Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (“CSSDP”), and the Get Sensible cannabis education project, is excited to announce the launch of a new illustrated series, the Sensible Cannabis Education Booklets, to help promote welcoming spaces for exploring conversations about weed with young people.
Get Sensible, a campaign funded by Health Canada, continues to provide meaningful opportunities for young people to be engaged in leading and co-creating cannabis education initiatives, and strives to promote harm reduction to support youth whose needs are not met by and who do not see themselves represented in mainstream cannabis education.
As part of this work, the booklets focus on three core themes including;
1) Guiding Principles for Cannabis Education, directed towards parents and educators,
2) Cannabis 101 and Harm Reduction, which focuses on tangible harm reduction tools and
3) Cannabis in Context, which includes an updated review of the health literature and a legislative overview.
Available in English and French, the Booklets cover a range of cannabis topics in a more accessible and engaging way, and are a creative resource for youth, parents and educators to promote informed decision making and evidence based conversations when it comes to cannabis use. The original Toolkit is also available online in Punjabi, Mandarin and Spanish to help reach a wider audience across Canada.
“As a youth-led campaign driven by lived experience, we don’t shy away from the reality that young people use drugs. The goal of our campaign is to support young people and provide them with tools to make informed choices, even if they are using cannabis,” said Heath D’Alessio, Co-Project Manager Get Sensible, “So, we want young people who use cannabis to see themselves represented in our materials- which is why we were so intentional about engaging young people who use weed and depicting cannabis use in our resources. These booklets, the videos, this community in general would have been so helpful and supportive to me when I was a teenaged stoner navigating social challenges and the mental health struggles that come with that.”
“Working with projects whose main focus is on youth engagement has shown me how necessary it is, to not only elevate, but put youth voices at the centre of campaigns targeted for young folks,” said Kiah Ellis-Durity, Co-Project Manager of Get Sensible, “While providing the “facts” about cannabis and substance use, amplifying lived experiences allows for initiatives like Get Sensible to get to the root of our mission, which is to share information around cannabis, substance use and explore how these topics intersect with all young people with different backgrounds and experiences. My hope is that folks feel seen in our campaign and that our resources resonate with young people across communities.”
Alongside a group of peer leaders, Get Sensible focuses on creating a network of virtual channels for youth, particularly youth from LGBTQ2S+, Black and Indigenous, disabled and neurodivergent youth communities, to connect with community and explore different experiences with and cultural understandings of cannabis. Additionally, Get Sensible recently launched their YouTube channel to provide additional avenues of engagement, which features their expert video series discussing key issues relating to youth cannabis use and legalization.
The digital booklet series, alongside new harm reduction tear-aways such as posters, pamphlets and social media shareables, are available for download on their website.
The Get Sensible team strives to support people across different identities and backgrounds, from overlapping and intersecting communities, of different ages and abilities, in having conversations about cannabis and encourages utilizing the Cannabis Education Booklet Series to help kickstart these important discussions. The digital booklet series, alongside new harm reduction tear-aways such as posters, pamphlets and social media shareables, are available for download on their website.
The Get Sensible team strives to support people across different identities and backgrounds, from overlapping and intersecting communities, of different ages and abilities, in having conversations about cannabis and encourages utilising the Cannabis Education Booklet Series to help kickstart these important discussions. For more information, or to support the campaign, visit getsensible.org.
