Meet Laura Stack, a woman of strength, courage and motivation
With excerpts from Johnny’s Ambassadors website
Laura Stack and her husband John lost their son Johnny to suicide on November 20, 2019 at the age of 19. Johnny was an incredibly intelligent, funny, charming, handsome young man, which you can see in his tribute video. He had a happy life, a 4.0 GPA with a scholarship to college, and a family who loved him very much. Laura and her family live in Colorado, which was the first state to legalize marijuana in 2014, when Johnny was 14 years old. After his passing, Laura took to learning all that she could about the cause of Johnny's death, and then doing all that she could to keep other families from going through their experience.
To accomplish her goal, she founded Johnny’s Ambassadors to educate parents and teens about the dangers of today’s high-THC marijuana on adolescent brain development, mental illness, and suicide. They use primary prevention strategies to share scientific knowledge and clear messaging with teens and parents to reduce the likelihood they will use marijuana and stop progression to more problematic use.
Laura, a nationally acclaimed speaker and author, has just published the book, The Dangerous Truth About Today's Marijuana, which tells the story of Johnny's life as a clarion call for parents across America to educate themselves about the risks of today’s high-THC marijuana products and to better understand the potentially devastating effects on youth mental health. This book is recommended reading for anyone concerned about the health of youth today and tomorrow.
Laura and John were significant voices in seeing Colorado's House Bill 1317 Regulating Marijuana Concentrates signed into law last month. Please read about this massive advocacy effort here.
Their #StopDabbing Annual Walk is held in September in locations around the country to prevent youth marijuana use, mental illness, and suicide. Learn more here.
Laura hosts regular webinars with experts in the field of substance use disorder and is also available as a public speaker. More links can be found here!
