ASH issues report cards on school board tobacco and cannabis policies

ASH has released report cards on school district policies that address tobacco and cannabis use on school property. ASH is urging school boards to approve effective drug policies prior to cannabis legalization on October 17.

“A growing number of school boards are taking action to prevent the use of cannabis and tobacco on school grounds prior to cannabis legalization” said Les Hagen, executive director. “October 17 is approaching quickly and we encourage all school boards to review their drug policies to ensure that best practices are being followed. The ASH report cards will help guide the development of policies to prevent and reduce substance abuse among students and staff. Specifically, we recommend that school districts prohibit the smoking and vaping of any substance on school property for maximum health impact. Children and youth should not be exposed to harmful drug use on school property and they should be offered effective drug prevention education in the classroom.”

Eight school districts received an“A”on the ASH report cards including Calgary Roman Catholic Schools, Canadian Rockies School Division, Edmonton Catholic Schools, Evergreen Catholic Schools, Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Separate Schools, Medicine Hat Catholic Separate Schools, St. Paul Educational Regional Division, and Wolf Creek Public Schools. No school district with a smoking policy received an “F.”

“The ASH report cards reflect best-practices to prevent and reduce tobacco and cannabis use among students and staff. ASH has been working pro-actively with school districts to develop effective tobacco and cannabis policies for the past two years. These outreach activities have included workshops, presentations, consultations and the production and distribution of numerous resource materials. We have presented to over 200 school trustees across Alberta since last November and our workshops have been well-received by those in attendance.”

ASH has created an online resource hub for school boards that contains a model smoking and vaping policy, a comparison table of school board policies across Alberta, a listing of effective prevention and cessation programs, drug survey results, and relevant fact sheets on tobacco and cannabis.

“As school boards know, report cards are an important measure of progress that are aimed at improving future performance. We are releasing these report cards in good faith and we are very willing to work with any school district to help enhance their policies and programs. We know that cannabis legalization is posing numerous challenges to school boards and we are here to offer assistance and online resource materials”.

Founded in 1979, ASH is Western Canada’s leading tobacco control organization. Tobacco is the most widespread and deadly form of substance abuse in Canada and is responsible for 48,000 deaths annually. There are 25,000 schoolaged youth tobacco users in Alberta.

Editor’s note: You can find a breakdown of results from all the school divisions including our local ones at https://www.ash.ca/ schoolboardreportcards