Two weeks ago in the Chilliwack school district, news broke that 10 Sardis secondary students were suspended for six months for breaking curfew and smoking marijuana on a school soccer trip. Anger and debate immediately flared up over the severity of the punishment. Some suspensions have since been overturned while that school district reviews its zero-tolerance policy on drugs and alcohol.
In the ensuing widespread media coverage of the story, a telling comment from a parent of one of the suspended students caught my eye. “Scare tactics don’t work anymore,” a father told the CBC. “These kids are smarter than that. And that’s what we had when we were young: scare tactics. I think there’s got to be more dialogue and better education on the drugs.”
The last sentence caught my eye: “There’s got to be more dialogue and better education on the drugs.”
Really? Aren’t kids inundated with information about drugs and how dangerous heroin, cocaine, crystal meth and MDMA (ecstacy, molly, mandy) are?
Probably. But when it comes to marijuana, I agree with the dad on the need for more dialogue surrounding cannabis. Our society is so lax about weed I wouldn’t be surprised if most kids thought every adult smoked pot.
Barbara Moffat also wants more dialogue. She’s a project director at UBC’s School of Nursing who contacted me after she read my column “Do kids get lost in pot advocate’s smoke?” “It’s simply not being discussed openly in schools and in a consistent manner,” Moffat said. “That could be due to a lack of confidence in being able to talk about it and not having the correct information. And just saying no simply does not work. That silences any constructive dialogue.”
Moffat is hoping a short film called Cycles — produced by EyeCue Creative for UBC’s School of Nursing in partnership with the Vancouver School Board — can be a vehicle for meaningful dialogue on why teens use marijuana. Fear not. Cycles is nothing like Reefer Madness. It might get a few snorts of derision and rolls of the eyes, but it remains an engaging, non-preachy look at a typical teen who likes his pot and how it affects those around him.
Moffat is hoping it gets into high schools across the province if not beyond. The 30-minute locally shot film is based on qualitative research conducted in Vancouver, Nelson and Port Alberni, areas known for permissive attitudes towards pot. “It doesn’t come without its faults, but if nothing else it generates conversation,” she said. “Two students from North Vancouver who’ve seen it said it’s kind of like a fable. It makes you think.”
Moffat says polarized views on marijuana contribute to confusion about it. Although it’s illegal, marijuana is easily accessible, widely used, beneficial for alleviating symptoms for adults in pain and could be on the cusp of being legalized here. “The absence of consistent messages and harm reduction strategies has implications as young people encounter opposing information and make personal choices regarding marijuana,” she said. “It’s a substance with a confusing status.”
Where harm occurs, said Moffat, is from early initiation and frequent use, which “is certainly riskier and problematic.” Problematic indeed. Adolescents (13, 14, 15) experience a brain spurt in the frontal lobe, where executive decisions are made, and studies in mice (which have similar brain spurts as humans) show brain damage from marijuana use. Similar studies show no changes in adult brains, according to research conducted by Dr. Asaf Keller at the University of Maryland.
According to Keller, the effects include a high incidence of schizophrenia and attention deficit disorder. Needed now, of course, is a study of youth with ADD and a schizophrenia diagnosis to find out if and how many of them smoked pot and at what age. (It’s estimated that by Grade 12 in B.C., 50 per cent of students have tried pot.)
What is also concerning is that some adolescents — according to research Moffat and her colleagues have conducted — use marijuana to deal with medical conditions (physical and psychological.)
Art Steinmann, manager of substance abuse prevention at the Vancouver School Board, has viewed Cycles and hopes to screen it in Vancouver schools soon, especially to students who use cannabis. The film shows how marijuana use influences other people, like a younger brother, a girlfriend and its impact on the user trying to hold down a part-time job.
“It’s an important topic for young people, even the ones who do not use it but are confronted with it and will have to make decisions. Even a decision not to use requires ongoing commitment and thought. Virtually every young person in my opinion does well to become more literate in cannabis and other substances.”
Like Moffat, Steinmann thinks a lot of young people are confused about marijuana. “Most young people I encounter think it’s legal and harmless,” he said. “They are far more knowledgeable about alcohol and tobacco.”
