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Recently, Meulman caught his 17-year-old stepdaughter using a THC vape. In long term recovery from alcohol abuse himself, Meulman has an adult son who has struggled with addiction and served multiple jail sentences as a result. Combating the growing use of THC by youthĬollin County Substance Abuse Program (CCSAP) Administrator John-Mark Meulman knows all too well the costs of drug use to families and communities. The most common style of cartridge pen used for THC. Everyone interviewed for this story agreed there has been marked growth in its use by local youth in the past 5 years. This is a common scenario for many local teenagers-and their parents-who find out the hard way that Texas is very strict, even behind the curve, where drug laws governing THC are concerned.įortunately, most young people caught with THC the first time are able to work through the legal system and avoid permanent damage to their records and reputations. He said he has not talked to the two friends he was with since the night he was caught with the THC vape cartridge. He has new friends, is excelling in his second year at an area community college, and is waiting until his record is clean to apply to a 4-year college. He said his parents have spent nearly $7,000 in legal fees and charges for him to attend substance abuse classes and have monthly drug tests to prove he is not using drugs. Now 20, the young man is finally about to finish the paperwork for his felony charge to be expunged from his permanent record. “My life was just barely starting, and I already have something to set me back.” “I had no idea that it would be a felony.

He had not told his parents about the arrest and was terrified of disappointing them. The warrant for his arrest on the felony drug charge arrived at his parent’s home six months later, one week before his high school graduation.

Anybody and everybody was using the drug, he said. Kids would bring vapes to school and smoke THC in the bathroom, in class, and during lunch. Teenagers used THC regularly at his high school. He was relatively new to vaping THC when he got caught, but he said he started smoking marijuana at 14 and smoked pot daily by 17. It happened late one night when the friends he was riding around with made a wrong turn and got pulled over. He was 17 years old when police found an unopened, unused THC cartridge in his pocket. Take for instance one Collin County youth, who agreed to be interviewed for this story on the condition of anonymity. However, when it comes to THC possession, an ordinary night out with friends can easily turn into a rigamarole that can stretch over years. On the bright side, as Local Profile reported in April, the Plano Police Department recently changed policies and stopped arresting people for small amounts of marijuana possession and paraphernalia, which are considered misdemeanor crimes. Whether or not people see THC as a serious issue, it does not have to be a gateway drug to ruin a young person’s life…or at least to put success on hold for a few years.ĭespite changing attitudes, increased legalization, and decriminalization of marijuana across the nation, Texas has been slow to change adopt more lenient policies toward THC and marijuana. If they are unlucky, the have nots may end up losing their chance at college, or worse, serving jail time with a felony on their permanent record. If they are lucky, the haves get a learning opportunity and a big lawyer’s bill.

It is a story about haves and have nots, about new forms of old drugs, about changing attitudes and the need for changing laws. This is a story about criminal records, reputations, and privileges.

To the chagrin of local experts, THC use by local youth has seen a sharp rise in recent years, and their families and communities are paying the price. When it comes to tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC-the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana that gets people “high”-the law in Texas leaves little wiggle room, and possession of even the smallest trace of liquid THC is classified as a felony. Texas law treats the latter with much less leniency. The first is a minor crime that Texas has long struggled to control. Young people who use THC products in Collin County are finding out the hard way that marijuana and liquid THC are not the same thing. This article originally appeared in our January/February 2022 edition of Local Profile.Ĭheck out the whole issue online and read about how North Texas Performing Arts celebrates over 30 years of putting children first, and how we celebrate our 40th anniversary serving Collin County!