SFUSD Marijuana

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SFUSDMarijuana Drug Education Strategies

• December 9, 2009

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Getting kids to think
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Goals of drug education

• Think more deeply about the issues
• Make a more informed decision
• Have a positive influence on their behavior
• Know that adults care and will respond
• Identify kids needing help
• Delay initial usage or retard usage

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• Two Issues to remember w/ the adolescent brain

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Adolescent Brain
Adult Brain
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The Developing Adolescent BrainPruning
Mylenation

• Use it or Lose it
• Hard Wiring

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How do we reach them?
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How people learn
Heart
Emotions
Thought
Prior Experience
and Knowledge
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Process

• Establish credibility (Authenticity Knowledge)
• Create a resilient learning environment
  (expectations, caring, and participation)
• Present a non-judgmental approach
• Stimulate discussion and serious thought, weaving
  in information

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Develop Credibility
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• Authenticity
• Have you smoked weed?
• Nonjudgmental
• Whats so bad about weed?

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My bias

• Im against usage before 18 because of the
  immediate threats to health and welfare
  disruption of the natural ecology of the brain
  interference with learning the developmental
  tasks of dealing with boredom stress, good
  times school success social skills and identity
• I will not teach through these biases but I will
  share these judgments if asked

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Discuss in groups

• What are your biases, judgments, and thoughts
  about marijuana

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Tetrahydrocannibinol

• Hippies 1-3 THC Cannabis Sativa cost
  5-10/ounce
• Vietnam 5-10 THC Cannabis Indica cost
  5-10/ gram
• Sensimilla 10-15 THC Grown without seeds
• Purple 15-20 THC Northern California
  Horticulture (Indoors)

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The Brain and Cannabinoid Sites

• Nucleus Accumbens
• Hippocampus
• Cerebellum
• Amygdi
• Or how we trick the brain

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Sketch the synaptic space
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www.drugabuse.gov
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www.drugabuse.gov
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www.drugabuse.gov
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The power of Dopamine

• Loss of dopamine
• Dulling of pleasure center
• Training the brain
• Genetics
• Difference between dopamine
• and Serotonin
• Wizard of Oz

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Dopamine vs. Serotonin

• Dopamine produces a feeling of pleasure
• Serotonin produces a feeling of well being
• Difference between pleasure and happiness
• Developing skills, interest, relationships,
  meaning (getting a life)
• Wizard of Oz

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Reward System

• The reward system is responsible for seeking
  natural rewards that have survival value
• seeking food, water, sex, and nurturing
• Dopamine is this systems primary neurotransmitter

reward
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Hippocampus, say what?

• Retrieves relevant information
• Stores new info it deems relevant

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Hippocampus

• Gateway between short term and long term memory
• Draws information from long term memory
• Discriminates relevant new information
• Trashes unimportant information
• Stores new information in long term memory

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Amygdala (uh mig' dull uh)

• Assigns emotional relevance to our experiences
  and emotional connectedness to others.
• Feeling of familiarity
• Novel events awaken interest.
• Regulation of fear
• Feeling of awewow
• Suckling

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Dumb Down Effect

• After smoking the student sense of novelty
  diminished. Not excited by a new idea in class.
• School is boring. Nothing interesting happens
  here. I cant wait to get out of class and smoke
  a joint.
• Athlete, day after, amygdala is sluggish, unable
  to respond quick enough to new move of opponent.
  One half step can make a difference. He/she has
  lost their edge and maybe the game.
• Airline pilots

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Cerebellum

• Controls internal and external coordination

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The Lungs

• THC and resin
• Damage to cilia
• Viewing the bronchi
• Marijuana/tobacco connection
• Blunts
• The power of nicotine and endorphins

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Aftermath of THC

• Next day after smoking Marijuana
• Calming followed by
• Irritability
• Fascination by
• Boredom
• Sensory enhancement by
• Feeling flat
• Loss of short term memory
• Lingering lack of clarity, can cloud a persons
  view of the real world.
• Awe by
• Spiritual depletion

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Pleasure Scale
NORMAL RANGE
Dysphoria
Euphoria
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How well does the drug work?
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Risk of addiction

• How well does the drug work
• Positive and Negative Reinforcement
• If, in addition to producing pleasure (positive
  reinforcement), a drug is more addicting, if it
  relieves negative states boredom, anxiety,
  depression or stress (negative reinforcement).

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From first use to dependence

• First use to FEEL GOOD
• Some continue to compulsively use because of the
  reinforcing effects (e.g., to FEEL NORMAL)
• Changes occur in the reward system that promote
  continued use

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Concerns with Marijuana

• Upsets balance and chemistry of the brain
• Learning impaired
• Ultimately producing opposite results
• Gateway to cigarettes
• Developing adolescent brain Prefrontal Cortex,
  Pruning and Neuroadaptation

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The Message

• Non-Use is as Normal as Experimental Use
• Its not donuts it changes brain chemistry
• Use Risk
• Risk is not Evenly Distributed
• Addiction is Real
• Quality of Life can be diminished even without
  developing addiction
• Motivations for Initial vs. Continuing Use are
  always different
• Educate with integrity, knowledge and clarity

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Groups of Three

• What information particularly seemed useful
  
• (process and content)

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Contact Information

• Ralph Cantor
• 510-653-9410
• rjcantor_at_aol.com