SFUSDMarijuana &
Drug Education Strategies
December 9, 2009
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
•Two Issues to remember w/ the adolescent brain
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Adolescent Brain Adult Brain
•Use it or Lose it
•Hard Wiring
The Developing Adolescent BrainPruning & Mylenation
How do we reach them?
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How people learn
and Knowledge
Prior Experience
Thought
Emotions
Heart
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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Process
Develop Credibility
•AuthenticityHave you smoked weed?
•NonjudgmentalWhat’s so bad about weed?
I’m 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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My bias
Discuss in groups What are your biases, judgments, and thoughts about marijuana
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)
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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The power of Dopamine• Loss of dopamine• Dulling of pleasure center • Training the brain• Genetics• Difference between dopamine and Serotonin• Wizard of Oz
• 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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Dopamine vs. Serotonin
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Reward System
The reward system is responsible for seeking natural rewards that have survival valueseeking food, water, sex,
and nurturingDopamine is this system’s
primary neurotransmitter
reward
Hippocampus, say what?
• Retrieves relevant information• Stores new info it deems relevant
• 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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Hippocampus
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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 awe…wow• 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 can’t 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
Cerebellum• Controls internal and external
coordination
• THC and resin• Damage to cilia• Viewing the bronchi• Marijuana/tobacco connection• Blunts• The power of nicotine and endorphins
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The Lungs
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Aftermath of THCNext 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
PleasurePleasure
“I feel good”“I feel good”
BoredBored
AnhedoniaAnhedonia
InterestedInterested
“I feel negative”“I feel negative”
NORMAL RANGENORMAL RANGE
DysphoriaDysphoria EuphoriaEuphoria
How well does the drug work?
How well does the drug work
Positive and Negative ReinforcementIf, 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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Risk of addiction
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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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• Upsets balance and chemistry of the brain• Learning impaired • Ultimately producing opposite results • Gateway to cigarettes• Developing adolescent brain Prefrontal
Cortex, Pruning and Neuroadaptation
Concerns with Marijuana
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• Non-Use is as Normal as Experimental Use • It’s 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
The Message
•What information particularly seemed useful
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Groups of Three