Rachel welcomes back Dr. Libby Stuyt, a guest many listeners may remember from our previous podcast, The Mental Health Entrepreneur. Dr. Stuyt is a board-certified psychiatrist and volunteer clinical faculty at the University of Colorado Health Science Center. She is also a trainer for the People's Organization for Community Acupuncture. When she joined us before, the conversation was about the use of acupuncture in addiction treatment. That episode is linked below.

Dr. Stuyt has spent over three decades working in Colorado with people who have co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorder. She has been watching the mental health consequences of today's high-potency cannabis on young people unfold in real time. Colorado was one of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, so she has had a longer window than most to see what happens when cannabis becomes normalized, commercialized, and increasingly potent. In this conversation, she and Rachel cover how much the product has changed. THC in the plant has gone from about 2–3 percent in the 1960s through the 1980s to an average of up to 20 percent today, and some concentrates are 99.9 percent pure. They also cover intoxicating hemp products like delta 8 and delta 10, why the developing brain is most at risk, why the research doesn't support cannabis as a treatment for PTSD, what regulation could look like, and what clinicians and practice owners can do now.

Resources Mentioned

Articles Referenced:

• Cannabis Legalization and Adolescent Behavioral Health: Are Current Policies Sufficiently Protecting Adolescents? — Behavioral Health News (September 2026): https://behavioralhealthnews.org/cannabis-legalization-and-adolescent-behavioral-health-are-current-policies-sufficiently-protecting-adolescents/
• Cannabis and Teens — CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/cannabis/health-effects/cannabis-and-teens.html
• A Huge Study Finds a Link Between Cannabis Use in Teens and Psychosis Later — NPR (February 2026): https://www.npr.org/2026/02/23/nx-s1-5719338-e1/a-huge-study-finds-a-link-between-cannabis-use-in-teens-and-psychosis-later

Dr. Stuyt's original appearance (ear acupuncture and addiction treatment): https://www.traumaspecialiststraining.com/resources/podcast-episodes/15-2024

Connect with Dr. Libby Stuyt:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/libby-stuyt-4a45461b/
People's Organization for Community Acupuncture: https://pocacoop.com/

Connect with The Mental Health Evolution:
Website: https://www.traumaspecialiststraining.com/mental-health-evolution-podcast
Instagram: /thementalhealthevolution/
LinkedIn: /the-mental-health-evolution
Facebook: /TheMentalHealthEvolution

Music by Zach Harrison