ROYA MOTAMEDI – Cannabis Use Psychosis, Mom StrongEmail: royam1691@yahoo.comMy son Daniel Reader of Camarillo, CA died by suicide on the eve of his 25th birthday on November 21, 2020. He was a positive and outgoing young man, helping friends and his family, and worked at an assisted living organization. He was studying nursing.His mental decline started in 2018 after he started using marijuana. He said he used it to get the edge off. He was not inclined to medication, narcotics, or alcohol, but he did try marijuana with his friends and that’s when things went downhill.Suicide is a known risk of high potency THC. This is a mind-altering product, and it must contain warning language to inform the users, just like cigarettes.I whole heartedly believe if the products he was purchasing through the dispensaries in Oxnard, CA displayed a warning label, Daniel wouldn’t have used the products. He may be alive today.Please help save other young people like Daniel and vote for this bill.

DR. CHRISTY BROWN – Cannabis Induced Psychosis, Mom StrongEmail: christy__brown@hotmail.comIn 1996 I voted for medical cannabis because I was told it was for “compassionate use” for patients dying of cancer or aids. I didn’t know our son would become addicted and almost die.I did not know that our son would get bombarded with messages that marijuana was medical, safe, natural, just a plant, certainly not addictive or that he could get a medical card at 18 for any condition.My son started using at age 15. He thought it made him cool and that everybody was using it. He started having problems with memory, concentration, impulse control and motivation. His grades dropped. Marijuana became his pre-occupation.At 16 he drove off the cliff while high on marijuana and almost died.At 17 he was arrested for bringing marijuana to school and sold it to kids who had a marijuana medical card.The judge sentenced him to treatment. When he stopped using, he had withdrawals for a month of stomachache, insomnia, a

When the police pulled him over for speeding, he believed he had cameras in the back of his eyes and that he was in a movie.My son’s friends who were using heavy marijuana have died of overdoses or developed permanent psychosis.Mom Strong is an organization created to help parent victims.Luckily my son has been in and out of addiction treatment multiple times and is now finally doing well.I wish we had known then what we know now, but many people are still unaware.Teenagers can still get medical cards at 18 when their brains are still developing.Scientifically based warning labels are the least we can do to make parents, teenagers, and young adults aware of the consequences of marijuana use.That’s why we need the Cannabis Right to Know Act

DARRYL RODGERS – Drugged Driving DeathEmail: drodgers61@hotmail.comMy name is Darryl Rodgers, and I’m a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.On May 29th, 2014, I was standing in my front lawn having a phone conversation with a friend, when a police cruiser pulled up to the curb in front of our house. I ended my phone conversation and went to meet the officer in our driveway. There, he told me that my oldest of two boys, 20-year-old Chase, had died in a wreck. Chase and his friends had all smoked marijuana together just before getting in the car. The 18-year-old driver only made it about five miles before losing control of the car in a curve at about 70 mph. The car left the road and struck a tree, killing Chase instantly.Chase and his friends were under the false impression that THC products do not impair a person’s ability to safely operate a motor vehicle. THC is a hallucinogenic drug that impairs peripheral vision and judgment, thus impairing a person’s ability to drive.

Studies show that the risk of motor vehicle collisions increase 2-fold after smoking cannabis.2020 driving fatalities have reach a record high that includes THC use and polydrug use.In February 2020, MADD commissioned a study showing that 1 in 8 adults admitted to driving within two hours of consuming marijuana. That is dangerous because a driving simulation study by UCSD showed that worse driving performance lasts 4 and a half hours in most individuals after smoking 5.9% or 13.4% THC.Studies have shown that warning labels do have a positive influence. While cigarette use creates a long-term health hazard, it does not put the lives of users and bystanders in imminent danger the way that THC-impaired driving does.

If we’re going to require warning labels on cigarettes, doesn’t it make sense to require warning labels about the dangers of driving under the influence THC products?

JULI SHAMASH - Cannabis leading to Fentanyl DeathEmail: juli@locs.comMy name is Juli Shamash and my son Tyler suffered from addiction and ultimately died at age 19, from ingesting fentanyl.Tyler, and almost all opioid users, started with marijuana. At the time, I didn’t think him smoking pot was such a big deal. I assumed it was non addicting and harmless. I grew up in the 80’s and at the time, many people experimented with pot. What I did not know, was that the pot of today is so much stronger than the pot of my years and that it changes the developing brain. Had Tyler known these things, it may have kept him from ever trying it and ultimately becoming addicted.

Everyone, including children, are being exposed to cannabis advertising without seeing health warnings or information on how to use it more safely. This continues to occur as products are becoming more potent and hazardous. There is a fundamental lack of understand to the potential harms of marijuana. The National Academies of Science concluded that cannabis use is associated with motor vehicle crashes, psychosis, schizophrenia, low birth weight, worsening lung disease, and a serious risk to developing adolescent brains.

I’m all for informed adults being able to use marijuana products, if they know the risks. It’s really important that marijuana contain unbiased labels, outlining the science based risks, so people can make informed decisions about its use. I wish I knew the risks when Tyler started using marijuana products. I strongly support SB-1097 The Cannabis Right To Know Act and believe it will help California consumers become educated on the risks associated with marijuana use.

LORI ROBINSON - Founder of Moms StrongEmail: momstronginfor@gmail.comI represent Moms Strong, a non-partisan, non- denominational support group founded in 2016 to educate parents about the harms of marijuana. I did so because my first-born son, Shane Robinson, suffered two separate episodes of psychosis from using “just” THC marijuana. Unfathomably, he took his own precious life on Jan 13, 2012 at the age of 25.

These terrifying mental illnesses have happened to many of our vibrant, healthy & beautiful kids after they innocently began using marijuana. Like most of this generation, young people today don’t think of marijuana as a drug. They believe it’s a harmless herb. My son had a wakeboarding accident and surgery. Intolerant to prescription pain meds, he turned to “medical” marijuana. For Shane, using marijuana caused an overnight descent into the terrifying world of mental illness. Even though Shane re-emerged from this "schizophrenia-like state" and was progressing well, his suicide was completely unforeseen, shattering our family and Shane's many, close-knit friends from childhood.

How on earth do these brain assaults from MJ keep happening to our children in 2022? Every time a new parent reaches out to me, I feel that pit in my stomach when they find out it didn’t have to happen: “Why didn’t my son or I know? Where are the warning labels? Where is the public health awareness? Why aren’t the red flags flying?” Even bona fide pharmaceuticals provide warning labels for safe use of medications.

The truth is, Senators, there is no test to determine whose brains are the vulnerable ones. It’s a game of Russian Roulette. Our kids never knew by using these pot substances they might damage their healthy brain and, in some cases, -irreversibly. If only we had known. It’s too late for my son, and countless other young people who have succumbed to the consequences of high potency MJ, but it’s not too late to spare others this fate. Please hear our parents' please

MOM STRONG QUILT OF CANNABIS VICTIMShttps://momsstrong.org/momsstrong-quilts/

EVERY BRAIN MATTERS MEMORIAL TO VICTIMShttps://everybrainmatters.org/community-alliance/memorial/

I used marijuana rarely as a teenager. One time, I lost touch with reality. It scared me so much I stopped. My brother really liked the "fun house" experience it gave him so he used it regularly through high school, college and graduate school. He went on to other drugs and wound up with schizophrenia, going to jail and living on the streets. 10-15% of population is predisposed to psychosis but most of us don't know this about our own family history. Marijuana call pull the trigger for a psychotic episode that wouldn't have happened otherwise. My brother and I both feel very strongly that we NEVER would have tried it if we knew this was a risk. This bill will save untold human misery. It can help prevent some future homelessness. HeidiASwan@ANightInJail.com

This is Jo Wan , KTSF CH26. Could you please send me the pictures of billboard to jwan@ktsfnew.com

Yes will do Jo

Could you send the photos to me, as well?

adembosky@kqed.org

Will do