On Friday, Greene County High School students participated in a special program that spotlighted the dangers of marijuana use.

Midwest Wellness and Recovery CEO Megan Waters introduced Laura Stack, the founder and CEO of Johnny’s Ambassadors, as she gave a presentation and discussion after her own 19-year-old son Johnny died by suicide, after using marijuana. Waters said Stack turned her own grief into a mission of advocacy and research as she now tours different high schools and communities to prevent substance abuse among teens.

Stack spoke about the addictiveness of THC in marijuana that her son started using, shortly after their home state of Colorado legalized marijuana.

“Unfortunately, he had easy access to it and didn’t understand what it could do to him. He very quickly became addicted to it, started to change his behavior, his brain, and then by five years later, when he was 19, sadly he took his life.” 

Stack said THC in marijuana is now more potent than it was when she tried weed in the early 1980s and the addictive nature can be more harmful to teens than adults because it can interfere with a teen’s brain because that organ is still developing. The program was made possible by Communities 4 Children and Community Partnerships for Protecting Children neighborhood/Community Network Mini Grants, Home State Bank and Midwest Wellness and Recovery.