Mar. 26, 2014:  On Tuesday, April 1, Mr. Mike Nerney, who travels the country and speaks to students about substance abuse, will be at The Bronxville School to give a lecture and meet with both students and parents. 

The lecture will be at 7:00 pm in the multipurpose room of The Bronxville School; enter on Midland Avenue. It is sponsored by B*well, the health and wellness committee of the Bronxville PTA. 

Mr. Nerney will give evidence of the dangers of marijuana to the adolescent brain and inform our community about the risks of using pot and what to do if you find out if your child is using.

The code name for the culture of cannabis is 420. April 20 has become a day to celebrate counterculture in America, but more specifically it is the day to celebrate pot smoking. You might be thinking, "What's the big deal? Kids smoked when I was in high school and they are fine."  Don't be fooled.  This is not that kind of pot. 

The marijuana on the market today is highly potent. THC (the psychoactive ingredient) in marijuana tested in the 1980s had a concentration of below four percent. Today's average concentration of THC is between 12 and 16 percent.  

Why is this dangerous? Because research shows that the higher the concentration, the greater the impact on cognitive development. One in six adolescents who try pot will struggle with addiction. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says on its website that marijuana "affects brain development, and when it is used heavily by young people, its effects on thinking and memory may last a long time or even be permanent."  

"Beyond the loss of cognitive function, the impact on memory, and the diminished learning potential," stated Mr. Nerney, "there is a significant risk that kids will rely on marijuana to solve their emotional problems for them--their relationship and friendship issues, their school problems, their parental struggles--all those normal but difficult adolescent emotions."

Furthermore, he added, "At a time when their brains are primed to acquire and practice the most important skills that will make them successful in their lives, many young people will choose to trade the hard work of normal adolescent development for dependency on this drug--a trade that will spell hardship for them in the future."

How can parents help? Know the telltale signs of drug use. Lilly Newman of the Maxwell Institute gives some clues about what you might find if your kid is smoking pot. "Have you found used toilet paper rolls stuffed with a dryer sheet? What about Visine, which helps mask red eyes? Odorless marijuana is harder to detect, as is the marijuana that can be 'vaped.' E-cigarettes can be a new vehicle for getting high, by substituting marijuana for nicotine." 

The community should be informed about trends in substance abuse and the gateway that marijuana offers to drugs that inflict even greater harm. We need to have answers to kids who tell their parents, "Hey, it's legal, it's medicinal, it's herbal."

After giving the lecture on Tuesday night, Mr. Nerney will spend the next two days with the high school students in The Bronxville School, encouraging them to make healthy choices. 

For more information, go to www.powertotheparent.org.  Also reach out to Lilly Newman at the Maxwell Institute by calling 914-925-5281. 

Pictured here:  Poster for anti-420 marijuana campaign.

Poster courtesy Sarah Kraemer, Chair, B*well Committee, Bronxville School PTA