As proponents and detractors debate making medical marijuana available in Massachusetts, educators are concerned that youths are not getting the right message and factual information regarding the risks involved in cannabis use.

By Max Sullivan

Last Tuesday, Somerville’s Office of Prevention held a forum which addressed the risks of marijuana use, particularly in response to recent studies suggesting that youths in Massachusetts see pot as a safer alternative to alcohol and hard drugs.

Held in the third floor library of the Arthur D. Healey Middle School on Meacham St. by Cory Mashburn, head of the Office of Prevention in Somerville, and workers from Somerville Cares About Prevention (SCAP), a division of the Office of Prevention, the forum featured a presentation about the risks of marijuana use and some common misunderstandings about the drug, as well as a presentation on the legality of pot in Massachusetts. People of all ages were encouraged to attend, the purpose to ultimately address the fact that there has been a 30% increase in high school and middle school marijuana use since its decriminalization in 2008.

Ellie Crutcher, an intern with SCAP from Tufts University who gave one of the presentations that night, said she works with middle school kids in Massachusetts through volunteer work. She’s heard from the kids themselves how marijuana isn’t taken seriously as a threat among youths today.

“All of the students I talk to try to challenge that there really are any consequences,” said Crutcher. “They see it as very safe and almost as something that is legal, even though it’s not.”

What plays into this misunderstanding, according to Crutcher, is that for starters kids think there are little, if any, health risks. While many users have claimed that pot smoking has virtually no risks of lung cancer, Crutcher said this isn’t the case.

“There actually are a lot of carcinogens [which cause cancer] in marijuana,” said Crutcher, “50-70% more than in cigarettes.”

Crutcher covered several other risks that are little known among young kids, including that many car accidents involve people who have marijuana in their system and that, despite what some kids might think, smoking marijuana tends to lower academic achievement.

On top of the health risks, say Crutcher and Mashburn, is that kids don’t realize the fact that marijuana is completely illegal. Hearing the words “misdemeanor” and “$100 fine” often give people, not just high schoolers, the impression that smoking pot is like speeding. It’s “sort of” against the law, but there’s nothing “wrong” about it. What many kids don’t realize is that getting caught smoking will always result in mandatory classes on drug use and safety. If they fail to take these courses, they and their families could be slammed with up to $1,000 dollars in fines.

Mashburn finished the evening, further explaining the legality of marijuana use and touching upon the situation with medicinal marijuana use in California. Mashburn showed an excerpt from a TV show from G4 Network, which gave a tour of several marijuana dispensaries in California. The dispensaries on TV appeared to be nothing more than smoke shops, fun to hang out in and smoke with other users. Most of these dispensaries were recently shut down by the Federal government, but Mashburn gets concerned when he sees how the media has portrayed these “smoke shops”. With many people pushing hard on both sides of the medicinal marijuana issue, Mashburn encourages people to think about what it might be like if medicinal marijuana made its way to Somerville. He pointed at the screen, saying they might see smoke shops like the ones in the G4 show.

“I know that California [introduced medicinal marijuana] back in 1996, but it hasn’t happened on the east coast yet. I think Rhode Island has it, but there’s not a lot of it around here so people don’t know.”

SCAP is continuing to research the health risks of marijuana and the rise of its use in Somerville teens. Only three people came to the meeting that night, but Mashburn intends to keep plugging away at making these risks better known to the community.

“[Bringing it] back to the education, all we can do is state the facts,” said Mashburn, “and what marijuana does do to the body, and what it can affect.”

For more information, contact SCAP at scap1@somervillema.gov.