From WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Julie Phillip, filling in for Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour is made whenever a young person tries marijuana for the first time.

According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, that equates to more than 4000 young people trying it out every single day.

Most are between the ages of 12 and 17 years old.

The health effects of cannabis on growing bodies can be serious.

The centers for Disease Control warns teens using cannabis risk affecting the way their brain functions when it comes to attention, memory and learning.

And early research indicates these changes in their brains are not necessarily short lived.

They could last a lifetime.

But since the legalization of cannabis for adults 21 and over in New York State, marijuana is more visible than ever.

Billboards and stores are popping up all over the place.

Adults are using it in plain sight.

You can smell it when you walk down the sidewalk sometimes.

The stigma around cannabis is quickly fading as it becomes as socially acceptable as alcohol.

And let's face it, kids are curious.

A lot of them are going to see this visibility, and easy access is a sign that cannabis is okay.

So how do parents and other adults help young people navigate in this new landscape?

Well, there's a new report from New York State that addresses that very question.

It's called Listen and Learn.

And that's what my guests are here to talk about today.

We welcome Lyla Hunt.

She is director of public health and education for the New York State Office of Cannabis Management.

We have Doctor Holly Russell, associate professor of family medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center and an addiction specialist.

Precious Brown, B.L.O.O.M.

Rock president.

And Chad Anderson, B.L.O.O.M.

Rock vice president.

Thank you all for being here.

It's a it's a good topic, I think, to to go to today.

So New York State has just released the Listen and Learn report.

And before we get into the findings, let's talk about the listen and learn process.

And I want to start with you, Lyla Hunt from the Office of Cannabis Management, which led that effort.

Sure thing.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for having me.

Julie and Precious and Chad, it is so nice to see you at what is just about the one year mark since we last connected and we were out in Rochester.

So let's talk about the listen to learns.

I think your intro is really important.

Julie.

And now is the moment to really dive into youth education.

The Listen and Learn series was Ockham's effort to work with community based organizations such as B.L.O.O.M.

Rock across the state.

We brought together groups of young people and then separately, groups of parents and trusted adults and grandparents.

And we asked them, what do you need?

And cannabis education in this particular moment?

What do you know about cannabis?

What do you want to know about cannabis, and how can we best serve that information up to you.

We heard from 450 different New Yorkers.

We heard from 300 plus youth.

We went to 11 different counties and we learned so much.

Okay.

And rock B.L.O.O.M., as she mentioned, you're an organization that assists local cannabis entrepreneurs, but you're also focused on promoting responsible adult use and education.

And you participated in these learning sessions.

You had one here in Rochester.

Can you talk about who is in the audience and a little bit about what you heard?

Yeah.

So, we we were able to bring together roughly 15 trusted adults and caregivers, throughout Rochester in Monroe County.

That was on day one.

And then on day two, we were able to bring, I believe it was 15 to 20 youth.

And really just focusing on the concerns, the fact that adults want trusted information, they want factual information over fear as well as our youth.

They want to be able to participate in an ongoing conversation.

Anything to add to that tag?

You know, not necessarily just you know obviously our approaches for both of them were extremely different.

You know the, the youth you know like I was kind of telling one of our colleagues before we hopped on, they were they were very I don't say squeamish, but squeamish to an extent, you know, like oh, am I supposed to be talking about cannabis?

And we're like, no, we invited you here to talk about cannabis.

Any of the but, you know, the the adult, there was a lot more fluid, able to have a, you know, a lot more, necessary conversation to actually, you know, be able to get to the point that we were trying to hit.

On and that was probably smart to have them on two separate days.

And at the same.

Time, they're looking for the conversation to progress and not a lecture.

Right, right, right.

Okay.

So, what came one of the things that I noticed in this report that that kids know about it, not just since it's been legalized, if anything, legalization has just highlighted the fact that kids have been finding out about cannabis long before any adult in their life has ever sat them down and had a talk about it, if they ever do that.

But now, you know, there's gummies there, there's vaping.

It's so much easier to get if they want to get it.

So from a health perspective, this could be really concerning.

So we have Doctor Russell here from the University of Rochester.

Could you walk us through what happens to a young person's body when they use marijuana?

I mean, sure, I think the thing nothing particularly different happens with a young person when they use compared to an adult.

I think what we worry about is more the, risk for addiction is higher.

So because their brains are developing their risk for dependency and addiction, for any substance that they use.

So we worry about that for marijuana.

We worry about that for alcohol.

We worry about that for nicotine.

And that's really why we try to have people wait to use any substance until they're older or not at all for some substances, obviously.

But that risk of, of addiction is higher when they're, when they're younger because of adolescence is a time of huge development in the brain.

All these receptors are forming, are growing.

And they, they're much more at risk for developing addiction.

And then when they if, if and when they do become dependent or, addicted to any kind of substance, they have a harder time, stopping it.

And part of that also is that they're at the same time, becoming who they are.

Right?

They're learning how to deal with their emotions, they're learning how to cope.

And we want them to develop these, healthy coping skills.

Like we were talking we were also talking about that earlier.

And it's a time of developing that.

And we want them to use that developing time of adolescence to develop those healthy coping skills and not turn to substances.

For that reason.

Okay.

And we are going to get into that.

Why they're using it.

Because that is a big reason some of them are using this.

So the report, has three kind of top findings.

And I want to walk through each one.

Starting with you again Leila.

The first is the normalization gap.

Could you explain what that is?

Absolutely.

So I think, you know, post legalization, we have a different landscape than we did just a few short years ago in New York.

There are, cannabis dispensaries, across the state, there are some on Main Street.

We see that, now more than ever, we've always seen cannabis represented well in media.

But we and you mentioned this earlier to Julie, we don't start formal drug education or talking to young people about cannabis.

As soon as they're starting to see it, it's reaching their consciousness.

Some of what we talked to from, the community members was, you know, I was aware of it when I was 8 or 9.

And no one had a conversation with me until I was well into my later teens.

So we have this gap between what is happening in the ecosystem and then what is happening in sort in terms of like, formal education.

Okay.

The second the trust gap.

This is a huge one.

So, and Chad and Approches both mentioned this earlier, but what we see is young people feel like, we are not approaching it as a real conversation when we have when we bring up cannabis with them, it becomes a lecture.

It becomes about fear.

Sometimes there's judgment, in the conversation and they're saying to us, we want to hear just the facts.

And it was really heartening from a public health perspective.

They they told us we don't want to just know that cannabis impacts the developing brain.

We want to know how it impacts the developing brain, what parts of the developing brain until what age and why.

So the kids want the science, which is really exciting.

What you heard, we don't want to lecture.

They're used to lectures.

And probably that might be their only exposure to, substance.

Use education is maybe a health class or something in high school where it's pretty much a lecture.

It's a teacher standing up there.

So.

So what did you hear and how did you you break it down so that the kids felt comfortable talking?

Yeah.

Well, ultimately we we realized that legalization does not automatically create an understanding and that the conversation has shifted from whether cannabis exist to how we can educate responsibly.

Right.

And the community of Rochester deserved science based information and not misinformation or stigma.

And so the we've turned the corner, right?

It's no longer do as I say and not as I do.

We are explaining, you know, the why and and the purpose and the use in the intent as well.

So why it might be different for an adult using it versus a teen using it and all of that.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I'd even add to what pressure is saying is, you know, I feel like to an extent we have to do a little bit of priming with the younger, folks just just in a sense of like I said, you know, I, I remember very clearly I was sitting at a table about two on this side, three on this side.

And I'm like, you know, talking to myself essentially.

And I'm like, all right.

Like, you know, what do you feel about it?

They're like, you know, I'm like, well, what do you know about it?

They're like, I'm like, all right, well, then how do we like the.

Experience of every parent every day?

How is school?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's like we had to, I think, as we like to say, B.L.O.O.M.

slow it down and speed it up and kind of.

Act in a way where we were giving information while we were still trying to get the answers out of them.

So we're like, you know, well, do you know when you know?

Well, let's start with when cannabis was legalized.

Oh, it is legalized.

And I know, you know, that was in the report as well.

And that's where a lot of the findings came from.

But, you know, just like I said, the slowing it down to speed it up, to really get them comfortable because it's been such a stigma for so long and, you know, transparently like I know my nephew was there, for instance, and, you know, I had a conversation with him after and he's like, I didn't know if I would get in trouble with anything I said.

And I'm like, no, that's not at all what the point of this was.

But, you know, and.

We're going to get into that a little bit later in the show.

The best ways to talk, to talk to kids about this, the third, big finding in this report was something called the mental health link.

And you referred to this a little bit, but I want to have first Lyla, explain it, and then we'll dig into it a little bit deeper.

The mental health link.

Yeah.

We started a lot of the conversations with young people by asking them like, what is the biggest challenge facing your generation today?

So outside of cannabis, just generally broadly, and they often told us mental health issues.

They said they're incredibly stressed.

There's a ton of trauma.

They don't know how to have healthy coping skills.

And so, they brought that up to us time and time again.

And we heard that echoed from parents and trusted adults as well.

And so there's this awareness that there's a medical cannabis program.

There's an understanding that maybe medical cannabis can play a role for some folks, in terms of mental health.

But there's a ton of confusion, about, the role that medical cannabis or cannabis more broadly can, should play, and how that impacts, the developing brain.

So we talked about, really lifting up, a major finding and takeaway for everyone there is, talking about healthy coping skills and really making sure that wellness and mental health are considered as part of a holistic health discussions.

And, you know, 60% of the youth in these discussions said the potential health benefits are one of the main reasons they are trying it.

They're trying cannabis.

And 70% of the adults also talked about its medical use.

Could you talk about the difference here between medical use for adults and kids, using it to relax, to get to sleep at night?

To to to cope?

Sure.

Yeah.

I mean, so it's, it's it's quite complicated and nuanced, right.

I think focusing on the kid piece of it, since that's what we're focused on right now.

The adult piece is quite complicated in terms of the medical aspect.

There's some conflicting research and, you know, the reasons why adults use it.

And then what the researchers behind the medical reasons, it's hard because we because of the, sort of, confusing legal status of it, it's very hard to do research around it.

So the research around the medical benefits is is not not there.

It's there's some there's definitely some, but it's not as gold standard as we would like it to be because of the confusing legal.

Okay.

So that's a whole other it's a whole medical marijuana.

Let's talk about the kids using it.

But in terms of what the kids, we know that kids do use it like you're saying.

They report, they use it for medical reasons and for psychological benefits.

But the irony is that it's actually associated with increased risk of depression, increased risk of suicidal ideation, for kids.

So it has actually negative effects for kids in terms of mental health specifically.

But they are using it for reasons of because.

Initially it relaxes them.

Right.

And it does help them probably get to sleep.

Did anybody talk about that?

Any of the kids talk about that in the sessions about actually using it and how it affected them?

Well, not and not at the table.

That was that.

Yeah, as a matter of fact, we had quite a, quite a few youth that mentioned that they were actually tired of having the conversation.

They weren't even interested in cannabis or the consumption.

So it was not with within our listen and learn session.

We didn't have that for our youth.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

So, some some of the kids I know in the report, I don't know if it was it obviously not in your group, but talked about how it, created they thought they were they were going to relax and instead they felt paranoia or panic attacks or even, hallucination.

Is is that what what was happening there?

It can affect different people differently or.

I mean, yes, of course.

Right.

And I think especially for kids, if they're not knowing what to expect, if they're not, you know, in the right environment.

Also, I think there's different potencies, that it may it may be affecting them in a way they're not using the right amount when they start out.

And there's a little bit outside of.

My area of.

Expertise in terms of like what's happening.

But I think it's probably a difference of expectations versus what the reality is in terms of when they use.

And you bring up a real, oh, go ahead.

And little oh.

Yeah, Julie, I would just add that I think from the adult perspective, one thing we heard is cannabis is so different today than it was when I was younger.

And so from the Office of Cannabis Management's perspective, a lot of what we want to lean into is talking about important safety messages, safe and responsible cannabis consumption, but also talking about start low and go slow with the amount of cannabis that you're consuming.

And to purchase from the regulated industry and really educating New Yorkers about how to tell illicit cannabis, apart from regulated cannabis and why that's so important from a public health perspective.

So, you know, I think there's so much nuance when we're having conversations around cannabis, but really wanted to point back to the fact that this is a major throughline for the Office of Cannabis Management in terms of leaning in on education.

Absolutely.

I would definitely add on to that and say just the lack of information that's available right now has really added on to confusion and curiosity.

And so we have an opportunity, just as the trusted adults and caregivers, to really lean into that conversation and really work with the state agency, you know, to to partner to ensure that our community, can be mature and informed to make the best decisions for our youth as well.

Yeah.

And I'd even add one step further to what precious just said is the lack of mainstream information.

Right?

Because, you know, I don't know if anybody has been on the OCN website.

It's a book, right?

They got a bunch of different tabs, a bunch of different clickable is a bunch of different documents, articles, reports, you name it.

But I don't think that that's as common.

You know, like I said, in the mainstream media, you know, outside of, you know, hey, check this out or the, the really good or the really bad or the economic basis of it.

Right.

That's all we really focus on, I think.

Yeah, I know press and I and just our organization as a whole, we try as much as we can to advocate in term like it needs to be mainstream information, because that's when you know they'll actually see it.

Right.

What teenager is going out their way to Google, you know, new York State.

I'm going to go research that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah okay.

Yeah.

There's a lot of confusing topics and I want to walk through a bunch of them, in this show.

But I want to start with something that's sort of key to it all is that there's what the what the report calls a striking language gap that adults talk about marijuana in very different terms than youth, that we are no longer hip, we don't know what we're talking about.

So.

Hey.

You all right, doctor Russell, we're going over to our cool Doctor Russell over there who does work with schools.

What kind of experience have you had in terms of just the words that you're using to talk to youth and to help adults talk to you?

Yeah.

No, it's so challenging.

I mean, I have two teenage kids, so I'm definitely, definitely not cool.

But I think so.

Here's the thing.

I think what we started with at the beginning, which is like, don't insult them by thinking they don't know anything.

So what I always start with is asking what they know.

You know, I think to me that's the biggest thing is what do they already know?

What what are their questions?

And that's the way to start the conversation in my mind, especially the environment where I'm in, I'm usually in smaller groups and I can have those kind of either a small group or one on one conversations where I'm starting with, what are you already know?

And then what are you curious about?

And then you can get to that informational or fact based conversation or it's not about, you know, here's what I've heard.

Here are the rumors and you can really talk about kind of the science piece of it, that kind of thing.

I mean, I will tell you, I think we're getting it wrong, though, for the most part, because I get invited to do lectures constantly and just.

Schools and the.

And then I'll sometimes do them just because, you know, for, you know, I want to keep my relationships with the schools and then I'll sometimes talk to the kids and I'll be like, what?

What would help?

And like literally after I have given them lectures, they'll be like, we hate lectures.

We didn't listen to what.

You said, like ten minutes afterwards to tell.

Me that or something.

But like, I think the schools need to get the message that the kids don't want lectures and they need to, you know, we need to have different ways, but a smaller group, ways of getting them information.

And then we have to acknowledge that they get most of their information from social media.

Yeah.

And we have to figure out a better way of getting.

And we're going to talk about that.

No, no.

What strikes me though is you said let's ask the kids what they know first.

But Leila the report makes it very clear that adults are afraid that kids know way more than them.

So if you're going to go talk to a kid and say, what do you know?

And then they're they blow you out of the water with all the information that they have.

I think that's what what's making adults pretty uncomfortable about having these conversations.

Can you talk a little bit about those findings?

Leila?

100%.

That is definitely something we heard.

So we heard when we asked young people, we said, where would you go if you have questions about cannabis?

And they said, number one, 60% of them told us they would go to their parents or trusted adults.

Conversely, we asked parents and trusted adults, are you ready for that conversation?

And we only heard about 1 in 10 said they were a lot of where they said they didn't feel prepared was on the basic information about cannabis.

All the things that we're talking about now, the laws of of cannabis, the products, the specifics about potency, you know, everything that's changed with legalization.

They want more information on that.

And so, I have to mention we're we're super excited, and you got a little bit of a sneak peek here.

We are going to be launching early next week a campaign for young people and parents and trusted adults.

Our listen and learn report was really step one.

It identified the areas that we need to lean in on, in the work that we need to do and how to best reach New Yorkers.

And now, part two, chapter two is, to develop this campaign.

So we have a website and a whole host of materials that will be available, not in lecture format.

That'll be we.

Are going to dig into some of the next steps and where where this is going.

Before we do, let's talk about the adults that you spoke with.

Were they feeling pretty insecure about their knowledge, their ability to help the youth in their life?

Yeah, I would definitely say so.

On generational perspectives has definitely changed.

You know, you know, my mother was also one of those trusted adults that was a part of the conversation.

And she said, you know, precious cannabis is not what it used to be back then as it is now.

She felt that it was much stronger.

And so, there also really just not not prepared to lean into that conversation.

And so, there was a lot of confusion as well as, you know, the legalities.

So they don't think they're talking about the same thing.

They don't they don't, they don't.

And the other thing too, is that we've been out of prohibition now for about five years and since 2021.

And I think that working with, you know, community based organizations such as Blue Lock as well as the state agency and really bridging that gap on how we can support those conversations and best position, those questions that our youth is going to have.

So we have to lean into those, conversations and really help to guide and direct the conversation.

So maybe the adults need the lectures and maybe that's why you has.

The teacher in their room.

Right?

Actually the teachers.

Because and the parents need the need the want that probably lecture style.

And also I would say more community conversations, town halls, you know, just really being able to, ask questions from other trusted adults as well, their peers as to, you know, how are you, answering these questions from your youth as well?

So I think it's, you know, how like each one teach one, you know, how are we going through the motions and making sure that we have an informed community?

It's not just educating the kids.

Yeah.

I mean, the only thing I would add to that, specifically about what what made to me what pressure just said so interesting was that we had a very wide age gap in the room of our trusted adults, you know, like, like she said, her, her mother and then some of the youngest ones were, you know, 23, 24, you know, still trusted adult in whatever realm that they operate in.

But I think just even that, you know, in comparison of, you know, like I said, we have 60 year olds and we have 20, 25 year olds in, you know, very vastly different life experiences, very different upcoming, very just different cannabis that's, you know, widely available.

So I think, you know, that had a large part.

And to play with like that, that a point that pressure just made.

Oh absolutely.

Okay.

So I like to add to I think when we're talking about like the language difference, the knowledge gap, one of the most fundamental differences was what terminology?

Young people versus parents, interested adults.

And just even across generations.

What do you call the plant?

What do you call it?

So we have a we have a Venn diagram in the, in the, in the report that like kind of organizes and says these are the terms that the older adults use.

These are the terms that the kids are using.

Here's what's in common.

And the young people said don't try and use our terms for fun.

Cool.

And I got to say, that little sliver of things in common was pretty small compared to the other two sides.

So how do you teach somebody that doesn't want you to use their, you know, their, their cool language?

Right.

So I think it'd be a good idea now since we have a little bit of time to sort of walk through some of the main, points and I'm going to do some.

But if you think of others, you know, that are really confusing to people, please bring those up as well.

So the, the first one is what's legal.

Anybody want to tackle that one first?

Yeah.

So, what's legal?

Definitely for trusted adults.

It's I think that again, we just have an opportunity to really slow down, to speed up, to ensure that, number one, they have a good understanding as to where they can find this information.

Is it easily accessible to them?

And are we utilizing plain language?

And I think that that we're doing the community a disservice by, you know, not making this information plain and readily available to them.

So if a parent says what is legal, what's a what's a plain, simple answer for them?

I think that the Office of Cannabis Management does a good job at the retail locations with a QR code that you have to scan.

You know, it's you know, I would say it's common to us because we've been in the industry and we've seen it countless numbers of times.

I don't know how common it is for just, you know, the individual, but, you know, I think starting off with that is a good step.

But, you know, even kind of building off what precious is saying, like how like what are the apps, what are the things that we're using in our everyday lives that would help us identify those?

So like an idea I had is, you know, on the maps literally, you know, more times than not, even if you know where it is, you're going to put it in your maps just to see the hours or go to the website, maybe if we can integrate some sort of, you know, like I said, like verification, because that's essentially what the QR code is and verifies that that's a legal, you know, operating state licensed dispensaries.

Okay.

So you're looking at it from the I'm actually looking at it from people in this report, Leila, they didn't even know the age that that was legal, that it's, you know, you have to be at least.

21 for.

It to be legal.

Exactly.

Right.

So, so.

Like, 25% knew the legal age, which is like a very basic starting point.

Julie, I think that that shows how much room we have here to grow.

Right.

And, and, you know, the exception, of course, is with the medical cannabis program.

If there's participants there, they can be less than 21, but, 21 bold and underlined.

That's the age.

And so it's really important cannabis is legal, but that doesn't mean it's legal for everyone.

And it doesn't mean it's legal everywhere.

Okay.

So we're going to we're going to get into some I'm going to take a quick break, but then we're going to walk through some of these other very basic, not even misunderstandings, just lack of knowledge about some very basic things here.

But we have been talking with Lyla Hunt, director of public health and education for the Office of Cannabis Management.

Doctor Holly Russell is here from the University of Rochester, Precious Brown and Chad Anderson, both from B.L.O.O.M.

Rock.

And we will be right back.

I'm Evan Dawson, coming up in our second hour as part of connection Summer Sessions Food and Beverage Week.

We're talking about food fads, whether it's mushroom coffees or energy drinks or supplements or some different kinds of diets that maybe you're seeing advertised.

How about the all meat diet?

The experts talk to us about how those fads affect our bodies, what are good ideas, and what might not be so good.

That's next.

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And you're listening to connections.

I'm Julie Phillips sitting in for Evan Dawson, and we have been talking about young people and cannabis and how to talk to them.

We've got Lyla Hunt from the Office of Cannabis Management in Albany here.

We've got doctor Holly Russell from the University of Rochester Medical Center, Precious Brown, president of B.L.O.O.M.

Rock, and Chad Anderson, vice president of B.L.O.O.M.

Rock.

And we're going to start off, if you have any questions too, we're going to start walking through some basic information about cannabis and legal cannabis.

But if you, the listener, has any questions, you can call us at 2639994 or email us at connections@wxxi.org.

So legal for people over 21 and over.

Correct.

How much can you possess?

It's a simple answer.

Are you up to three ounces on your person.

Account of what you can take on an airplane, right.

Three ounces of liquor, right?

Yes.

Yeah, that's a pretty small amount.

Right.

But you thought I said can you bring it on an airplane?

That's probably a good question.

Right?

Well, I honestly say I don't want to.

Okay.

Fair, fair.

All right.

So some of the different product types, Doctor Russell, do you deal with this with schools and into the different, you know, Because it's not legal for, kids were not you.

Don't go down there.

Okay.

Maybe.

Lyla, you can start us with that.

The different product types that that kids are getting their hands on.

I'll just speak broadly to product type.

So there's, cannabis flower, which is the most commonly consumed.

And then there's orally consumed.

So that's edibles.

That's tinctures.

It's also drinks, which is one of the fastest growing, segments right now in New York State.

And then there's topicals and other forms.

There's many different types of products.

There's a few that are specific to the medical cannabis program, like suppositories, etc.

but, that's it.

In a broad view.

Okay.

Anything else to add about the types of products?

No.

She's fine.

Okay.

She got it.

Okay.

All right.

Signs of cannabis use disorder.

How do parents know that their kids are using it?

Might how might they recognize it and be that they might be having a problem with it?

So, I mean, in general, I think for any kind of substance use disorder, the signs of a problem are when you are trying to stop and you can't stop.

For teens especially, this is usually like if they get caught in school, if they're using in places where they shouldn't be using, that's a sign for teens any kind of use, right?

Because it's illegal.

It's technically they shouldn't be using it.

So any use this is technically a use where they shouldn't be using it.

If they're so it's a it's a little bit of, a gray area in terms of a diagnosis because it's sort of illegal.

The same thing is true with like alcohol use for teens, slightly tricky to make a diagnosis because technically they're not supposed to be using it at all.

But, any kind of use disorder, if you're having withdrawal, if you're using, if you're needing to use more to get the desired effect, all of those are signs that you're sort of getting into trouble with a substance in terms of what parents might be looking out for.

Again, I would say the same kind of thing.

Are you noticing changes in your teen's behavior?

Are they not doing things that they used to do?

You know, sometimes we'll hear like they used to be very active participants in school activities, sports or music or, plays, theater, that kind of thing.

And they're suddenly having some kind of decrease in their interest in those kind of activities.

Those would all be signs that you would, might want to think of something else going on, change in their social behavior, are they not, as in, are they changing their friendships?

Are they hanging out with different groups of people?

All things where you might just want to be curious about what's going on with your teen again, those might also just be part of the developmental stage of adolescence.

So it's slightly.

Don't immediately jump to the fact that might you might.

Just want to ask what's going on?

I mean, again, these are all things where, as we've been talking about the whole time, open, honest conversations where there's not stigma and not judgment, which is really hard from a parents perspective, where you're worried and you often jump to a place from worry and fear.

That sounds like judgment, okay.

And we definitely when we do it, we still have 20 minutes left.

I do want to devote quite a bit of time, to, to how to talk to them.

But let's walk through this list of issues that parents probably or may or may not know about.

But according to the report, very few of them know about these.

A big question in a lot of parents mind is, is this a gateway drug?

What is the research?

Say again?

So think about that developing brain I like I sort of describe it as like priming the pump.

When you think about the reward system so that adolescent brain is developing and understanding the system of rewards.

So when you use any kind of substance that, that, where that dopamine, that feel good hormone is released.

And again, that's true for cannabis, it's also true for nicotine.

And a lot of the other substances, it releases dopamine.

It tells your body this feels good.

Do it more.

It's the part of our brain that's designed to help us survive.

So it actually tells us this is a thing your body should do to survive.

It's used for food.

It's used for sex, it's used for water.

But but drugs hijack that system.

Cannabis is one of them.

Nicotine is to in teens.

It's very confusing because the brain is developing.

So it primes the pump for future substances to to take advantage of that.

Hijacking basically.

So using cannabis as a teen and does increase the risk.

Again, this is also true for nicotine and alcohol primes the pump makes them at risk for future substances substance use to.

So it's a gateway to that feeling.

It's a gateway to the basically the dopamine, the reward system.

A malfunctioning basically.

Okay.

And we touched on this a little bit before the types of, cannabis out there now are different than the weed I smoked when I was young.

Is that true?

I think, from a generational perspective, it is true.

You know, if you take a look at, individuals, maybe 50 plus and older, I think that, the, the plant has evolved, consumption has evolved in general.

Just to build on that, what legalization also offers is more information on the product for the consumer.

So when you're purchasing a product from a licensed dispensary, it has many labeling and packaging standards that it has to have.

It has to be in a child resistant package.

It has all sorts of warnings on it, including the universal symbol to notify that it is, in fact a cannabis product.

It can't be attractive to individuals under 21.

It has the poison center number on it, bright, bold lettering.

It has the processor contact information so you know who purchased the product.

And super important from a health perspective, it tells you how strong that product is.

So it tells you how many milligrams are in a serving and how many milligrams are in the total product.

So from that perspective, it is very different than the you know.

It's easy to know what you're getting compared to in in the.

Past.

And that goes a long way to Lyla's point.

Every legalized product has what we call a certificate of analysis or a CoA.

And being able to, you know, understand and read that certificate of analysis, to best understand what you are consuming, is, is really the foundation of the education to make the best and informed decision.

Yeah, I even go back to kind of, you know, the difference in the actual product, the technology and innovation that, you know, we've been seeing in this industry is something you know, that's truly remarkable.

You know, a lot of the work like, like you said, you know, we assess the cannabis entrepreneurs or personnel are constantly on tours, and different grow operations, different process or kind of centers.

And, you know, they're like like it's some serious, like, you know, stuff.

They're nerding out.

Yes.

They are.

It's like, you know, when you start putting that into like the outcome of, of of the product, a lot of these people have it like dial down to like, you know, it's not easy no matter what anybody thinks, that just pop some seeds in the ground and get something that you would be proud of.

Like it's it's a lot of time, effort and salaries that go into making sure.

And they know what the product is.

Absolutely.

So nanotechnology itself for sure okay.

So last one before we get into some of the communication challenges, parents, have long been held responsible.

If there's a party at their house and everybody's been drinking, they can be held responsible.

They know this.

They are less certain about what happens if their kids are caught with gummies, vaping of, you know what?

What are the rules?

Maybe.

Lyla, you can answer this, about about parent responsibility when kids are at your house and using cannabis.

Yeah.

The number one thing is it's it's parental decision making.

And so I think, you know, from a CMS perspective, our priority now is taking, translating what we heard from community members into actionable resources, delivered to New Yorkers in the ways that they told us they want to see it.

So for young people, that means digitally and for parents and trusted adults, that means in many different formats.

But that's something that we're really excited to lean in on.

And hopefully we can unpack a bit today together.

Julie, which is, one of the things that we're working on is a campaign that's going to be launching next week, as I mentioned, and we have some interactive tools, so parents will understand they can put in information unique to their situation and their child's situation and get personalized responses and language that they can use to have that conversation with the young people in their lives.

Okay.

And where content, where appearance.

Be able to find this.

Everything will be launching on a website that we will be releasing very shortly.

So I don't want to scoop up too much, but please do stay tuned.

Oh come on.

So first let's go back to the listening sessions and what you heard from parents when it came to talking to the young people in their lives.

What what did they tell you?

How hard is it?

What scares them the most about bringing this up to them?

I think from what I saw, I just was like, you know, even just kind of, you know, talking about my own family, right?

Like my my mother was in attendance.

And I remember so many times, you know, our conversations about, like, you know, the decisions I was making and like, what, what that thought.

And I, you know, for me at least, it always comes back to just the education.

Right?

Is is is like she always told me, the decisions I make where there's going to be decisions and I'm going to have to live with the rest of my life.

Right.

And I always really internalize that to a point to you know, be able to make those correct decisions and, you know, actually want better for myself in my life.

So I just think it really just boils down to the relationship that you have with your child.

And then that child has with the parent in terms of like, you know, what is where is this really coming from?

You know, like, do you is this a place of fear because you're not sure what they want to do with their lives, or there's a place of, you know, trauma because they've dealt with something, you know, in the family at a point.

And I think, you know, for my specific family, it was a little bit of everything.

Right?

So, you know, I think it really just kind of comes down to who that adult is, like who's having the conversation or what have you experience, you know, how have you seen cannabis grow and change throughout your lifetime?

It was like I said, how I see it.

The most.

And within this circle, that we spoke with trusted the dots.

It was, you know, trying to understand why a youth would want to consume cannabis and really how to have a healthy conversation.

And not just that one big conversation.

How do I keep the door open?

And how do we, you know, move the conversation on from there?

How do I best position if you're utilizing this for coping mechanisms?

You know, are you stressed?

You know, like, what are your reasons for consumption and what's your reason?

For for the question as well.

And so, Doctor Russell, how early should parents, be talking about this?

I mean, I don't think there's as soon as kids can understand the language.

Honestly, I don't think there's an I think you'd be.

I think earlier than we think by far.

You know, I would say for sure, like late elementary school, early middle school.

By the time they get to high school, it's way too late.

By the time they get to middle school, it's probably too late.

Like, you know, as they were saying from the listening tour and as you've mentioned, the kids already know.

And I think it's like, again, how precious that is.

Not one conversation is a series of conversation.

And it's the same way we should be talking to kids about sex.

It's age appropriate, repeated conversations over time, because if you just have one big conversation, they get nervous, their brain shuts off, and it's like fight or flight mode.

But if you like, set the stage.

This is something we can talk about.

We don't have to be scared or nervous.

We can talk about it over time.

It's a thing that it's okay to talk about.

Then we can have these honest conversations, little bits over time, and if they have questions, they can come to you.

Which is the better way, right?

Anyways, so I think that's the way to do it is just early and frequently, but small small bits over time.

And it's also okay to say let's learn together.

Love now.

Let's learn together.

I think youth appreciate honest fourth conversation.

That is factual based.

So I think, you know, there wasn't a how to book to come out of prohibition.

You know, we're all learning together.

We weren't around in the 30s, in the 40s.

And so you know, how do we learn together.

And, you know, we are honest about we don't have every answer for the question.

But learning together is where as how we're going to move the needle in general.

And Leila, when you, release this top secret information next week, what age groups are you thinking?

What what what are the material?

You know, I know some of it is geared toward helping parents talk, but what age groups are you looking at?

When are the discussions, going to start in in your mind?

We're focusing on 11 to 17.

So preteens into the teen years, I think, you know, absolutely correct.

To start the conversation once understanding is there.

And that's going to be unique to every child.

We sort of we based that based on how, parents were comfortable in terms of what age young people could be participating in the listening tour.

And so we found like around 11 seem to be more appropriate.

Kids receive health class education around 13.

It can vary a bit depending on school district.

And so we think it's really important to start in the preteen years.

Okay.

And talking about school districts and you doctor, also work with some schools not specifically on this issue, but related issues.

Like many things, a lot of families don't.

They can't have constructive conversations with their kids.

It's just not going to happen.

So with like with a lot of societal issues, schools and up are picking up part of that responsibility.

How how difficult is this for schools and when should schools be starting to educate students about this?

I think it is really difficult for our schools.

Honestly, I don't think they're well prepared to manage this, and I think they handle it through all often, not always all sort of old fashioned methods like lecture formats that they might be to give.

And the kids don't want.

But I do think there's but I think there's movement on that.

Right.

I'm sort of saying that half jokingly, because I do think I think schools are recognizing that that doesn't really work.

And I think there's I think there are efforts to do more creative things.

And, and there's a lot of online stuff that's coming out and is coming out that schools are trying to do.

And I think is probably the the better way to have like more interactive sophomore or smaller group things.

There are I'm also the medical director at Delphi Ries and we have, prevention counselors and a lot of schools, and they do really great work.

And in school districts around this kind of around this kind of thing.

Okay.

So we do have a question from, Charlie, an email from Charlie.

Actually, the first question is it seems like younger people are not smoking cigarets as much as they are vaping more.

Is vaping as much of a health risk as regular smoking?

Well, that's a great question.

Also very nuanced answer.

I'm assuming they are talking about nicotine in this question because they're saying cigarets.

So, compared to combustible cigarets for adults, if you are going to use an e-cigarette to quit a combustible cigaret, it is a decreased health risk.

That is not why teens are using them.

So this is again a nuanced conversation that's very hard to have on a large scale format.

But, if adult and if an adult is using a e-cigarette to quit a combustible cigaret, yes, it's probably a decrease health risk.

That is not why teens are using them.

So teens also should not be using e-cigarettes, nicotine vapes or nicotine e-cigarettes.

Okay, okay.

I'd like to add there, I think, you know, one of the best practices that we've learned in education is you can't tell the difference between what's in a vape, whether it's tobacco or cannabis.

And so a lot of the education here, is really leaning in on vaping writ large and not breaking it down based on substance.

Is it talking about like, yeah, when you're heating a substance and inhaling it and it's going into your lungs, you know, that can have health risks and that can be exacerbated when you're younger.

So it's that'll definitely be in some of our upcoming messaging.

It's a really good point and it's very, very confusing about that.

And I did also want to mention really quickly all the things that you all were saying about the, how careful people are about the marketing for cannabis and all of those regulations around cannabis marketing, not the labeling, not being attractive to kids.

All of that stuff is not true for nicotine.

And in fact, the opposite is true.

If you look at vaping marketing, if you look at the e-cigarette packaging, they are designing that specifically for children.

There's a video games on the packaging.

The exact opposite is happening.

It's basically big tobacco all over again for nicotine and e-cigarette use.

So that's a whole other conversation.

But it's really the exact opposite of what's happening in terms of cannabis regulation and marketing.

Okay, I would agree.

And we have an email from Charlie.

He, teaching in city high schools for 33 years.

I can only add that I have seen many intelligent kids disrupt their education with daily use of cannabis.

Kids coming in high first period unable to participate.

They would put their heads on the desk after lunch.

Was always challenging when dealing with several students who were high.

It was a huge issue.

The last few years, it has become increasingly problematic as students would tell me that cannabis is legal, and so they were going to continue to use it despite the negative effect on their learning.

And yes, the new cannabis is not what we had in the 70s and 80s.

And he says he knows.

So I think that just gets to the point that that education, that these kids, there's got to be a way to reach them.

Right?

Yeah.

Because conversations build trust and informed communities can make better decisions.

And so it's important that we lean in to, answering those questions and concerns and again, learning together.

Okay, Leila, there is also a cannabis education advisory panel at the state level.

That was announced, I believe, at the end of last year.

What are some of the other next steps coming up besides this great thing you're unveiling on Monday?

Absolutely.

So first, I want to say our cannabis education advisory panel.

It kind of arose out of the success of the listening tour.

We heard so much about, you know, really the good work of bringing together community members and getting their input.

This is something like starting by listening is just absolutely invaluable.

How are we going to reach New Yorkers unless we ask them what they need and how to reach them?

And so, bringing together this group of experts, it's everything from individuals on youth serving organizations to clinicians to educators.

And they have been helping us to work on this campaign that we're about to unleash.

And so they've been advising along every step of the way.

We've also been taking our draft campaign materials out into the wild, so to speak, and bringing them to different community based organizations and in front of young people.

So we can say, does this look like something you would scroll past or would you engage with us?

And how can we make sure that we're really reaching you?

So that's a big part of it.

We have our cannabis education library that's available online at our website, cannabis.ny.gov.

You can order, free print materials.

They're they're shipped to your door.

We have ongoing educational efforts.

And really leaning in on some of our key messaging points, one of which we did not get to today, which is the importance of safe storage.

So safe cannabis, storage is so important.

It's something we're seeing now, really coming up, which is making sure that once the the product leaves the dispensary shelves, it's, it goes home with parents.

And so parents need to know the importance of safely locking their products out of reach and out of sight of children and pets, too.

Okay.

Thank you.

We have about a minute left.

Rock B.L.O.O.M.

or B.L.O.O.M.?

Rock.

Sorry, I got that backwards.

What are some of the, you know, education as part of your work?

What what can we look for from you?

Well, you can look forward to, a mature and informed workshop coming soon.

We hope to continue to partner with the Office of Cannabis Management to really provide that positioning, and resources for our trusted adults on how they can lean into that conversation.

And again, education is will be at the foundation of that.

As I said before, you know, our youth are looking for factual based information.

They're not responding to scare tactics whatsoever.

And so, it's extremely important that we have an open ongoing dialog.

Okay.

Anything to add Chad.

Yeah I would just say, you know, keep counting on us to stand in the gap.

You know, we have a good relationship with our municipality as well as the state agency, the OCM.

And you know, they we lean on them, they lean on us for things exactly like this.

You know, when we can't, when they can't always get out into the community.

That's what they have us for.

Okay.

Well, thank you all so much for being here.

This has been very informative and very helpful.

I believe, to parents.

We've had Lyla Hunt from the Office of Cannabis Management, doctor Holly Russell from the University of Rochester, and Precious Brown and Chad Anderson from B.L.O.O.M.

Rock.

Thank you so much for being here today.

And thank you to our great production team, as always.

And of course, to our listeners.

We'll see you tomorrow.

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