My patient was 14 years old the first time his grandmother drove him two hours to my clinic. He told me he tried weed when he was 8 and had been smoking or vaping it daily since he was 12, often using highly concentrated products purchased from friends or dealers. "It helps me relax," said the patient, who moved in with his grandmother after his mother died and his father was incarcerated. His life told a different story. Now 16, this young man struggles with persistent depression, failing grades and escalating anger. He had punched holes in walls, been suspended from school and was hospitalized for suicidal thoughts. He's one of many teens I treat whose use of highly potent cannabis has become a destructive force in their lives.

Americans have been using cannabis for generations, but today the drug is more available, more socially accepted and far more potent than ever. Legalization and decriminalization have brought about rapid changes in the marketplace, and dispensaries around the country now sell plant buds alongside highly concentrated vape cartridges, gummies, edibles, waxes and beverages infused with the psychoactive compound THC. These newer products are specifically engineered to deliver THC in ways that are often more convenient and discreet than smoking cannabis.

A few decades ago, the typical cannabis plant contained 2 to 5 percent THC, and the more potent products averaged around 10 percent. Today's cannabis bud products often contain 20 percent THC, while cartridges and concentrates can exceed 70 percent THC. This means the one in four high school seniors who reported experimenting with cannabis in 2025 almost certainly used it in a much more potent form than many people of a previous generation did growing up. And policymakers have done little to protect them.

We need a shift in how we regulate cannabis to account for the fact that it is not a uniform product. America's experience with alcohol and tobacco can be instructive. With the help of regulation, public education and changes to how alcohol was taxed, Americans learned that grain alcohol, whiskey and beer carry different risks. With the help of tobacco control, cigarette sales plummeted and the United States made big strides in public health. The same can be true one day for cannabis.