Experts tell Oregon Senate committee youth face higher risks from stronger cannabis; speakers urge tighter prevention, labeling and marketing rules

Chair Lisa Reynolds, a pediatrician and chair of the Senate Committee on Early Childhood and Behavioral Health, convened an informational hearing on youth marijuana use that drew public health researchers, treatment providers and parents to testify about mounting harms linked to higher-potency cannabis and gaps in prevention and treatment.

The witnesses said the cannabis products available today are far stronger and more varied than those used by previous generations, that youth perception of risk is low, and that changes in packaging and marketing are linked to more accidental pediatric exposures. They urged state agencies and the committee to pursue clearer product labeling, limits on potency and advertising, and investments in prevention and treatment capacity.

The hearing matters because speakers described trends that could widen existing public-health harms: higher-percent THC products and concentrates, evidence that retail exposure changes youth perceptions and behavior, and a documented increase in poison-center calls involving young children after Oregon raised the maximum THC per edible package.

"Youth access to marijuana has become alarmingly easy," Rep. Ed Deal told the committee, adding that "marijuana today is not the same as it was a generation ago. Potency has skyrocketed." David Retu, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and medical director of Lane County Behavioral Health, said there is "overwhelming evidence that cannabis use, particularly for young people, changes the brain." Julia Dilley, an epidemiologist…