As the tri-chairs of Gardiner Area Thrives, we’re deeply concerned about the potential number of adult-use marijuana outlets in downtown Gardiner. After alcohol, marijuana is the most commonly used drug among Gardiner area youth — 25% of Gardiner High School students report using marijuana in the past 30 days. That’s 1 in 4, or 192 students. 

This information is troubling because it’s been documented that youth marijuana use leads to negative health consequences. These health risks to youth include decreased brain development, specifically in the frontal lobe that controls motivation, memory loss, decision making, risk taking. This all leads to diminished ambition to work, as well as low performance and other consequences at school, including expulsion and loss of participation privileges in sports and music programs.

What is additionally disturbing is that today’s marijuana products — dabs, edibles, oils, etc. — are very high in THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis. Many of these products start at 30% THC with some as high as 90%, while the marijuana of the 1960s to 1980s contained less than 2%. This is not your father’s marijuana, and currently there is no potency cap for THC. These products will be available in adult-use marijuana outlets, some of which have proposed locations near youth hangouts, including the Boys and Girls Club, the library and community parks.

Adding to this are reports from youth themselves about how easy it is for them to get marijuana and how uninformed they are about its health risks. The Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS) quantifies the health-related behaviors and attitudes of fifth- through 12th-graders by direct student survey. According to the 2019 MIYHS, 60% of high school students and 17% of middle school students state that marijuana is easy to get, and 72% of high school students and 45% of middle school students say there is no risk in using marijuana.

It’s important to note that in Colorado, the state that led the nation in marijuana legalization, new data from the Colorado Healthy Kids survey shows significant increases in youth use of highly concentrated cannabis, such as a two-fold increase in vaping and a four-fold increase in dabbing between 2015 and 2019.

We recognize that these are tough times for businesses and we know that a thriving community must include successful businesses in a lively downtown. Our goal is not to suppress business at this or any other time.

But this is a challenging period for youth, too, and it’s crucial to weigh business and community needs against what we know about today’s marijuana products and what our youth are telling us. When Gardiner’s City Council decides about the next steps regarding adult-use marijuana outlets, we hope they will consider limiting retail density in Gardiner — the only community in our school district that opted to have marijuana retail stores — and distancing those retail stores from existing youth-serving locations.

Carrie Arsenault, a parent, and Julia Montell, a high school student, both of whom live in Gardiner, and Nora Diversi, a school nurse who lives in West Gardiner, are the tri-chairs of the Gardiner Area Thrives coalition. The coalition, composed of 54 diverse stakeholders, is working to reduce youth substance use and its harmful effects in Gardiner, Randolph, Pittston and West Gardiner.