Pot prevention campaign misses the mark
The State Health Department’s new marijuana education campaign — Responsibility Grows Here — falls short of communicating a clear prevention message. While the campaign acknowledges that parents and trusted adults can play a role in preventing youth marijuana use, it does little to discourage adult use of the drug.
The campaign further misses the mark by not acknowledging that parents and trusted adults are the most significant role models in a child’s development. If an adult uses marijuana and says to their kids “Do as I say, but don’t do as I do,” this message is seen by kids as the biggest hypocrisy. Evidence from youth tobacco prevention verifies that kids are more likely to use tobacco if their parents use it. On the other hand, state health department surveys show young people with parents who feel marijuana use is wrong are four times less likely to use it.
Unfortunately, legalization of marijuana has contributed to the growing belief that marijuana is harmless. The Healthy Kids Colorado Survey shows that less than half of Colorado high school students view regular marijuana use as a risky behavior. Many teens and adults don’t even view it as a drug! They make statements such as, “No, I don’t use any drugs or alcohol, just marijuana.” Marijuana is not a benign drug. Research documents grave risks of its use in youth. Marijuana is addictive, has adverse effects on the adolescent brain, is a risk for both cardio-respiratory disease and cancer, and is associated with both psychiatric illness and negative social outcomes.
In the five years the Weld County Child Fatality Prevention Taskforce has been reviewing child deaths, marijuana usage has been a strong risk factor in preventable deaths. Marijuana use is linked to suicides, motor vehicle crashes and child maltreatment deaths.
The marijuana industry is using the same marketing play book as Big Tobacco: normalize the use in adults, while telling kids not to use it — but that it’s OK when they are adults. Adults need to be role models on many issues. If the state sponsored prevention campaign truly does not want kids using marijuana, then a key message should be “the most responsible thing a parent or trusted adult can do is to not to use marijuana.”
Mark E. Wallace, MD, is executive director of the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment.