GUELPH – Wellington Catholic District School Board (WCDSB) high school students will be learning about new cannabis laws from peers.
That was the idea behind a student action forum on Dec. 6 at the Springfield Golf and Country Club in Guelph.
About 60 students from Grades 10 to 12 – from Our Lady of Lourdes, St. James, Bishop Macdonell and St. John Bosco high schools – gathered to learn about cannabis and to brainstorm ways to disseminate information to the rest of their school communities.
Students chosen to attend are part of school leadership groups, including Link Crew, which helps new students transition to high school.
Each student had their own reasons for wanting to participate.
For Grade 12 Bishop Macdonell student Carter Bray his motivation was political.
“I think that it’s important to really understand some of the legal ramifications around cannabis, especially as a youth,” he said.
“Doing things like this allows you to further knowledge, inform political opinion, in terms of what we’re going to do going forward.”
He added he will be voting in the next federal election and he’s interested in learning about the political platforms of each party.
For Lourdes Grade 11 student Trent Peters, it’s a little more personal.
He said he knows people who have tried cannabis and other substances.
“I know a lot of them don’t really know what they’re doing with it,” he said. “They’re just like, ‘Oh it’s fine. I know a lot of people that do it; it won’t hurt me.’”
Peters wanted to learn how to help those people when they need it.
The student action forum consisted of a morning and afternoon session. In the morning students learned from various industry professionals about the impacts of cannabis in various parts of their lives. In the afternoon they created a student action plan on cannabis awareness and prevention to implement in their schools.
WCDSB assistant superintendent of education Tim Yawney explained the idea for the student action forum came from administrators from each of the high schools looking to allow students to teach their peers in an engaging way.
The students heard from Lourdes vice principal Martin Bell, Kyley Alderson from Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, sergeant Ross Keller and constable Todd Weinstein from Guelph Police Service and Lyndsey Gilbert from Guelph Homewood Health.
Alderson gave students a presentation about the health risks of cannabis.
“It’s important to ask questions and it’s important to share the information that we know so that we can make informed decisions about cannabis use,” she said.
“Our goal is to not only prevent substance use, but also to reduce the harm among those who are using substances.”
Alderson explained the difference between THC, which provides a “high” feeling, and CBD, which is currently being looked into for medicinal uses.
She talked about the effects of marijuana use as well as the possibility that it could lead to psychosis and schizophrenia.
“On our website we do have more information for people who do choose to use cannabis about ways that they can reduce and lower their risk,” she said.
“The only way to avoid … health risks is to not use cannabis, but there are safer ways for people to know about and consider.”
She suggested using the five Ws and how:
– who is using the product, as younger people have more risk of developing problems associated with cannabis;
– what product is being used;
– where is cannabis being used and how safe is the environment;
– when is cannabis being used and how frequently;
– why is cannabis being used. If it’s as a coping mechanism, healthier alternatives can be explored; and
– how much cannabis is being used.
Gilbert, who is an addictions therapist, explained to students the impact that using cannabis can have on their developing brain.
She told students the brain isn’t fully developed until people are 25 years old and marijuana can impact the brain’s development so that it doesn’t reach its full potential.
“There’s not one person I can speak to that I’ve worked with that hasn’t started using (substances) at a very young age,” Gilbert said.
“So I really want people to be informed; I want you to know the risk, and that you have the ability to change it.”
Bell spoke about the administration’s role to keep the school safe.
“When I deal with students and cannabis and drugs in general, I’ve got two responsibilities,” he said. “To the individual student and then to everybody else that’s in the building.
“Those are huge responsibilities.”
He explained that under the Education Act, principals and teachers are given the authority to act as the “local parent.”
“So your teachers and your principals are acting in many ways, when you are in the building, as your parent,” he said.
“That’s an important legal distinction because just like your parents, when they make decisions about you … they have to make decisions on the go.
“So they recognize that principals and teachers have got this huge responsibility and with responsibility they get certain powers and responsibilities to deal with them that go beyond most normal people.”
Through the progressive discipline model, principals have the ability to suspend students who come to school high or impaired.
“We have to try and arrange for things like drug counselling, if we can. We offer social work assistance and things like that and we try and put in place assistance to allow you to return to school,” he said.
“It’s not our goal or it’s not a thing we want to do, to kick you out of school for using cannabis.”
Students also heard from Keller and Weinstein about the legal side of cannabis use.
Weinstein explained cannabis falls under three different acts: federal Cannabis Act, provincial controlled cannabis legislation and the Smoke Free Act.
Weinstein provided a list of fines set out in the Cannabis Act.
A student asked whether it was possible to have cannabis in a house if minors live there.
Weinstein said that is permitted but parents are expected to be responsible and keep cannabis away from the minors.
A student also asked if there were restrictions to where cannabis could be grown in a house.
“There’s no legislation on where the plants grow; you’re just limited to four,” Ross said. “But a parent has to be responsible.
“There’s a criminal offence … (for) failing to provide the necessities of life or criminal negligence causing bodily harm or death, if a parent leaves this stuff out and a child gets into it …
“If we found out that they were negligent than we could charge the parent criminally.”
A student also asked how police could resolve the issue of cannabis being laced with other substances like fentanyl.
“My biggest fear is coming in on a Monday and finding out one of my students has overdosed on the weekend on fentanyl,” Weinstein said.
“It’s the reality. If you guys are out there buying cannabis off the street you have no idea what it’s laced with … Being able to purchase it online from the federal government, at least you know what you’re getting.”
Ross added, “And your drug dealer does not care about you, they just care about the money.
“You might have a reliable source but with that source there’s always two or three people beyond that and they don’t care about the end result … you don’t know what’s in anything.”
