In early March 2021, the U.S. Senate's Caucus on International Narcotics Control released a report on the increasing potency of marijuana products available on the market. At the time, America was just a year into the pandemic and related lockdowns, so marijuana policy was not front and center on everyone's mind. It should have been. In fact, the findings contained in the report could be described as shocking.  A more creative, but just as accurate, title for this 58-page report would be "This isn't your Grandpa's weed."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Included in the findings, the THC levels in marijuana products are soaring. THC is the psychoactive chemical that gives pot users a high, and reportedly provides relief from pain and nausia. In recent years, high potency products have become more common. In 1990, the average concentration of THC in a marijuana plant was 4%. By 2012, it had tripled to 12%. Today, some products on the market have THC levels as high as 90% !                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           A 2020 NIH study found that pain relief benefits of marijuana require THC levels no higher than 5% and that marijuana with higher levels might even be less effective in fighting pain. The only two states in the country with a cap on THC levels and high-potency products are California and Vermont, where the cap is 60%.  Doctors and emergency rooms across the country have sounded the alarm on the spike in psychosis, suicidal ideation, actual suicide, schizophrenia, and addiction like behavior they have seen among young people using high-potency marijuana.                                                                                                                                                                                                                A doctor at the Adolescent Substance Use and Addiction Program at Boston Children's Hospital has reported an explosion in the number of young cannabis users experiencing "hallucinations and trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality."  We are far removed from the Cheech and Chong days.  This stuff is dangerous, particularly for young people. Christians should be highly motivated to not let this cat out of the bag wherever it has not yet been loosed and to minister to people where it has, including in addiction recovery centers and other healthcare settings.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   -JOHN STONESTREET & MARIA BAER - Breakpoint, Colsen Center