Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy Tackles Harm Reduction with Next Phase of Get Sensible Youth Cannabis Education Campaign

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - April 8, 2021) - Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy ("CSSDP") announce the next phase of their Get Sensible cannabis education campaign with the launch of their website getsensible.org and two recently hosted youth-focused cannabis roundtable discussions, facilitated on March 24th and 25th.

The discussions were co-led by 4 newly hired Peer Leaders and attended by 35 youth (17-25 years of age) from across the country and included dialogue on a variety of topics related to cannabis: criminalization, harm reduction, education, mental health and wellbeing. Get Sensible plans to host additional roundtables throughout 2021-22 that will focus on specific communities with deeper examination of topics relevant to their experiences.

"It's an amazing opportunity to create spaces to talk about this stuff. I was a teenaged stoner, and experienced a lot of shame and stigma because of it- especially navigating mental health challenges" said Heath D'Alessio, Get Sensible's Project Facilitator. "I only learned about harm reduction in college- I wish I knew about it sooner. Now we have this chance to share information and evidence with young people, but also sit with them and say 'it's okay if you smoke weed- let's talk about it.'"

Most recent statistics from the 2020 Canadian Cannabis Survey revealed that "people between the ages of 16 to 24 years reported cannabis use in the past year at a percentage that was approximately double that of those 25 years and older." So while one of the key priorities for Canada's cannabis legalization continues to emphasize protecting youth from the harmful effects of cannabis use, the Get Sensible campaign provides opportunities for young people to be engaged in co-creating and co-leading cannabis education, and supporting harm reduction in hard-to-reach youth communities.

"I am incredibly proud of the work our team has accomplished thus far. Prioritizing evidence-based cannabis education projects that are youth-led, to us, is the way forward", said Get Sensible Program Manager, Sean Bristowe. "Although COVID-19 has presented us all with unique challenges, our team of young people are finding creative ways to engage Canadian youth in conversation that promote informed decision-making when it comes to cannabis use."

The Get Sensible team strives to support all Canadians in having conversations about cannabis and encourages utilizing the Sensible Cannabis Education toolkit to help kickstart these important discussions (available for digital download at getsensible.org, now in English, French, Punjabi, Spanish and Mandarin). For more information on the campaign please see their first press release.

All inquiries can be directed to the Get Sensible team via email or phone.

If you would like to read more about CSSDP please visit their website or if you'd like to support their work please visit their ​Patreon​.

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For Media Inquiries:
Sean Bristowe, CSSDP Get Sensible Program Manager
403-669-3864
For more information:
[email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/79795