'What's Your HighQ' quiz educates parents on pot

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (KABC) -- A new quiz is giving parents a wake-up call about how little they actually know about marijuana.

The What's Your HighQ quiz is part of a campaign in Ventura County to spread information about marijuana, and it hopes to help parents find a way to talk their teens about the drug.

"The knee-jerk response is a wall: 'mom, dad I don't want to talk,'" said quiz creator Jonah Ansell. "What's your High Q is designed to make it easy for parents to learn the facts and then start that dialogue.

County officials say that marijuana use can damage teenage brains, and users could lose eight IQ points.

"It can affect all sorts of things. Not just the physical development of the brain but also things like motivation," said Patrick Zarate with Ventura County Alcohol and Drug Programs.

Officials say the use of marijuana grows dramatically in high school. In seventh grade, only one out of every 20 students has used marijuana. But by 11th grade, it's one out of every four.

"Marijuana is a coping mechanism, it's a way to fit in," said Ansell. "You ask teenagers locally here in Southern California why do you do it? The overwhelming answer is they do it to fit in."

Parents say the test provided some surprising answers.

"What struck me is I think a lot of the science behind it, parents today are unfamiliar with," said Selfa Saucedo. "We don't know what we don't know about marijuana anymore. As parents unless we make a proactive effort to learn, we aren't going to know."