WHY IT MATTERS: Young people who use high-potency cannabis products frequently should understand that their risk for developing or worsening anxiety and depression is meaningfully elevated compared to non-users or infrequent users, and that risk increases the earlier in adolescence use begins. CLINICAL OVERVIEW: The relationship between high-potency cannabis and mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression is not incidental, and the shift toward products with dramatically elevated THC concentrations over recent decades has outpaced what most young developing brains can tolerate without consequence. Gen Z has grown up with near-unrestricted access to concentrates, vape cartridges, and edibles that bear little resemblance to the cannabis of prior generations, making direct comparisons across age cohorts scientifically problematic but still clinically instructive.