National youth-focused nonprofit’s ad campaign highlights official marijuana concentrate warning

Denver, Colorado, USA, Nov. 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A mandatory warning about hyper-potent marijuana concentrates from the State of Colorado, which became the first state to legalize recreational marijuana 10 years ago, offers essential health information for parents and young people nationally, according to One Chance to Grow Up.

That’s why the national nonprofit, which focuses on limiting the harm to youth from cannabis commercialization, is highlighting the warning in a starkly powerful advertising and public awareness campaign. 

The Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division published the warning, which notes:

Use of Marijuana Concentrate may lead to:

1. Psychotic symptoms and/or Psychotic disorder (delusions, hallucinations, or difficulty distinguishing reality);

2. Mental Health Symptoms/Problems;

3. Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) (uncontrolled and repetitive vomiting);

4. Cannabis use disorder / dependence, including physical and psychological dependence.

The Colorado warning also notes: “Marijuana concentrates ARE NOT recommended for anyone under age 25, except if recommended by a doctor.”

While Colorado requires dispensaries to provide this resource to people buying concentrates, the science-based warnings are relevant to users of concentrates in any state. 

“Unfortunately, our research visits to Colorado dispensaries found that few are proactively providing this important resource,” said Henny Lasley, executive director of One Chance to Grow Up, a nonpartisan parent-led organization. “Furthermore, those who don’t enter Colorado dispensaries aren’t benefiting from this important information. Hyper-potent marijuana products have created a new, increased risk to young people, whose brains are growing until they’re 25. As these radically new concentrates proliferate nationally, we wanted to make sure parents, youth, and others around the United States can access this important warning.”

The educational resource was required by House Bill 21-1317, a law enacted with broad bipartisan majorities in the Colorado Legislature and signed by Gov. Jared Polis. One Chance to Grow Up and a broad coalition of youth advocates supported the legislation.

The One Chance to Grow Up awareness campaign includes digital advertisements that highlight excerpts from the official state warning and direct people to the full state resource, which is provided at Get the Facts – One Chance to Grow Up.

The ad campaign was produced by SE2, an integrated marketing and communications agency focused on changing behavior, social norms, and policy.

“This clearly stated warning from the State of Colorado is a breakthrough public health event, so we want to highlight it to the broadest possible audience,” said Eric Anderson, co-founder of SE2. “We used excerpts from the state resource, presented in a warning label format, to encourage people to read the whole thing. We hope this allows the state resource to reach a wider audience, including parents of teens and youth nationwide.”

Lasley added: “Young people are bombarded with marijuana promotional messages, which often ignore the risks and make frequently unfounded claims of health benefits. Counter marketing helps provide more balanced information.”

The book Cannabis: Moving Forward, Protecting Health published by the American Public Health Association found that a November 2020 search for “cannabis health benefits” on Google News yielded 74.6 million hits. The equivalent search for “cannabis health harms” produced just 2.1 million results, the book reported. Similar searches using the keywords “marijuana” and “weed” produced similar gaps, the book notes. 

“These results show why it’s critical that science-based information produced by trustworthy sources like the State of Colorado is made available to consumers, youth, and their parents,” Lasley noted.

One Chance to Grow Up, formerly called Smart Colorado, was created nearly a decade ago shortly after Colorado voters approved Amendment 64, which legalized recreational marijuana. The group focuses exclusively on protecting kids as marijuana commercialization spreads. It doesn’t take a position on state legalization of cannabis for adults. 

In last week’s elections, voters in two more states legalized recreational marijuana — Maryland and Missouri — while three states opted against legalization: Arkansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota. 

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