Johnny Stack (2000 – 2019)

Johnny Stack was born on February 7, 2000, and died by suicide on November 20, 2019, at the age of 19. He was an incredibly intelligent, funny, charming, handsome young man, which you can see in his tribute video at https://johnnysambassadors.org/tribute. We are a regular suburban family that did regular family things. He had a happy life, a 4.0 GPA with a scholarship to college, and a family who loved him very much. 

Unfortunately, we live in Colorado, which was the first state to legalize marijuana in 2012, when Johnny was 12 years old. He first tried marijuana at a high school party when he was 14 years old. Fast forward five years. Three days before he passed, he came over for dinner. He said, “You were right.” “Right about what?” I asked. “Right about the marijuana. You told me weed would hurt my brain, and it’s ruined my mind and my life. I’m sorry, and I love you.” He died by suicide three days later. 

After he died, we read in his journals he thought the mob was after him, the university was an FBI base, and the whole world knew everything about him. He wasn’t depressed, neglected, drugged, or unloved. He was psychotic, paranoid, and delusional, and he killed himself in a psychotic incident fleeing these imaginary foes. Johnny was a great son who made some bad choices, but he was a victim of the predatory addiction-for-profit marijuana industry. He should never have had access to these drugs in the first place. We started a nonprofit, Johnny’s Ambassadors Youth THC Prevention (JohnnysAmbassadors.org) in his honor, to try to prevent youth THC use, to keep others from following his path.