By Tim Drugan | Boulder Reporting Lab
Avani Dilger, a licensed counselor specializing in addiction, has worked with young people in Boulder County for decades. She runs a private practice and Natural Highs, a nonprofit she founded to help teens choose alternatives to drugs and alcohol. Recently, she noticed a change in how local young people are affected by THC products as the potency of those products has risen.
Dilger has observed more Boulder teens developing dependencies on THC products, complete with withdrawal symptoms that manifest as mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.
“We have never seen anything like this with people who use marijuana,” Dilger said. “I have worked for over 20 years with people who have used marijuana and who have gotten addicted to marijuana, but the effects that we’re seeing now, I have not seen that before.”