Photo by Karim Shamsi-Basha.
Red Ribbon Week
Homewood High School Peer Helpers Sarah Tyndall, Maggie Truit, Catherine Quisenberry and Joy Korley practice a skit to teach elementary students to stay drug-free during Red Ribbon Week.
Data has shown that Homewood students’ marijuana use is above the national average, and now the community is seeking to change that.
One marker of this statistic is the 2013 Pride Survey, an anonymous survey of middle and high school students that has been considered the official measure of American adolescent drug use since 1998. In the study, 27.9 percent of Homewood High School seniors reported having used marijuana, as compared to 22.2 percent nationally. For Homewood sophomores, 17 percent reported using it, which was 0.8 percent above the national average.
There is also increasing cause for concern about marijuana use due to the increase of its potency, according to Carissa Anthony, prevention and development coordinator for Homewood City Schools. In 2012, concentrations of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that makes users high, averaged close to 15 percent, compared to around 4 percent in the 1980s, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Knowing these things, Anthony is spearheading plans for a forum on marijuana use in teens to be held Tuesday, Oct. 28, at Homewood High School. The free event is hosted by the Safe & Healthy Homewood Coalition in conjunction with Bradford Health Services and the Addiction Prevention Coalition.
That evening’s speaker, Dr. Kevin A. Sabet, who has more than 18 years of experience working on drug policy, will focus on providing facts about marijuana to parents. Afterward, additional information will be available for parents to pick up, and experts will be on hand to answer questions about subjects such as parenting or treatment.
“With more and more states legalizing marijuana, it’s hard for parents to have fact-based conversations with their kids about marijuana,” Anthony said. “We want to share the facts with the parents so they can be prepared to debunk the myths that are out there about marijuana and help them sort through what they are hearing.”
Anthony cites the drug’s effect on the developing brain as another cause for concern.
“We knew it was addictive before, but research in the last two years shows it can cause decline of IQ of up to 8 points,” she said. “If your IQ drops, that can be a game changer for some kids. We hope parents see the signs and that kids are aware of [that possibility].”
The forum is geared toward parents but also appropriate if they want to bring middle school or high school children, Anthony said, noting that she hopes it will spark ongoing conversation in families.
To learn more about the Safe & Healthy Homewood Coalition, visit facebook.com/safeandhealthyhomewood.
