As concern grows over impact of cannabis in Mass., new attention to old health warnings

Is cannabis dangerous for kids?That was the question we posed to Ryan Dominguez, executive director of the Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition, the group representing the industry behind $8 billion in sales in the state since legalization.”There have been reports of not fully developed minds being susceptible to things like psychosis,” he said. “We agree we don’t want our products to get into the hands of kids because there hasn’t been as much research as needed to understand the long-term effects of use by adolescents.”But to the doctors who treat the adolescents and young adults suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis and other disorders, there is no doubt what the research shows: teens and young adults with still-developing minds who use cannabis stand a much greater chance of developing serious mental illnesses than young people who don’t use cannabis.Grace Sullivan experienced another issue from her heavy use: cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS. It causes severe vomiting, nausea and abdominal pain.”I almost died from using marijuana,” she said.Sullivan grew up in West Roxbury and started smoking pot as something fun to do with friends when she was about 14 years old.Then, she said it turned into an addiction.”It was all day, every day, around the clock,” she said.Her habit of using cannabis vape cartridges took a serious toll. The CHS would cause days of vomiting and keep her from eating. “I just couldn’t stop throwing up,” she said. “I would be passing out on the bathroom floor of my mom’s house, in and out of the bath, hot showers. That was the only thing that gave me relief from this sickness. But unable to eat, drink for days on end. And I mean days.”Relief would only come from hot showers or baths, common for sufferers of CHS.Multiple hospitalizations and stays in intensive care units followed, but even after she was finally diagnosed with CHS and warned that she could die if she didn’t give up cannabis, she kept using.”The last time I was in the hospital, I was there for about two weeks because it had gotten so bad, and I was in the ICU. I had brain swelling, all of the terrible things because I had prolonged it. I was in denial,” she said.She hit bottom — and finally decided to fully commit to sobriety — after having to call a ride-share car to bring her to Boston Children’s Hospital, her cannabis use having estranged her from her parents.”I can’t really explain it. But after waking up that last time, I kind of wanted to be alive for the first time in my life,” she said.Sullivan is hardly alone. Research from Tufts Medical Center released just last week showed cases of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome in Massachusetts have soared 1,350 percent from 2012 to 2022. “We see more patients in our clinics, more patients in our hospitals, in emergency rooms that are coming in with these symptoms,” said Dr. Sushrut Jangi, the Tufts gastroenterologist who authored the study. “It does support that widespread cannabis use is leading to more CHS.” Dr. Jangi said he believes the study might be underestimating the issue because many doctors are still learning how to diagnose cannabis-use disorders.The impacts aren’t limited to CHS. Dr. Sharon Levy, the chief of the Division of Addiction Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, said cannabis is “the number one reason for kids coming to the program.”The biggest issue, Levy said, is the higher potency of the products the young people in the program had been using.It’s hardly a surprise.Levy was named to a state advisory board after legalization in 2016 to advise policymakers in Massachusetts working to create regulations for the marijuana market.But in 2019, she signed onto a “Statement of Concern,” disagreeing “with how marijuana policy is being shaped in the Commonwealth.” The statement warned about “high THC products” causing “increased risk of serious mental health problems.”It pointed to scientific research, including one study that found that 50 percent of first-episode psychosis cases in Amsterdam may be attributed to the use of high-THC marijuana.”I think that that document is very constructive criticism,” Levy said in an interview.The task of regulating the industry now falls to the Cannabis Control Commission, overseen by five commissioners, including one appointed by the governor with a background in public health, mental health, substance use or toxicology.Watch an extended interview with the Cannabis Control CommissionKimberly Roy was appointed by Gov. Charlie Baker in 2021, who cited her role overseeing a school substance use prevention program while she worked as the director of external affairs for the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department.”We do everything within our jurisdiction to make sure that young people are not sourcing their products from our dispensaries,” she said in an interview.Roy, along with Commission executive director Travis Ahern, blamed hemp products with high THC as a major source of the problem. These products are unregulated in Massachusetts and sold in stores and online, and contain a psychoactive substance known as delta-8. The substance found in marijuana plants contains delta-9.”We see it everywhere, from convenience stores to gas stations to smoke shops,” Roy said.But doctors who are treating young people with cannabis-related issues said their patients were not regularly using these products.”Doctors are telling us some of their patients aren’t getting the intoxicating hemp, they’re getting cannabis from dispensaries,” 5 Investigates’ Mike Beaudet responded in the interview.”Certainly, what we’re seeing and the examples that we would see and find to be more prevalent is the ability to order through the mail,” Ahern replied.Neither of the two cited evidence for their claim that young people were using the hemp products containing delta-8. But an addiction specialist we talked to challenged that.He told 5 Investigates that in the hundreds of patients treated in the clinic where he works, the “vast majority” have delta-9 in their system, and some have levels so high they are literally off the charts — too high to be measured. We also asked the Cannabis Control Commission about potency limits.While Massachusetts limits the amount of THC in edibles sold in dispensaries, there are no THC limits on vape cartridges used frequently by people suffering from cannabis-induced psychosis.”Should there be THC limits on vape cartridges?” Beaudet asked.”The last report we had on that was in 2021, and our research department said, ‘More research is needed,'” Roy replied.”That was a 2021 report. It’s now 2025. When is more research going to come out?” Beaudet asked.”The legislature mandates that we do research, but sometimes we don’t always have the funding to align with what we need to do for research,” Roy replied.The 2021 research report from the Cannabis Control Commission was strongly criticized by a group of 14 researchers, doctors and other scientists, including ones from Harvard Medical School, UMass Chan Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. In a written response, the group wrote that the Cannabis Control Commission’s report “contributes to the spread of misinformation and public health harm associated with the use of high THC products.””I’m confident that we’re not spreading misinformation. I do think more research is needed,” Roy said.To Sullivan, the evidence of cannabis’s impact is overwhelming. Once she got clean, she turned to helping other young people as a peer counselor at MA Young People in Recovery in Quincy.”A good portion” of the young people she sees have marijuana as a primary or secondary addiction, she said.”I’m not trying to scare anyone. I just want people to know what it did to me and what it has been doing to others,” she said.