{"id":7920,"date":"2017-12-07T17:38:30","date_gmt":"2017-12-07T17:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com?p=2881309&amp;preview_id=2881309"},"modified":"2017-12-07T17:38:30","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T17:38:30","slug":"how-legalization-has-altered-marijuana-education-for-teens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/how-legalization-has-altered-marijuana-education-for-teens\/","title":{"rendered":"How legalization has altered marijuana education for teens"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/how-legalization-has-altered-marijuana-education-for-teens\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Dec 6, 2017, 6:48 pm \u2022 Updated: Dec 6, 2017, 6:48 pm<span class=\"single-comments-link\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <strong>Anna Gorman<\/strong>, <em> Kaiser Health News<\/em><\/p>\n<p>WESTMINSTER, Calif. \u2014 After Yarly Raygoza attended the drug prevention program at the Boys &amp; Girls Club here last year, she used what she learned to talk a few friends out of using marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>The 14-year-old took the class again this year but worries that counseling her friends will become more difficult.<\/p>\n<p>Recreational marijuana is now legal in California, which could bring a massive boom in drug sales and advertising when stores can begin selling the drug to adults without a prescription in January.<\/p>\n<p>Raygoza believes that as more people 21 and older use marijuana legally, teenagers will have trouble understanding that they shouldn\u2019t use it. Teens may also have easier access to the drug as recreational pot shops start to open, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Raygoza already sees many places selling medical marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow that there are so many shops \u2026 kids have a better chance of getting their hands on it,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd having a discussion with them like this could be a little harder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Make no mistake: Marijuana is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/06\/01\/teen-marijuana-use-advice-parents\/51575\/\">still illegal for youths<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Last November, voters approved Proposition 64,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/California_Proposition_64,_Marijuana_Legalization_(2016)\">the Adult Use of Marijuana Act<\/a>, making California one of eight states \u2014 plus the District of Columbia \u2014 to legalize the drug for recreational use. The measure immediately made it legal for those 21 and older to possess up to 1 ounce, or about 28.5 grams, of cannabis. It delayed legal pot sales from licensed stores until January 2018.<\/p>\n<p>The legalization of recreational marijuana for adults in California and other states poses an added challenge for drug education and prevention programs. Teachers are trying to explain the risks of marijuana just as stores are preparing to open and marketers are planning campaigns.<\/p>\n<p>Medical marijuana has been legal in California for more than 20 years, but experts say the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/11\/20\/california-marijuana-recreational-start-timeline\/92655\/\">new law on recreational marijuana<\/a> could prompt more youths to believe that the drug is safe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is an unintended consequence of legalization,\u201d said Pam Luna, a consultant with the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rand.org\/\">Rand Corp<\/a>., a nonpartisan research organization. \u201cThey think that if it\u2019s legal, it must be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Luna, who trains teachers on drug prevention education, said legalization has also prompted questions and confusion among young people. They may be getting misinformation \u2014 and peer pressure \u2014 through social media, she said.<\/p>\n<p>While evidence shows that medical marijuana can help <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/01\/12\/marijuana-research-review-united-states-health-benefits-risks-future\/71204\/\">ease chronic pain and other conditions<\/a>, use of the drug is linked to poor respiratory health and increased car accidents. Among adolescents,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3930618\/\">marijuana use<\/a>\u00a0can have negative effects on their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/05\/01\/research-teens-marijuana-thc-brain-development\/78470\/\">cognitive and mental health<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Recent studies show that teens who use marijuana frequently\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3930618\/\">exhibit lower cognitive performance<\/a>\u00a0and brain function than those who don\u2019t. They also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/27130360\">perform worse in school<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite that, teen perception of the harms of marijuana has dropped over time and many think it\u2019s safer than alcohol, according to Elizabeth D\u2019Amico, a senior behavioral scientist at Rand. Currently, more than half of 10th- and 12th-graders believe that smoking marijuana isn\u2019t dangerous, according to a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s40429-017-0170-y\">recent Rand report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Adolescents in states with legal medical marijuana are\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/add.13523\/full\">less likely to believe<\/a>\u00a0the drug is harmful,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/27393902\">research<\/a>\u00a0shows.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe changing legal landscape has a lot to do with adolescents\u2019 changing perceptions,\u201d D\u2019Amico said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we really need to change the conversation around this drug.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That conversation should remind young people about its potential harms and that recreational marijuana in California is still illegal for those under 21, she said.<\/p>\n<p>The state Department of Public Health\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/your-grandmas-guide-to-grass-calif-rolls-out-website-to-cut-through-cannabis-haze\/\">recently unveiled<\/a>\u00a0a website called \u201cLet\u2019s Talk Cannabis\u201d to explain the law. Youth will have to complete community service and undergo drug education or counseling if they are caught smoking, buying or possessing marijuana, the website says.<\/p>\n<p>Advertising is another factor that may complicate drug prevention education for young people, said Stanton Glantz, a professor at the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine.<\/p>\n<p>Exposure to marijuana advertising\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rand.org\/pubs\/external_publications\/EP50717.html\">is associated with<\/a>\u00a0the higher likelihood of using marijuana one year later, according to research.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just everywhere now, and the market hasn\u2019t been fully opened,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the same thing as alcohol and cigarette advertising. It is all directed at normalizing it and presenting it as a fun thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>D\u2019Amico said she and her children see the ongoing changes near their house in the San Fernando Valley. \u201cIt just creates a conversation pretty much every day because a new billboard pops up on our way to school,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>To provide most middle school students with up-to-date information about alcohol, marijuana and smoking, D\u2019Amico developed a voluntary program called Project Choice, which is used by after-school programs like the Boys &amp; Girls Club. In five sessions, participants role-play and discuss how to make healthful choices. They also talk about the pros and cons of marijuana and the differences between medical and recreational use.<\/p>\n<p>During the first session at the Boys &amp; Girls Club of Westminster recently, facilitator Jeovan Davila asked the group of students what percentage of eighth-graders they believed used marijuana over the past 30 days. The guesses ranged from 10 percent to 60 percent. When Davila told them the correct answer was\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.monitoringthefuture.org\/pubs\/monographs\/mtf-overview2016.pdf\">about 7 percent<\/a>, the group looked surprised.<\/p>\n<p>Davila said he doesn\u2019t lecture teens about what\u2019s right and wrong. Rather, he gives them facts to help them make their own decisions in the future. For example, if they know that most of their peers don\u2019t use marijuana, perhaps they will be less likely to use it.<\/p>\n<p>With the legalization of marijuana and the discussion on social media, Davila has seen young people talking about the drug more. During the class, some said teens might want to use because they see their family members using marijuana legally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe kids do bring it up,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to be ready, letting them know the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kaiserhealthnews.org\/\">Kaiser Health News<\/a>\u00a0(KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kff.org\/\">Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Marijuana legalization has prompted questions and confusion among teens. They may be getting misinformation &#8212; and still face peer pressure, experts say. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[45,5104,6892,7424,6813,77,5667,56,9,7300,5019,1777,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[2628,5109,6893,7425,6818,2655,5673,2636,7305,5022,4345],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7920"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7920\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}