Middle- and high-school-aged youth who have an established marijuana use habit and who want to reduce or quit their use.
This curriculum is intended to be facilitated by a mental health professional in an academic or youth services setting.
At the completion of this program, participants will be able to:
- Identify their habits around marijuana use
- Identify where they are on the Stages of Change model
- Understand the impact their marijuana use has on their body, behavior, and brain
- Employ stress management techniques to replace using marijuana to alleviate stress
- Identify how their use affects their present and future selves
- Identify social supports
At the completion of this program, participates will know:
- How marijuana affects their body, behavior, and brain
- The Stages of Change model
- Erickson’s stages of development
- Their habits and patterns of use
- Characteristics of people who can support them
- Motivational Enhancement Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Transtheoretical Model
- Mindfulness/stress management practices
- Behavior-image model
- Social cognitive theory
- SEL programming
- Seven units, approximately 50 minutes long, that are to be delivered in sequential order on a weekly or biweekly basis.
- The curriculum is instructor driven with opportunities for group dialogue and self-exploration.
- Instructor provides information, tools, and education so that participants can make their own decisions regarding marijuana use.
- A downloadable/printable journal is included for students to use for self-reflection and prompt response.
- Students are expected to quit using marijuana for a short period of time.
- Pre- and post-intervention student surveys are required.
- Rubric is available for unit assessment.
- Lessons align with American School Counselor Association (ASCA) standards.
- Lessons align with social and emotional learning (SEL) programming and competency areas.
- Curriculum is accessible via the Marijuana Education Initiative website.
- Facilitator meets with students prior to the start of group meetings to administer the pre-intervention survey and review expectations and curriculum content.
- Former group members can return to speak about their experiences with reduction.
Sample
Elementary-, middle-, and high-school-aged youth
This curriculum can be used by any agency that works with youth and that has a mission of supporting early, preventative substance abuse.
This curriculum is intended to be facilitated by a health or science teacher, mental health worker, law enforcement officer, or other youth services provider in a school or youth services agency.
At the completion of this program, participants will be able to:
- Identify the effects marijuana has on their body, brain, and behavior
- Understand the risks associated with marijuana use
- Distinguish the differences between marijuana for medical use and marijuana for recreational use
- Understand how marijuana works in the brain
- Understand how neurotransmitters and receivers work in the brain
At the completion of this program, participates will know:
- How THC mimics anandamide and how each substance works in the brain
- The difference between two compounds in the marijuana plant, THC and CBD, and how they affect the body
- Specific details about the risks associated with marijuana use, particularly use by youth
- The impacts marijuana use has on the brain
- Which medical conditions medical marijuana treats
- The impact smoking or vaping has on the lungs and other body systems
- Five engaging marijuana prevention units, each 45 minutes long:
- How marijuana works
- Marijuana and the brain
- Marijuana and the body
- Marijuana as medicine
- The risks of marijuana use
- Activity, lecture, and discussion based
- End-of-class assessment
- Web-based PowerPoint delivery
- Lessons align with National Health Education standards
- Lessons align with Science standards
- Lessons align with SEL programming and competency areas
Middle- and high-school-aged student athletes
This curriculum is intended to be facilitated in an academic or youth services setting by a coach or instructor who has been trained by an MEI facilitator.
At the completion of this program, participants will be able to:
- Identify how marijuana affects athletic performance
- Identify athletes who have been affected by their marijuana use
- Identify the effects marijuana has on the body and brain
- Understand the risks associated with marijuana use
- Understand how marijuana works in the brain
- Understand how state-based learning affects athletic performance
- Understand how neurotransmitters and receivers work in the brain
At the completion of this program, participates will know:
- How THC mimics anandamide and how each works in the brain
- Specific details about the risks associated with marijuana use, particularly youth use
- The impacts marijuana use has on the brain
- The impacts marijuana use has on athletic performance
- A 45-minute engaging PowerPoint presentation covering the following areas of knowledge:
- Marijuana and the brain
- Marijuana and the body
- State-dependent learning/marijuana and memory
- Athletes who have been affected by their marijuana use
- Web-based PowerPoint delivery
- Lessons align with National Standards for Sport Coaches
- Lessons align with SEL programing and competency areas
Middle- and high-school-aged youth who have had a marijuana infraction based on school or agency policy
This curriculum begins with the youth taking an independent survey that provides insight into the youth’s marijuana use patterns and the impact marijuana is having in his or her life. This is followed by a 1- to 2-hour discussion of the survey results with an MEI-trained agency or school representative during which the facilitator asks the youth motivational interviewing questions.
At the completion of this program, participants will be able to:
- Identify their habits around their marijuana use
- Identify the impact marijuana is having on their lives
- Assess their level of interest or intent to change their relationship with marijuana
- Re-enter the school or agency environment with a greater knowledge of how their marijuana infraction affects their ability to function in that environment
At the completion of this program, participates will know:
- Their feelings around marijuana use
- How marijuana is affecting all areas of their lives
- Statistics on marijuana use trends
- Self-assessment survey on marijuana use
- Motivational Enhancement Therapy
- Once marijuana infraction has occurred, and depending on school policy, the administration can offer the student the MEI Alternative to Suspension curriculum. If school or agency policy does not allow for an alternative to suspension option, this curriculum can be offered or required as a suspension enhancement prior to the youth’s reentry to school.
- Students can complete the independent web-delivered assessment at home or at school; it takes about 30 minutes to complete.
- Upon completing the assessment, the student receives a personal feedback report that illustrates his or her marijuana habits.
- The student sets up a time to meet with an MEI-trained, school-identified professional to review and discuss the personal feedback report. This professional asks several motivational-interview-based questions to encourage conversation with the student. This meeting takes 1 to 2 hours, depending on student engagement.
- The school professional assesses the integrity of the student’s survey responses to determine whether the student meets the requirements for reentry or suspension reduction.
- If, upon completion of the curriculum, the student wants support in reducing marijuana dependence or in quitting, the school professional can refer the student to an MEI intervention group.
- This curriculum is adapted from the University of Washington; School of Social Work Teen Marijuana Check-Up program.
