RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

SOUNDBITE (English) Miguel Laboy daily smoker:

"Cannabis is ingrained in my brain. When I wake up and I get up, it's like a coffee. It's like a coffee."

MIGUEL LABOY HAS SMOKED POT RECREATIONALLY FOR MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS AND IS ALSO AMONG THE MILLIONS WHO USE THE DRUG FOR ITS MEDICINAL BENEFITS.

SOUNDBITE (English) Miguel Laboy daily smoker:

"They prescribed me cannabis when I had chemotherapy...This is my only medication: cannabis."

BUT COMPARED TO WHEN LABOY STARTED SMOKING IN HIS TEENS, THE CANNABIS DAY IS MUCH MORE ACCESSIBLE AND POTENT. AND CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, IT IS POSSIBLE TO DEVELOP AN ADDICTION... IT’S KNOWN AS CANNABIS USE DISORDER.

SOUNDBITE (English) Anne Hassell, daily smoker and former dispensary worker:

“And I feel guilt to this day that I upsold high potency THC concentrates...And I remember, you know, still to this day, selling shatter to 15-year-olds who would come in as medical patients with their mothers…"

SOUNDBITE (English) Anne Hassell, daily smoker and former dispensary worker:

“That’s what I saw happening in the dispensary. People who were casual users like myself were all of a sudden swept up in it and consuming more and more."

SOUNDBITE (English) Anne Hassell, daily smoker and former dispensary worker:

"When I started consuming the high potency THC concentrates... it was really altering who I was as a person… I was waking up and doing it, I was driving to the dispensary and doing it in the car before I went in there... I was doing it during the breaks...

FOR SOME, THE POSITIVES STILL OUTWEIGH THE NEGATIVES. THE DRUG IS CITED TO HELP WITH PAIN AND ANXIETY, BUT FREQUENT OR HEAVY USE CAN LEAD TO MEMORY AND LUNG ISSUES. KYLE, WHO WAS GRANTED PARTIAL ANONYMITY, SAID HE USED THE DRUG TO HELP MANAGE PANIC ATTACKS, BUT HAS FELT A GROWING DEPENDENCY

SOUNDBITE (English) Kyle, daily smoker:

"Yeah, I smoke every day. It's the only thing that can make me relax and just actually be able to... not feel like I need to do a thousand things at once. But because of that, you get a lot lazier, the brain fog isn't super fun, and then the brain fog can only be remedied by smoking again. So it kind of creates a pretty vicious cycle."

FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE LABOY HAS DESCRIBED HIMSELF AS A FUNCTIONAL POTHEAD. BUT HIS USE ESCALATED AFTER HE WAS INTRODUCED TO HIGH-POTENCY VAPES – A PRODUCT ABOUT FIFTEEN TIMES STRONGER THAN THE FLOUR HE REGULARLY RELIED ON BEFORE.

SOUNDBITE (English) Miguel Laboy daily smoker:

"The vape make you smoke more... It's so convenience... Here I have my phone and here I have my... It's incredible. I have these two things. I'm not happy. I'm not proud of it, but I enjoy it… I go all the way with my phone and my vape…"