How High Ventura County

The logo of the How High Ventura County teen health initiative.

How High Ventura County is a public health initiative of Ventura County Behavioral Health (VCBH), a department of the Ventura County Health Care Agency in Southern California. As of 2015, it is the largest teen marijuana education platform in California.[1] The effort was launched to educate parents about the harm Marijuana causes to teenage brains.[2] The educational initiative asks parents the simple question: If You Got The Facts Down, Would You Still Let Your Kid Get High? In the wake of shifting and evolving attitudes about Marijuana for adults, this campaign aims to inspire parents to begin an informed dialogue with their teen, in spite of their own personal beliefs for or against Marijuana legalization.[3] The campaign is notably different from the campaigns of the late 1980s and 1990s (D.A.R.E and Just Say No) in that it transparently educates parents about the harm of marijuana and offers no judgment for or against safe and legal use of marijuana by adults. The campaign was unveiled in November 2014 in Southern California, and has been featured on ABC (LA), CBS (LA), NPR, Yahoo News, MSN, the front pages of local county newspapers (Ventura County Star, Thousand Oaks Acorn), and also in Urban Dictionary.[4][5][6][7][8][9]

What’s Your HighQ?

Southern California residents are the first in the nation to take "What's Your HighQ?" a ten-question quiz to test your wits on weed.

What’s Your HighQ? is the ten-question quiz created by How High Ventura County for parents nationwide to test their knowledge on weed. The quiz is designed to inform parents about the differences between today’s weed and the weed of the 1990s.[10] The quiz educates parents about IQ loss, memory loss, cognition deficits, psychotic episodes, mental health issues and other harmful implications that may arise if one begins smoking weed as a teenager.[11][12] According to statistics released by National Institute on Drug Abuse, nearly one in five U. S. high school seniors nationwide has smoked weed in the past month and one in six who smoke weed as teens become addicted.[13][14] The quiz is a tool for health professionals, educators and parents to get informed about the harm marijuana can cause to the still-developing teenage brain, independently of evolving marijuana ordinances as it relates to medical marijuana and legalized use of recreational marijuana.

Marijuana and teenagers

Reports from Harvard, The New England Journal of Medicine, New York Times, USA Today and other media outlets reveal marijuana use as a teenager can lead to IQ loss, cognition defects, memory loss, mental health issues, a decrease in likelihood to graduate high school, and the possibility of addiction.[15][16] A 2014 study from the Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit of University College London contradicts these findings and has a relatively large sample size when compared to the previous studies (n=2235)[17]

The How High Ventura County educational campaign was unveiled in 2014 to educate California parents in advance of an anticipated statewide 2016 ballot initiative that may expand upon current medical marijuana legislation (California Proposition 215).[18] Kamala Harris, the attorney general for the state of California, proclaimed that there was "a certain inevitability" about marijuana legalization, in the wake of legalization developments from other states, including: Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska.[19][20][21][22] Ventura County Behavioral Health designed How High Ventura County to proactively educate parents about the harm marijuana can cause to teenage brains.[23][24]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "What's Your High Q? Thousand Oaks Program Educates Parents In Combatting Teen Pot Use". MSN News. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  2. ↑ Gardner, Amanda (27 August 2012). "Pot smoking may leave mark on teen brains". CNN. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Legal marijuana is 'inevitable,' says California attorney general". RT Question More. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  4. ↑ Granda, Carlos (19 November 2014). "'WHAT'S YOUR HIGHQ' QUIZ EDUCATES PARENTS ON POT". KABC-TV. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  5. ↑ "What’s Your ‘HighQ’? Ventura County Program Educates Parents On Combatting Teen Pot Use". CBS. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "New Campaign Targets Marijuana Use By Ventura County Teens By Reaching Out To Parents, Using The Web". KCLU-FM. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  7. ↑ "What's Your HighQ?". Urban Dictionary. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "County campaign seeks to spark marijuana conversations". Styrk. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Experts say heavy pot bad for young brains". The Acorn. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  10. ↑ Brangham, William (2 April 2014). "Is pot getting more potent?". PBS Newshour. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  11. ↑ Sullivan Moore, Abigail (29 October 2014). "This Is Your Brain on Drugs". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  12. ↑ Davey, Melissa (10 September 2014). "Teenagers who use cannabis every day 60% less likely to finish school". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  13. ↑ "Drug Facts: Marijuana". NIDA for Teens. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  14. ↑ "Monitoring the Future Results". NIDA. December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  15. ↑ Sullivan Moore, Abigail (29 October 2014). "This Is Your Brain on Drugs". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  16. ↑ Jayson, Sharon (9 August 2014). "Pot studies suggest regular use is bad for teen brains". USA Today. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  17. ↑ C. Mokrysz1, S. Gage, R. Landy, M.R. Munafò, J.P. Roiser, H.V. Curran (2014). "Neuropsychological and educational outcomes related to adolescent cannabis use, a prospective cohort study" (PDF). Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, University College London. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
  18. ↑ Johnson, Gene (5 November 2014). "California 2016: Next big goal for marijuana legalization activists". The Cannabist. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  19. ↑ Smith, Aaron (22 August 2014). "Tourists flock to Colorado to smoke legal weed". CNN Money. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  20. ↑ "5 teens arrested after break-ins reported at two Seattle marijuana dispensaries". Q13 Fox. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  21. ↑ Merica, Dan (5 November 2014). "Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C. legalize marijuana". CNN. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  22. ↑ Kramer, Josh (10 December 2014). "How Alaska Became America's Marijuana Capital". Tundra Green. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
  23. ↑ Neighmond, Petty (3 March 2014). "Marijuana May Hurt The Developing Teen Brain". NPR. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  24. ↑ Carey, Benedict (27 August 2012). "Early Marijuana Use Linked to I.Q. Loss". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 January 2015.