#igotthischicago

This week’s blog is written by Dion McGill, SCY Communications and Community Outreach Manager.

Looking in both the local Chicago weekly’s, The Chicago Reader and The Red Eye, marijuana and it’s impending legalization is a hot topic.  Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a class sponsored by our friends at Safe Kids Chicago.  The topic of the class was vaping and cannabis, and the presenter was Dr. Michael Wahl. 

According to his biography page on the University of Chicago website,

Dr. Wahl is an attending emergency physician at University Northshore HealthSystems and also provides acute care medical toxicology consult services for the system. He is the Medical Director of the Illinois Poison Center and is responsible for the medical oversight of the statewide poison control center and its staff of approximately 26 individuals. The Illinois Poison Center receives over 78,000 calls annually and partners with healthcare, EMS and law enforcement agencies to help reduce the incidence and injury from harmful substances.

Dr. Wahl is primary faculty with the Toxikon Consortium (partnership between Cook County Health and Hospital System, UI Health, and the Illinois Poison Center).  Toxikon’s mission is to provide excellence in clinical care, training, education, and research related to the medical toxicology.  The consortium trains 100 – 150 medical and pharmacy residents and students each year in the care of the poisoned patient.

Interests include acute care toxicology, new and novel drugs of abuse, response to emerging public health threats and reducing the harm from the opioid epidemic.

I will cut to the chase and say it was by far one of the most interesting and informative classes on both vaping and cannabis that I have attended. I like to believe, due to my attendance to several other classes on the topic, my knowledge on marijuana is fairly good.  

After going over the basics of vaping and cannabis (varieties, how it is consumed, price, what we have to look forward to once the recreational legalization of marijuana begins in Illinois in January), there were a few points that Dr. Wahl began to make that caused my ears to perk up. 

Marijuana is much more potent than it used to be.  

In the words of Dr. Wahl, “This ain’t your father’s weed.” 

According to an article on the National Center for Biotechnology Information’s website, The Problem with the Current High Potency THC Marijuana from the Perspective of an Addiction Psychiatrist,

The primary problem with the current available cannabis in dispensaries in Colorado is that the THC content is not like it used to be. Prior to the 1990s it was less than 2%. In the 1990s it grew to 4%, and between 1995 and 2015 there has been a 212% increase in THC content in the marijuana flower. In 2017 the most popular strains found in dispensaries in Colorado had a range of THC content from 17–28% such as found in the popular strain named “Girl Scout Cookie.”2 Sadly these plants producing high levels of THC are incapable of producing much CBD, the protective component of the plant so these strains have minimal CBD. For example the Girl Scout Cookie strain has only 0.09–0.2% CBD.

The flower or leaves that are generally smoked or vaped are only one formulation. We now have concentrated THC products such as oil, shatter, dab, and edibles that have been able to get the THC concentration upwards of 95%. There is absolutely no research that indicates this level of THC is beneficial for any medical condition. The purpose of these products is to produce a high, and the increased potency makes them potentially more dangerous and more likely to result in addiction.

You can find the rest of the article here. 

In all honesty, the only reason I knew what “shatter marijuana” is is due to a Chance the Rapper song, Hot Shower, in which he proclaims 

“Smoking on some shatter, got me higher than a ladder.”

Indeed. 

While I don’t have the exact statistics that Dr. Wahl presented, there is a myriad of articles in the academic community about strains and potency, and many medical professionals are saying that potency will present an issue moving forward. 

However, towards the end of his presentation, Dr. Wahl mentioned something that I had never heard before, and made my ears immediately perk up:

“Cannabis-Induced Psychosis”

Now this was something I had never heard of, at least that I can recall.  He went on to explain what it is, and how it is being seen by more medical professionals, and that there is debate on whether the cannabis consumption is only exacerbating already existing conditions that may have gone unnoticed, or if this condition is something wholly different.  I truly enjoyed Dr. Wahl’s insight, and he did go on to say,  “And this isn’t in the same vein as “Reefer Madness,” which we know wasn’t real. This is something real.”  

As a parent, I found all of this information very interesting and enlightening, and yes, a little scary.  I have twin 14-year-old daughters, and I plan on discussing this information with them soon.  My daughters, to my knowledge, have not experimented with drugs, and I want to make sure they have the best possible knowledge when contending with things like peer pressure. 

As has been said, “Knowledge is power,”  and I feel much more knowledgeable about this topic, and will certainly be doing more research on the topic of both vaping, and how it relates to cannabis usage.  

If you’re a parent, do you feel exceptionally knowledgeable about vaping and cannabis use?  What things do you still feel that you need to learn or want to know?  Let us know down below in the comments, and we can use that information to guide future blogs.  

Resources: Lurie Children’s Hospital Evidence-Based Position Statement In Opposition to Legalization of Possession and Use of Marijuana for Non-Medical Reasons by Adults in Illinois

Kidshealth.org: Marijuana for Teens

Medical Marijuana for Children with Cancer? What Providers Think - December 12, 2017

In the past year, the SCY/PAACT team has grown in many ways. We hope to familiarize partners with who is on the team and what they do – in the hopes of making SCY better conveners for community organizations.

1)   Hey there Linda! Thanks for taking some time to let us get to know you a little bit better. Can you introduce yourself and tell us about you and your background?

Hello, my name is Linda Gordon the Outreach Coordinator for PAACT and SCY. I’ve been with Lurie for about 14.5 years now. Been working in the field of prevention for about 5 years.

2)   What struggles do you encounter while trying to make an impact in the community?

I love what I do and the people I serve. However, one challenge that I’ve encounter with attempting to make an impact are the health disparities within the social determinants of health in the African American communities.

3)   What is the best part about working in youth-centered work?

The best part about working in youth centered work is to see them make a change for the better within their own community.

4)   Describe yourself in three words.

Resilient Black Woman

5)   With mental health often a topic discussed on the team, what is your favorite form of self-care?

This week’s blog is written by SCY Operations Coordinator Kirstin Grabski.

As Chicago’s heat wave continues on, alternatives to seek relief from the heat range anywhere from pools and beaches to staying indoors with Netflix. And while some options are more accessible than others -- everyone seeks the refuge that works for them. 

Also this weekend brings a lot of fun events including Pitchfork, the Silver Room Block Party, Evanston 3D Chalk event and Night Bass City. Chicago youth will be out and about having a great time. The temptation to indulge in alcoholic beverages will be looming, so today poses the perfect opportunity for parents and guardians to engage in meaningful conversations around adolescent alcohol use. If you’re not sure where to start in that conversation, check out the I Got This Chicago website for tips and follow I Got This! on social media for a wealth of resources. 

Additionally, here is information on the effects of the dangerous combination that excessive heat and drinking alcohol can have. This information can also be a part of that conversation so that youth can see that not only an alcohol free summer the healthiest choice but also the safest. 

It’s also important to remember to take extra precautions during the extreme temperatures. Here are a few resources from the City of Chicago Family and Support Services page. Stay cool!

In the past year, the SCY/PAACT team has grown in many ways. We hope to familiarize partners with who is on the team and what they do -- in the hopes of  making SCY/PAACT better conveners for community organizations.

1) Hey Mira!  Thanks for taking the time.  Let's start with you introducing yourself, and telling us a little bit about yourself and your background? 

Mira: Hi! I am a Master of Public Health student at Northwestern University. Currently, I am completing a policy and communications internship at Lurie’s Preventing Alcohol Abuse in Chicago Teens coalition. That means I help out with policy research and with the coalition’s social media outreach. I am from New Jersey and recently graduated from undergrad at Northwestern University in June 2018, where I majored in journalism and global health.

2) You're an MPH student at Northwestern University. How has that experience been? What activities do you participate in? 

Mira: It’s been a great experience! I love learning how to do research that improves people’s health in equitable ways. My professors have all done amazing community-based research work, which has helped me be able to see that in my future as well. Outside of class, I mainly participate in research activities with Northwestern professors. I’m working with Dr. Rebecca Seligman on a community-based research project at a mental health clinic in Chicago, working to improve clinical encounters with the large numbers of Mexican American youth they treat. I am also working with Dr. Sera Young to analyze how food insecurity influences adherence to antiretroviral drugs among postpartum women in western Kenya. In this project, we’re looking at how women can be supported to improve their adherence to life-saving medication and thus, improving their lives overall.

3) So you've been interning with PAACT.  How long is the internship in total, and how did that come about?

Mira: I actually learned about PAACT after an internship with Midwest Asian Health Association, a public health clinic serving low-income communities in Chinatown and surrounding areas. In that internship last year, I worked with the clinic’s coalition to prevent underage drinking and substance use in McKinley Park and nearby neighborhoods. I helped establish their social media presence, visited different community meetings, and helped schools sign up for the Illinois Youth Survey—which is how I met Linda, PAACT’s project coordinator and my current manager. In my MPH program, we’re encouraged to seek out public health-related internships, and I thought about PAACT immediately. I reached out to Linda, and here I am! I started at PAACT in early October, and will finish at the end of February.

4) What are some of your tasks as an intern?  Are you enjoying your internship? 

Mira: I’ve learned so much at PAACT! It’s been wonderful working with Dion and Linda on PAACT social media and communication activities. Though I have some social media experience in the past, Dion and Linda have challenged me in the ways I view social media as the voice of an organization. It can be fun (within reason) and serious at the same time—informative and interesting. We’ve done blog posts, Twitter chats, a Facebook live, and content scheduling, and it’s been really fun to learn! At the same time, I am also delving into some policy research. I’ve worked with Leslie Helmcamp to research best practices for how schools can support—instead of punish—students who are using alcohol in school. Many times, these students are struggling with other mental health issues and trauma that go unaddressed in a punitive process. I am also working with Katie Danko to research how Lurie and the state of Illinois can work to tackle the opioid epidemic. It’s such a multifaceted, complex problem that requires coordination across diverse policy, clinical, and community stakeholders, and I feel lucky to be a part of this work.

5) Working in the public health sphere is taxing work.  Who are some people that inspire you, or inspired you to want to get involved in an organization like PAACT? 

Mira: I’ve learned about the importance of community-based public health work and research through classes at Northwestern, in my undergrad and master’s programs—how oftentimes, change happens because individuals band together and take action together. Rather than specific people, I’m inspired by movements overall: HIV/AIDS activists, the women’s movement to understand and own their own bodies, and the breast cancer movement to research environmental causes of the illness that weren’t being taken seriously by researchers at the time. In Chicago, too, as I meet and learn about community action by coalitions and organizations, I’m inspired by the everyday work that people are doing to improve access to information, resources, and health services that improve people’s lives.

6) You recently wrote an excellent article on holiday drinking habits.  How'd you get the idea for that particular topic? What was the thought process behind the blog? 

Mira: With the holidays coming up, we’ve been seeing an uptick in encouragements to drink alcohol—the media is writing stories about alcoholic advent calendars, and the best holiday bars, and ads for holiday drinks are everywhere. People want to celebrate, and that celebratory feeling has become associated with overindulging in alcohol. At PAACT, we were talking a lot about how that behavior can influence youth. If teens see adults binge drinking, that works to normalize that behavior among adolescents as well—and that can be dangerous. We’re encouraging parents to talk with their kids about alcohol, early and often, to avoid underage drinking and enjoy their lives as kids.

7) Since posting on Lurie Children's Hospital's blog, it has been picked up by several newspapers.  How does that make you feel?  Did you expect that kind of reaction from the article? 

Mira: I was definitely a little shocked! Lurie has such a wide reach, and when the hospital says something, people listen. I am very proud of the work that PAACT is doing, and am so thankful for the team for helping it reach a wider audience. It’s an important message!

8) When does your internship conclude?  What are you next steps academically and professionally? 

Mira: My internship finishes at the end of February. After this, I will graduate with an MPH in June, and (hopefully) to a job in policy research. After dipping my foot in the water here at PAACT, I am really interested in doing more research to inform policy alternatives that can improve people’s lives. I would love to head to D.C. to learn more about national-level solutions.

9) Well thank you for taking the time to sit and chat with us.  Do you have any parting words for the SCY audience?