CSU-Pueblo to help adapt marijuana education curriculum for colleges
Marijuana Education Initiative says it “fills a need for post-legalization, marijuana-specific curricula.”
A marijuana education program unlike any other may be on its way to Colorado State University-Pueblo.
The university said Friday it has been collaborating with representatives from the Steamboat-based Marijuana Education Initiative on implementing the program, which acknowledges cannabis is legal for adults, not safe for young users and views on the substance are changing rapidly across the country.
MEI offers four different curriculums to schools that range from use prevention to suspension alternatives. Samples of the curriculums on the organization’s website show a elementary-aged program that focuses on negative health impacts of smoking marijuana, while a curriculum for grades 7 through 12 talks about the addiction aspect of the substance.
“This is not a ‘just say no’ approach. This is a reality-based approach,” MEI co-founder Sarah Grippa told Steamboat Today in March.
MEI Representative Molly Lotz met with a handful of CSU-Pueblo faculty members last week to begin discussions of possible collaborations, according to a CSU-Pueblo news release.
The two MEI founders are educators. Lotz a former counseler at Yampa Valley High School and Grippa a special education teacher at the same alternative high school.
CSU-Pueblo is the first higher education institution to support and implement the MEI programming on a “comprehensive level,” both in the university and community, according to school officials.
CSU-Pueblo President Lesley Di Mare plans on meeting with Pueblo school district superintendents later this month. MEI curriculums were piloted in Routt County, according to Steamboat Today, and is, or will be, in each of the three school districts throughout the northern Colorado county.
MEI takes no political or ethical stance on the legalization of marijuana, according to Lotz. “But rather is committed to challenging youths’ misperceptions to promote a healthy and accurate understanding of the impacts of marijuana use on the developing body and brain,” the university’s news release said.
The meeting between MEI and the university comes after CSU-Pueblo announced earlier this year the creation of the Institute of Cannabis Research, which is receiving state funding to study the substance.
“I want CSU-Pueblo to be part of the solution as an institution that provides data, guidance, and resources, particularly for states that are considering or have passed legalization,” Di Mare said in a statement.
“Too much reliance has been placed on anecdotal information, and we hope to give back to our region and the nation with well-founded research and resources.”
