Is Your Child Getting High? Learn the Signs and How to Get Help - Part 2

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Episode Transcript

(00:01):
From the WA and M Studio onthe campus of Florida A and M University.
This is Mary Forum Radio, aweekly conversation on the education and research
of the medical marijuana being conducted atBAMUI. Hi. I'm Heidi Otway,
your host for this conversations on Cannabisvirtual form, brought to you by the
Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative atFlorida and M University. In this conversation,

(00:27):
we're talking about kids and teens whouse cannabis illegally and how to help
parents learn the signs and how toget help for their child. So let's
talk and learn about this subject withour panel of experts. What if you
have a child that uses cannabis andyou try telling him the danger involved in

(00:47):
taking it and why he needs tostop, but you get a response like
it calms me down whenever I'm stressed. A lot of times the adolescents,
they will not immediately respond to aparent. And so if you're a parent
and you have somewhat of an openforum to discuss it with them, try

(01:08):
asking them, you know, arethere possibly other things that could help you
calm down when you're stressed? Isthere any way that I can help you.
Have you explored anything else, maybenot so much in an interrogation type
way, but just in a collaborativeeffort, just to say, hey,
I want to help you. Whateverit is stressing you, can we talk

(01:32):
about something else? Are you,you know, like really committed to this?
So I would just say, howyou have the conversation matters. If
you go in like an attorney questioning, you're going to get a shut down
response. If you go in withthe hammer, you're going to get a
shut down response. So I wouldjust say openness to okay, if it
calms you down when you're stressed,is it something else we can probably try.

(01:55):
I want to go all the wayback to the beginning when Joe said
that her son was offered cannabis byanother adult, a parent, another a
friend's parent. If I recall andthat really I think we need to probe
into that a little bit. Whatare some tips that parents can do,

(02:20):
you know, what can we sharewith parents to let their child know that
if they're in that situation, whatthey should do, you know, because
it's an adult saying, you know, you were gonna believe you're trusting that
adult right as an authority to dothe right thing by you, but giving
you cannabis, as we all know, is not the right thing. It's
illegal. So let's talk about helpingthat parent educate their child on when you're

(02:44):
in that situation, what should youdo. I think that's such a great
conversation to have, and for onething, I would just take a little
have a step back before that andsay to parents, don't just know where
your kids are at all time.Walk up to the door, introduce yourself

(03:05):
eyeball the eyeball with the mom orthe dad, or whoever is the responsible
party where you're leaving them. Youknow, know your community. That's something
that we've kind of we tend tolose touch up with a little bit.
You open your garage door with yourclicker, you go in, you close
it, you go in your ownplace, and you know you can get
away with not necessarily knowing your community. And we've got to do better for

(03:30):
our children. So know that communityand spend time with those families so that
you know their value system doesn't matchyours. But then having those conversations with
your children so that they know youare a safe place to go to have
a conversation. Use things that arehappening in the in the current world.

(03:54):
To bring up these topics and talkto them and say what do you think
about that? You can guide andlead a conversation by asking questions, were
those good decisions? Do you thinkthat the decisions that person made led to
these outcomes? How did that happen? How did they get there? We
see pop stars all the time,we're losing amazingly gifted people because they mix

(04:20):
drugs and alcohol or they you know, do things that lead to the worst
postball comes. These are moments forconversations. And let your child know that
that you are always there to havethat talk with them, and that it's
it's not with any judgment, andit's not with any you know, directive.

(04:43):
Let it lie and hear them andand and just establish that pattern of
conversation will mean the world to them. I think the other one is you
take a advantage of having those timesfor those conversations. So when you're on
that drive to the swim meet thematch because of my coach, my son
who was our goalkeeper, my daughterwas a swimmer, the first thing you
get to do when you're driving thenine to ninety five is do this take

(05:08):
the headphones off, and then onceyou take those headphones off, you can
have that conversation and that's actually yourkids were in the headphone. Sometimes even
the parents are to have that conversation. The other one is actually give them
and actually role play with them howto refuse. And I'm sure Britany can
give you ideas with reguards to that. But for my guys, I was
like, Hey, I'm really tomy soccer. I'm kind of into that
kind of stuff. My parents madedrug test and you know, I don't

(05:29):
want to disappoint my parents. Wheredo they want to be when they actually
grow up? Certain career choices kindof fall off the table depending upon when
you have those things happen with regardsto that. But the key also women,
they said, with regards to Joeabout an adult offering them something.
In our house, we actually havethe safe word or the emoji or the
code word, and so it happensis if they're in any uncomfortable situation wherever

(05:50):
they are, to let them knowthat we're always here for you. So
if you need to reach out tous, we decide it's the purple heart
or it's La. Because if someonegrabs her phone what's s lasagna? My
momid I went for dinner tomorrow night. Where are we going? We're going
to Daytona Beach on the weekend becauseyou sent to ton of Beach. But
that means to me to call myson. Hey, Bill, did you

(06:11):
actually send me that emoji? Wy? You would send me that emoji?
Yes? Dad, I did.Okay, Well, guess what. Grandmam
just got really, really sick.She was rushed at the hospital. I'm
coming to pick you up. Wehave to go see her. I'll be
there in twenty minutes. You're stilla Pat's house, right, Yes,
I'm still a Pats house at Seeyou in twenty pau and hang up to
the phone. Now he gets totell all of his friends this high school
or middle school party that just becausehis grandmother got sick and of course his

(06:32):
father is the worst parent in theworld, he has to leave this great
party, when in reality, thatcode word or emoji means dad, come
get me the heck out of here. We actually told our soccer guys this
when they were ten, and oneof our guys when they were to party
at thirteen lights out at midnight,Jack Daniels and Pills breakout and marijuana,

(06:55):
and he sends his word to hismom, who calls and says, we
talked about and he says, andby the way, mom, can so
and so and so and so alsocome over. He got himself and two
of our other teammates out of thatsituation with regards what was happening, and
now is doing quite well in chiropracticschool. I mean, a really really
wise issuation at the time. Butyou have to arm them with the refusal

(07:16):
answers to give, with the waysthey get out of the situation. And
the big one, going back towhat Joe said, is this no questions,
no questions asked. If they sendthis to you, just go get
them, because if they feel you'regoing to interrogate them, they're not going
to send you that word or thatemoji, and that's what you don't want.
You get them out of all kindsof situations, not just drugging the
alco anything where they're uncomfortable about what'sgoing on there, they're not comfortable with

(07:42):
parents are doing whatever. They getout of that situation in a way that
doesn't get them anymore grief because everybodycan grab that phone and see what you
have on there, so exactly,Brittany, did you want to have anything?
Yeah, And as crazy as itmay sound, it's important with adolescents
not to demonize the other adult,but just to in a very truthful way,
just explain that, you know,everyone's values don't align with ours and

(08:07):
what that looks like if you areoffered a maybe age appropriate way to refuse,
even from an adult. And soI definitely do agree with the refusal
skills, but just that honest conversationabout this person is not the most horrible
person in the world. They justdon't believe the same thing that we believe,
or they just don't have the samevalues that we have, and we

(08:30):
believe that that's not okay. Andso if you are offered, you can
very politely and respectfully to another adultdecline. And so I think that's important
as well. And sometimes it's yuars. They may think the adult, or
the goodness of their heart, they'reactually trying to help. It works from
my anxiety, I'm trying to helpyour anxiety. Well, that premise is
flawed, but that may be wherethey're actually coming from. And just say,

(08:52):
Brittany said, you don't demonize themfor doing that. They think they're
trying to do it with something that'sgood when in reality it's really not.
But that's their are coming from.Yeah, there is like this fine balancing
act that we're trying to find between. Is this a serious topic that concerns
us deeply? Yes, it is. The damage to the adolescent brain that

(09:15):
early cannabis use can cause can becatastrophic and permanent. We are deeply concerned.
That's drama, right, But wecan't come at this with our children
steeped in that drama and that emotionalresponse, because we could blow it all
up. We gotta stay calm.We got to have our game base on.

(09:35):
We got to figure out how todeal with our emotions in a different
way and an outlet over here,maybe with the best friend later on whatever,
But at the moment, game basis on, keep it calm,
cool and collected. The most importantthing is the well being of your child.
Deal with your own emotions about it, you know, in another outlet,

(09:58):
and it is it's a balancing act, and it's not always easy to
pull that off when you're scared foryour child. But we've got to do
what we've got to do to havesuccess. And so this is the best
advice you can get. Yeah,let's talk about the what if. And
we've and you all, you allknow, we've been seeing a lot of
stories in the news with kids beinggiven edibles, so the gummies, the

(10:22):
lollipops, the brownies that are infusedwith cannabis and they're being sent to the
hospital because they didn't know that theirfriend gave them something that was, you
know, had cannabis in it.So how do we educate our kids on
hey, someone says, hey,try these gummies? How do you how
do you respond? How do thekid respond? We have to do a

(10:46):
campaign here with our children in ourcommunity. That was you just don't you
just don't accept anything that isn't likestore wrapped. But that was very extreme.
I'm going to defer to everyone elsebecause my kids are now grown and
my grandkids aren't quite this age yet. But it, I mean, our

(11:07):
schools even did for a little bit. Our schools said like no baked sales
and no baked goods because it happenedone time in a school and then nobody
wanted that liability. So I'll deferto Bill and Brittany. But again,
it depends on you know where you'reat and what the laws are and what's
available, but we had to clampit down pretty tight for a period of

(11:31):
time in Colorado. So a quickand easy way to get out of that
is make sure your child has allergiesto food things, even if they don't.
My son has major Nott allergies.He's known since he was able to
speak that he never took food fromanybody, especially if it wasn't packaged like
Joe said, because I can't readthe label to see if you're putting your

(11:54):
health at risk for literally a majoranaphylactic reaction. We're talking EpiPen carrier here.
And so your child doesn't have anyallergies. They do. Now I
can't have your brownies, I can'thave your cake. I can have your
cupcakes, I can have anything becauseit's not rap like just and I have
a food allergy. I don't knowwhat's in there, and that could be
really a problematic for me. Andmost people are from alergae perspective. Oh,
we don't want to give anything it'sgoing to be so alergy. So

(12:15):
make sure your kids have allergies.That's the number one that's actually a good
way to get out of it rightaway. Have those allergies, and I
said, we lived through it.I mean, truly, my son could
never have you can never have.The brownies or the birthday cake or the
cupcakes were brought in his classroom andhe had his separate thing of oreos in
every classroom he's been in. That'swhat the teacher good after him because the
oreos were safe. And so that'sone of the ways to get out of

(12:37):
that pretty quickly from an edible perspective. The other one that goes from a
medical perspective that people need to realizeis if marijuana is consumed and ingested as
and it's eaten, that tremendously increasesthe chances for psychosis and psychotic events.
And that's because when someone has amarijuana cookie and you don't get that euphoric

(12:58):
feeling right away, what you do. You have another cookie, and they
have another cookie, and you haveanother cookie, and now when it all
kicks in, the TC content isso high you have a significant psychotic event.
So that's the big thing with regardsto edibles, and that that's the
problem. And then the other thingis, which will stress everyone who's listening,
if for some reason you did havean accident exposure and this is unfortunate.
Where now to educate the parents.If you have these in your home,

(13:24):
they need to be kept in aplace that's locked up and people can't
get access to. And we've actuallyhad this happen where grandma has come over
to watch the kids, the fouryear old grandchild wants gummies. They pull
them and give it to their grandchildand actually accidentally poison their own grandchild with
cannabinoid gummies that they use that didn'tknow that their parents had in the hall

(13:46):
them that they just gave their child. And the reason I bring that up
is because if you have that happen, either intentionally people consume it or accidentally,
please bring the packaging to the emergencydepartment, because we now have an
algorithm that you know is eighty threepercent to ninety four percent accurate, and
that I can actually tell if thechild is going to have a prolonged overdose
and a severe overdose. But Ineed to know what they took because it's

(14:09):
weight based that I know. Ifmy grandson now gets more than seventy milligrams
of THC being six and being fortyfive pounds, he's in for a severe
and prolonged overdose, and like Joeis saying, this is where they're intubated,
this is where they're intended that secured, they have these monoclonic seizures.
You want to get someone's parents' attention. Have your four year old shaken like

(14:30):
a leaf that gets people's attention rightaway. And the problem that we have
with this is we do not havean anecdote for this. This is just
supportive care and hoping that the childsurvives. And it can be that significant.
And you know, as Joe willtell you, there's issues where sometimes
the gummy bear, the gummy bearis one hundred milligrams of THHC or sometimes

(14:52):
it's a thousand milligrams THHC, youknow, and when they get that kind
of ingestion, it can really belife threat. And that's the conservative.
Please bring the packaging so we cancalculate out how best to treat the child.
That's really important from a medical perspective. Yeah, really, Yeah.
I actually had a client who accidentally, this was actually years ago, who

(15:15):
accidentally got candy that was infused andhe was distraught. He said, he
started feeling funny. And of courseI'm hearing this much later after the episode
has happened, And what you reallydo is you do teach them refusal,
like, hey, if you didn'tsee your friend open the pack, that's
okay. And if it's really thatserious that you want some candy, maybe

(15:37):
when you go home ask your parentsjust to be on the safe side,
because although he was okay, itcould have turned out much worse. As
Bill talked about. It could haveended up with him in the emergency room.
It could have ended up, youknow, with a fatal result.
So just those refusal skills like hey, I know the candy looks good or

(16:00):
the edible in whatever form was good, but it's really not worth the risk,
especially if you did not see themopen it from a pack that it
was from a store. Another onekey. Another one's key too, is
from the parent perspective. We justhad this happen. They go ahead and
make brownies, they make cannabis brownies, They leave them with the kitchen table,
and now they're three year olds inour emergency room with a severe TC

(16:22):
overdose because they can get up tothe kitchen table and they had three brownies
themselves. As a three year old, they're going to eat the brownies.
And so the things you have toput them up on top of the refrigerator,
not on the kitchen table. Imean simple things like that. Even
if you're a parent to be responsible, if you elect to use these items,
you have to protect your children.Even guests coming to your home are

(16:42):
not going to realize that when theywalk in. Now they pass on the
floor because they consume the brownies whileyou were upstairs, and I'll be right
down and now there's already an eventgoing on. So they're key ones with
that, Joe Brittany. Brittany mentionedsomething that I think is key. You
know, when our kids are incollege, we start teaching them about monitoring
their drinks because someone slips something inyour drink. Now, this education starts

(17:07):
way young for children. Monitor whatyou're eating and drinking and make sure that
nobody else has access to it.And you know, it is sad that
we need to do that, butwe do, and we and it's a
life skill that they need to develop, you know, And we can help
them understand that and a great wayto do it as sports because our guys,
literally that I've coached since they werefive in soccer, everybody has their

(17:30):
own water bottle. You got yourname on it. Well, you know
what, Now you take it tothe party. You take your container to
the party. You know what's inyour container. You never lose sight of
it if you do just like Josaid, you empty it out. You
get it from a reliable water sourceto rehydrate that kind of thing. So
that's an easy one to treat fromsports. Hey, you have your own
water bottle you always use you alwayshydrate, hydrate hydrants. So now you

(17:52):
take it to your friend's house forthe party. You take it to the
basketball game. You're going to playin the basketball court. Why let somebody
else give you something great way toteach kids from a really young age,
they always have their own drink container. Oh, these are some wonderful tips.
So we only have a few minutesleft in the show, and I
want to give you all the opportunityto share some closing thoughts. Brittany,
I'm going to start with you.What are some closing thoughts that you'd like

(18:14):
to share with our viewers and listeners. Just for closing thoughts, I think
we've said it several times in thebroadcast, but do not panic if you
find out that your child is acannabis user or any other substance. Do
not panic. I know it sounds, you know, unrealistic, but if
you do, you could possibly squanderyour opportunity to really connect with them,

(18:38):
to really educate them, and toreally show that you really want to help
them. And so remain as calmas possible. If you're not the person
to talk to them, it's okay. You know, this is one of
those times you can lay ego asideand use someone, whether it's a professional
counselor or whether it's a mentor,as Bill stated several times throughout, use

(19:00):
someone to have the conversation, butdon't panic. Use it as an opportunity
to connect, to build that trustwith your child that hey, I'm not
gonna beat you over the head aboutit, but I do want to ensure
that ultimately you're safe, and sohave the conversations. Be as truthful as
possible. Honesty really is the bestpolicy. Be honest with them about the

(19:22):
dangers of it, but be honestwith them about you're concerned about it,
but your commitment to helping them.And so that's what I would offer as
a closing point. Thank you,Bill. I think the thing you realize
is the severe, significant medical situationwith this so one, it is definitely
a gateway door open or drug.So it's a super high with other substances

(19:44):
that they'll go on to use othersubstances. It's a major issue for mental
health. There's definitely trajectory studies showingthat if they engage in early marijuana use,
it will lead to significant problems withopiates later on. This is also
a huge issue with regards mental health. There is a study now showing that
individuals who engage in marijuana use andthey have an acute psychotic event where they

(20:07):
come to the emergency room, that'sit, they're hallucinating whatever. If they
come to the emergency room, ifthey're fourteen to eighteen year old males,
they have a forty percent chance oftransitioning to schizophrenia in three years. And
that's a permanent problem. That's paranoidschizophrenia, hallucinations, auditory, visual,
the whole bit. It's also verydetrimental to your heart. Marijuana does not

(20:29):
do well with regards to vaso constriction, carne arti, vasospasm, platelist sticking
together all those things. And thereason being is to end on the positive
note, is that's why these conversationshave to be early and often so my
daughter being a swimmer. When allof a sudden before the Rio Games,
Michael Phelps is checking into rehab.The conversation is not how horrible is Michael
Phelps. The conversation is Rachel beinga swimmer. How do you feel about

(20:52):
that? What do you think aboutthe whole thing going on? Do you
know anybody who's having those kinds ofissues? Do you know anybody who's using
substances? You know if you everhave any that you can always reach out
to Mom and dad, You canalways reach out to your mentor so and
so to actually talk to because thebottom line is we are always here for
you. We love you dearly.We don't want anything to happen to you,
but we know things happen to us, and you need to realize that

(21:15):
we're always here for you and wecan always be someone you can bank when
it get you help, even ifit's beyond mom and dad, We will
get you the help that you needeach and every time. Joe, Well,
I have a lot of things goingthrough my brain, but the first
and first thing that I really wantto say is if you feel that your
child has developed a substance, usedisorder where they can't they feel they can't

(21:40):
go without the substance. Get help. I've heard a lot of parents say,
can I just rehab them on myown by locking them down and this,
and no. The answer is no, you need a team, you
need professional help. You need tofind the resources that are available to you
because and and you know, Iknow that resources and money for those resources

(22:03):
can be hard to come by.There is always a A, it is
always free. There are AA groupsfor kids, for families, family members.
Get help is a number one.And and then I think, you
know, finally, stay educated onwhat is going on out there. Stay

(22:26):
informed, stay educated, stay aware, you know, be vigilant. Just
be vigilant. And I can't addanymore to what Brittany and Bill have said.
They're both wonderful in the advice thatthey've provided, But don't try to
handle it on your own. Thisis a great time to use your community,

(22:51):
and if you don't have one,it's far past time to to create
your community. And the concern youhave, you know right away, don't
be in denial. If you godown the path of not my child,
it can be anybody's child. Andso, like Joe said, and Britney
said, you need to reach outto get the help that you need,
and the earlier you intervened, themuch better they do than if this goes
on and on and on. Yeah. So, Brittany, Joe, and

(23:14):
Bill, thank you all so muchfor being guests on this Conversations on Cannabis
Virtual form, brought to you bythe Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative at
Florida and M University. Thank youto everyone watching this program. Tell us
what you think about this forum bycompleting the survey that will be posted in
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(23:37):
the survey, your name will beentered into a drawing on December twenty eighth,
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one of Mary's partners. We alsowant to encourage you to go to the
Florida Department of Health Office of MedicalMarijuana Use website to learn more about legal
medical marijuana in the state of Florida. We also want to encourage you to

(23:57):
go to Florida and M University's websiteto learn more about this initiative, it's
educational programs and additional information about cannabisuse in Florida. Thanks everyone. The
views and opinions of our invited guestsare not necessarily the views and opinions of

(24:17):
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University or theMedical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative