Pot, booze to be part of the same class discussion
Superintendent says focus is still on healthy lifestyle promotion
A Saskatoon Public Schools superintendent doesn’t expect a huge change in the conversations happening in classrooms around cannabis and healthy living.
Conversations about cannabis will be similar to discussions about alcohol in the past, Paul Janzen said.
Adults over the age of 19 can legally buy and consume cannabis in Saskatchewan as of Oct. 17, but for youth it will still be off limits. However, marijuana will be a topical discussion item for students in classrooms, and school divisions and the Ministry of Education has been preparing for it.
The ministry has posted online resources for teachers, offering advice for handling discussions about cannabis with students.
“But really, we’re feeling nothing really changes. The promotion in the Saskatchewan curriculum around healthy and active lifestyles, we’re still basing our conversations on that in the classroom,” Janzen said.
To ensure that teachers give students the most up-to-date information, the school division plans to disseminate information from the ministry to staff. Janzen said divisions are “anxiously waiting ” for those resources.
Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools is working with the ministry to ensure its teachers have accurate information to share with students, superintendent Scott Gay said.
Teachers are being asked to stick to what the provincial curriculum says about cannabis.
“We’re working with the ministry and sharing those with our staff, the documents that are provided through the ministry,” Gay said.
Cannabis is not specifically mentioned in the provincial curriculum. Substance use in general is covered, primarily under health education.
In the earlier grades, the focus is on healthy behaviours and choices. In Grade 3 for example, the health curriculum covers substance use and misuse, and in Grade 9, the curriculum includes a comprehensive look at addictions.
The ministry has also provided an online guide, Talking About Cannabis, for teachers and parents.
“Although it will be legalized in 2018, cannabis use can still be harmful, especially for youth since their bodies and brains are still growing,” the preamble says.
Assistant Deputy Minister of Education Susan Nedelcov-anderson said the ministry has been working with other ministries, such as social services, justice and health, and other agencies to get ready for legalization.
Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation spokesman Patrick Maze said teachers are prepared for discussions about legal cannabis.
“It’s those kind of social issues that teachers will discuss with students regularly. So, when marijuana was illegal, there were lots of resources out to explain why marijuana shouldn’t be used. Now, we know some students still chose to use it when it was illegal, and so now that it’s legal, those same resources would be used,” he said.
Teachers have expressed concern that students may use marijuana around schools, he added.
In-class discussions won’t be the only opportunity for students to talk about issues related to cannabis legalization.
Discussions on cannabis-related impairment and driving were a major feature of MADD Canada’s presentations in schools during the past academic year. New programming, presented to students in Grade 7 and up, will debut in Saskatchewan schools next spring.
Michelle Okere, regional manager for MADD Canada in Saskatchewan, said cannabis will still be a focus of this year’s talks with students and all of the group’s materials include information about drug-impaired driving.
The change of focus to include both alcohol and drug impairment in its message is even reflected in a change to its logo, which now includes the tag line “No alcohol. No drugs. No victims.”
“If we’re not getting in early to talk to them about it, there’s an increased risk, obviously, on the roads,” she said.
Nearly a third of teens who responded to a survey commissioned by Drug Free Kids Canada said they either strongly agreed or agreed that cannabis use before driving was less risky than drunk driving.
With this in mind, Okere said conversations about driving under the influence of drugs should happen early, before young people get behind the wheel.
That’s why they start talking to students as early as Grade 7 and 8.
At presentations, students have asked a lot of questions about cannabis impairment and driving, Okere said.
“We’re having that conversation when they ’re open to hearing it and before, hopefully, they ’re being put in those types of situations.”
If we’re not getting in early to talk to them about it, there’s an increased risk, obviously, on the roads.