MENOMINEE — Tackling marijuana use in teens is about getting to the underlying problems, said a recent speaker.
“I talk about mental health because that’s really the key,” said Matt Bellace, who has a Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology.
Being resilient and avoiding substances is about learning how to “reframe disappointment” through healthy living.
Bellace visited the area last week in partnership with Communities that Care and the Healthy Youth Coalition of Marinette & Menominee Counties to present his talk, “Youth Marijuana Use and the Developing Brain.” Bellace tours the country to address substance abuse prevention and mental health awareness. Around 50 key leaders gathered for the presentation at Riverside Country Club to hear about how substance abuse can start. Bellace later presented at the Menominee High School.
Lack of community can be a contributor to poor mental health for teens — they’re spending more of their time online and not getting face-to-face time.
“In some respects, you may say, well, screens are a good thing because they’re keeping kids out of parties, cause that’s — when we were growing up — that’s often where you were exposed to substances,” Bellace said. “You don’t see that as much because we’re not face to face, but it’s also prompting a mental health crisis.”
Leaning on support is crucial for mental health. Teenagers’ tempers can rise quickly, leading to impulsive actions often on social media. Parents and adults should know how to diffuse and teach their teens how to do it.
“It’s hard for young people today to develop empathy because they’re not looking at people,” Bellace said. “Be their frontal lobe. There are ways to deal with strong emotions that don’t involve a chemical.”
Bellace taught the crowd a meditation technique using his hand. He traced his thumb up to the fingertip with the opposite hand, then held it at the top. While he traced up to the fingertip, he took an inhale, then held his breath for three seconds at the fingertip, exhaling on the way down. He asked the crowd to join, who repeated the exercise with all five fingers.
When a kid isn’t taught how to cope with challenges from mentors, parents, adults or friends, problems can develop. Turning to drugs can provide short-term fixes to relieve those problems.
“So many young people are self-diagnosing through TikTok or some other social media source and then self-medicating on top of it without ever going to a professional,” Bellace said. “They literally are doing it on their own.”
Time spent online can also inhibit sleep, leading to mood swings. In his speeches, he said many students reveal they get fewer than six hours of sleep a night.
“Honestly, they’re not sleeping that much because screens are part of it, but they’re more anxious, angry and confused as a result,” Bellace said.
Thus starts the vicious cycle of not sleeping, becoming more emotional and looking for ways to cope.
Teenagers — or anyone for that matter — can’t talk logically when they’re upset. He said that a great coping skill to teach teens when they’re angry is just to give them five minutes to cool down and then have the conversation.
He said silence is sometimes best when deescalating situations, whether online or in real life.
“When it comes to teenagers or anybody, by the way, who says something hurtful to you, it’s OK to just let it linger, not respond, let that person have their experience. What a powerful thing this is when you get somebody that comes at you with negativity or anger. Just say nothing. Just let it happen,” Bellace said.
He asked the audience to consider their community when deciding what to do in difficult situations.
“Before you post anything, text anything, say anything, ask yourself: ‘Is this the best thing for our community?’ If the answer is, ‘I don’t know,’ don’t say it, don’t send it, don’t do it,” Bellace said.
If kids are not surrounded by an adult who teaches the importance of leaning on social support, getting sleep, trying meditation and diffusing anger, they’re going to reach for chemicals, he said.
“You’re seeing billboards of booze and weed, you start wondering, ‘Are people using this to deal with this stuff going on inside? Maybe they are.’ And the answer is yes, a lot of them, they are,” Bellace said. “They are relying on unhealthy ways to cope, and I’m not judging it, but we need to teach healthier ways to do it.”
Communities that Care released their bi-annual 2023 Youth Assessment Snapshot earlier this year. The snapshot surveyed youth from sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th grades in Marinette and Menominee Counties during the 2022-2023 school year.
The main findings report that students are waiting nearly one year later to try alcohol, tobacco and e-cigarettes and marijuana, compared to 16 years ago, when students were polled in 2006.
The average age of onset of use was 12.3 years of age for alcohol, 13 years for tobacco and e-cigarettes and 13 for marijuana.
Despite the positive change, kids are still looking for adults to model better behavior surrounding alcohol and vape products, according to youth focus groups from 2023.
A response from the survey said, “Adults need to set a better example for us. At our family Christmas, I can’t think of a time that someone didn’t have a beer in their hand.”
Bellace addressed the marijuana shops that recently opened in Menominee.
“I know you guys have had your dealings, your lawsuits. I read about it on the way up here. I feel for ya. I have compassion for ya. It sounds like what you went through has not been easy,” Bellace said.
He said that adult use had skyrocketed in states like Washington when they legalized marijuana for recreational purposes.
While CBD and cannabinoids have therapeutic effects for chemotherapy patients and multiple sclerosis, he said that some adverse side effects of the drugs are less known.
“I do think there’s a manipulation going on with public information,” Bellace said.
A few nurses in the audience nodded after Bellace asked them if they’d seen people visiting the emergency room with acute symptoms like vomiting, delusions and other mental health crises caused by marijuana use.
“It’s concerning enough that we need to be talking about this,” Bellace said.
Kathy DeWitt, a social worker at Marinette High School, liked that the presentation focused on resilience to substance use.
“We don’t talk about solutions,” DeWitt said.
The school recently held a mental health week, during which students were encouraged to practice mindfulness through activities such as silent reading, karaoke, swimming, jewelry making and hiking.
“The culture is we’re on our phones all the time,” DeWitt.
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