Hello, Johnny’s Ambassadors!

The day following Cyber Monday each year is known as Giving Tuesday, which falls on December 1 this year. So we’re excited to use this day to kick off our end-of-year campaign with a generous matching gift by Jim and Naomi Rhode! Between now and December 31, your donations up to $2,750 will be DOUBLED.

In addition, with a $20 minimum donation, you’ll receive a 75-page eBook of informative articles; a 17-page research resource guide; a sneak peek of Laura Stack’s newest book, “Marijuana Will Be the Death of Them: A Mother's Shocking Tale of Her Son's Descent into Psychosis and Suicide"; a one-hour video and handout with slides by Laura Stack telling Johnny's story; and a special #StopDabbing magnet in the mail (U.S. addresses)!

Your kind donations will be used to continue development of our innovative online teen marijuana curriculum. We are excited about the progress we’re making! We’ve put together a one-minute video “sizzle reel” (clips of the curriculum sped up), so you can see how it’s coming. Check out the work of our amazing team here. With more states legalizing marijuana, it’s critical that both teens and their parents are educated about the potential mental harms and increases in suicides with use. We need help getting this to the finish line!

ABOUT JOHNNY STACK

On November 20, 2019, 19-year-old Johnny Stack from Highlands Ranch, CO, took his life. He was delusional after repeated incidents of Cannabis-Induced Psychosis (CIP) from dabbing high-THC marijuana concentrates from a young age.

Before marijuana changed his brain, Johnny was computer whiz with a 4.0 GPA and a perfect math score on the SAT. He was a funny, charming, handsome young man, with a college scholarship and a bright future. After marijuana, he was an abusive, drug-dealing wraith who stole his family dog from the home and threatened to kill it without payment from his mother. He experienced persecutory delusions and thought the mob was after him, his university was an FBI base, and “everyone in the world knew everything about him.” This is what marijuana does to the developing adolescent mind.

The main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, THC, has now been observed to cause many different types of mental and physiological health problems— especially in children and youth. Direct associations have been made between the frequency of marijuana use and higher THC potency with the development of mental health issues (psychosis, depression, anxiety, suicidality, reshaping of brain matter, and addiction).

These results are not surprising, as daily marijuana use among youth who begin before the age of 17 significantly increases the risk of suicide attempts. Chronic adolescent marijuana use has been correlated with cognitive impairment and worsened academic or work performance. Marijuana has a variety of other interactions with mental health, particularly during young adulthood. For example, marijuana use during young adulthood carries the highest risk of developing psychosis.

While most marijuana users never experience permanent mental illness, researchers have found that the earlier and heavier someone starts using, the more likely it is that they will develop a disorder at some point (often years later).

It's so easy to think that marijuana use isn't that big of a deal, especially since many states have begun legalizing the drug for recreational use. Johnny Stack lived in Colorado, where suicide is the #1 cause of death for youth. In 2017, over 32% of suicides ages 15-19 had THC in their toxicology reports. This startling figure doesn’t include the deaths with no THC but permanent schizophrenia because of it. It's unfathomable that 18-year-olds can get narcotic-strength shatter, but it's readily available, and adolescents are uneducated about their damaging effects on their developing minds. We are set to lose several generations of young ones to these mental harms, until society wakes up to the dangers (much like what happened with tobacco when people realized it would kill you).

A few months after his death, Johnny’s parents, Laura and John Stack, launched Johnny’s Ambassadors to address this crisis. Laura Stack is a successful, Hall-of-Fame Speaker, corporate spokesperson for many major brands, and an author of eight books published by large houses. She acquired the undesired wisdom of knowing what it's like to suddenly lose one's child. By sharing Johnny’s story and his warning honestly and boldly, she hopes to keep it from happening to other families and save more precious lives. Laura and John Stack are determined to start a social movement by recruiting Johnny’s Ambassadors all over the world to bring awareness to the harms of youth marijuana use.

To this end, Johnny’s Ambassadors is developing a critical online teen marijuana curriculum, and we need your help. What we don’t want is for teens experiencing sadness, depression, and isolation to turn to drugs. We need to warn youth that today’s marijuana is quite toxic and not to use it to soothe their loneliness or “chill out.” Johnny’s Ambassadors hopes to provide this training to a half-million teens in three years.

Please check out the awesome one-minute “sizzle reel” of the great work we're doing so far. We need help to get it to the finish line, as the platform and development are pricey.

So, starting December 1 on #GivingTuesday through December 31, Johnny’s Ambassadors is asks you to consider an end-of-year donation. We are asking caring parents, grandparents, teachers, and frankly all adults who have a teen in their life, to please contribute at least $20 (the age Johnny would be if he were alive today).