NY Times: PHI’s Dr. Lynn Silver Discusses High-Potency Cannabis and its Threat to the Public’s Health

“At Stiiizy, the best-selling cannabis brand in America, the goal is explicit: producing powerful and cheap marijuana.

Inside its Los Angeles headquarters, crews dust joints with concentrated THC, the intoxicating component of cannabis. They package pocket-size vape cartridges that promise “the highest potency possible.” On its website, the company declares that “it has never been easier (or quicker) to get silly high for an affordable price.”

Dispensaries operating under the brand of another leading company, Cookies, have promoted “powerful medical benefits,” including “cancer fighting” qualities. A cannabis-infused chocolate bar was, until recently, described as containing properties “beneficial to those suffering” from glaucoma, bacterial infections and Huntington’s disease, a devastating genetic illness.

More than a decade after states began legalizing recreational marijuana, businesses are enticing customers with unproven health claims, while largely escaping rigorous oversight. A New York Times review of 20 of the largest brands found that most were selling products with such claims, potentially violating federal and state regulations. And as companies compete, potency has gone up — with some products advertised as having as much as 99 percent THC — and prices have gone down.

As companies transform cannabis, and how it is used and perceived, public health experts are increasingly alarmed.

“When companies make unproven health claims about their products, it can put consumers at risk,” said Rosalie Liccardo Pacula, a professor at the University of Southern California who researches cannabis health policy. “And consumers who are exposed to more potent cannabis are more likely to experience serious health effects.”

Yasmin Hurd, a neuroscientist and researcher who directs the Addiction Institute at Mt. Sinai Behavioral Health System in New York, echoed the concerns about health claims and rising potency. “The industry is being reckless,” she said.

Nearly 18 million Americans now report using marijuana daily or near daily — more than the number drinking alcohol that often — according to a national survey on drug use. A growing number are enduring addiction, psychosis and other harms, a Times investigation last year found.

States have taken some steps to protect consumers, such as requiring testing for contaminants, prohibiting advertising that might appeal to minors and capping THC levels in edibles. But there are many gaps, and some of the existing rules are vague or unevenly enforced, The Times found.

Private industry vs. public health

As the industry argues for marijuana to be legalized — and regulated — at the federal level, it has also fought many attempts at regulation by states.

In 2023, groups representing pediatricians, emergency medicine doctors and addiction specialists complained to California lawmakers that the state had broken its promise to prevent cannabis products from being designed to appeal to children or be easily confused with candy.

The organizations pressed for legislation that would tighten restrictions on packaging and marketing and prohibit flavorings in vapes and other smoked cannabis products. The industry opposed the bill, arguing that the measures were unreasonable and unnecessary.

“The industry has been very effective at transmitting this idea of cannabis as a safe, natural wellness product,” said Dr. Lynn Silver, a pediatrician and senior adviser at the Public Health Institute, who has reported to the state on the effects of high-potency products. “There’s little awareness of just how much the product has actually changed, of how industrialized and increasingly hazardous it’s become.”