ST. PAUL, Minn. (KFGO/WCCO) – The DARE program in Minnesota is preparing for the potential legalization of marijuana in the state.
Kathi Ackerman, Executive director of the Minnesota division, said she is worried.
“It’s becoming normalized, just like alcohol is and tobacco is by so many families,” Ackerman said. “Other kids are going to do it.”
Ackerman said the DARE program will refrain from telling kids not to do marijuana, which they’ve found to be an ineffective strategy. They’ll continue to teach decision making habits that they hope will stray kids from early adoption of the drug.
“We want to delay, delay, delay the use of some of these chemicals,” Ackerman said.
She said they’ll also focus more on teaching mental health practices to avoid children relying on marijuana.
“We will not necessarily change our curriculum,” Ackerman said. “It’ll just be looking at if there’s any changes we need to make according to usage by kids, which is still illegal.”
Ackerman said they’ll focus heavily on the decision making process with students, helping them make healthy decisions that they hope will avoid things like marijuana, tobacco and alcohol. Ackerman acknowledges that will continue to be a challenge as marijuana becomes a larger part of popular society.
“It’s very difficult to determine what’s in vape pens, and so sometimes it just gets more complex and hurts the relationship with those law enforcement officers and the kids in the schools,” Ackerman said. “Or we should be forming positive relationships instead of just going around constantly doing enforcement.”
Ackerman said it remains unclear with the new legislation how it should be enforced in schools, but she expects it will fall on these officers.
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