at an even younger age and with potentially more harmful THC products.
According to a Marathon County Youth Risk Behavior survey conducted in 2021, 16% of teens tried marijuana before age 13. However, SRO Ben Price said marijuana isn’t the main concern anymore.
“We’re not seeing any of the traditional forms like marijuana, we’re not running into it as much as like your actual marijuana plant material,” said Ofc. Price. “We’re running into synthetics like the vape or the edibles, the gummies, things like that. your kids nowadays are not using actual tobacco, they’re using a synthetic product.”
Price said it could be even worse because the FDA doesn’t regulate it. Delta 9 is the actual chemical in marijuana that’s illegal, but Delta 8 and 10 in synthetic products are in a gray area.
The 2018 Farm Bill allows the sale of products containing under .3% of THC. Anyone can buy them at any age over the counter as long as your county doesn’t have its own restrictions.
“It’s much higher than say in the 70s that marijuana being used. It’s much different, much more potent, stronger,” Price said. “What it is doing is replacing your brain’s natural chemicals with synthetic chemicals which your brain is dependent on over long time use.”
It can cause problems with learning and a lack of the ability to concentrate in class along with a struggle to develop social skills. That’s why he and other Wausau police officers educate the fifth-grade class.
“We talk about vaping we talk about what to look for marijuana use, THC use those kinds of things so they are kind of aware before they go into middle school,” said Price.
You might be thinking, age 10 seems a bit young.
“We want to educate them before they get to that stage and come across something and maybe use something they maybe don’t know what it is and use something they shouldn’t,” said Price.
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The 2018 Farm Bill allows the sale of products containing under .3% of THC. Read More