On Monday, Dec. 2 from 6:30-8:30 p.m., Sammamish will host a forum titled, “Legal Marijuana and Our Teens” to discuss Initiative 502 and its impact on the community.
The program is sponsored by Drug Free Community Coalition in collaboration with the City of Sammamish, Eastlake High School PTSA, Eastlake Catholic School, IDEA Project, Plateau Parents Network, Sammamish Police Department and Skyline High School PTSA.
“The need for this seminar came out of work that is being done by the Tri-Awareness group on the Plateau, the Issaquah Community Network and the IDEA project special task force to combat impaired driving and drug and alcohol use,” said Julie Olson, the community liaison for Eastlake High School PTSA.
Barbara de Michele, the executive director for the Issaquah Community Network, said that the Drug Free Community Coalition’s mission is to reduce teen alcohol, marijuana and prescription drug abuse within the area.
“The coalition members have been keeping an eye on the progress of the legalization process,” she said. “We wanted to hold a forum to prepare students and teens for the change.”
Michele said there are a lot of misconceptions among teens regarding the “legalization” of marijuana.
“It’s still not legal for people under the age of 21,” she said.
Olson agreed, stating that with the legalization of marijuana there is a lot of confusion among teens and parents.
“Parents don’t realize that the potency of marijuana has increased significantly. The general public doesn’t understand the impacts on the developing teenage brain and the consequences marijuana use can have now and in the future, such as potential felony charges, chemical dependency and more,” she said.
Jerry Blackburn is the Director of Early Recovery Services at Lakeside-Milam Recovery Centers and a faculty member at Bellevue College in the Chemical Dependency Counseling Certification Program and will be speaking at the forum.
“This seminar is necessary because our youth deserve to have a community that is vested in their health and wellness and have quality information about substance use and it effects on their development,” he said. “Cannibis use in youth is particularly dangerous as it impacts neurological development taking a toll on cognition, learning, motivation and the ability to respond to environmental rewards.”
Sammamish Police Chief Nathan Elledge will be speaking at the forum and answering community questions. He said his biggest focus is on impaired driving and prevention, explaining that while he is not sure as to whether there has been an overall increase in instances of impaired driving, they have had recent arrests of people driving under the influence of marijuana.
“We want to prevent it before it happens,” he said.
Blackburn, however, said that even prior to legalization there has been an increase in cannabis activity.
“Passage of 502 has certainly altered social perceptions for this drug and thereby increase youth access and use,” he said. “Once we have retail sales, like with alcohol, it seems obvious this trend will increase considerably.”
Blackburn also said that since 21-year-olds have legal access to the drug, they could sell it to minors in order to make a substantial profit. This, combined with the dependency of marijuana users, makes for a scary situation.
“Kids are going straight to marijuana now, and many view it as being relatively innocuous…in addition to clearing confusion and providing information, our main goals are to increase visibility of the problems of teen marijuana use, and provide peer support and resources for parents and teens,” Olson said. “The more we can educate parents and teens, the more successful we will be in dealing with the dangers of drug and alcohol use in our teens.”
The event will start at 6:30 p.m. with an open house and video, followed by a teen panel and guest speakers. If you are unable to attend this forum, similar presentations will take place on Jan. 27 at Issaquah High School and Feb. 6 at Liberty High School.
