Thank you for stopping by our booth at the Hometown Country Fair! It was terrific to meet so many of you and to hear what you have to say about our community. It was a wonderful event and many thanks to the chamber of commerce for including us.

The big news this past week was the announcement that Pew Research Center’s poll found 52% favor the legalization of marijuana. What interests me most is that of the 1,501 respondents, 800 reported having never smoked marijuana. We can talk about what this means, and what may/may not happen, but it won’t change a thing for our coalition. We are here to build community partnerships to prevent and reduce youth substance abuse. Young people should not smoke pot. Marijuana is bad for them. I have shared information about the harmful impact drugs have on brain development, and a New Zealand study found a loss of eight IQ points in adulthood attributable to underage use.

When Colorado and Washington drafted their recreational use of marijuana laws, it applied to people 21 and older. We must do all that we can to raise resilient children who make wise choices about their health, who think for today, and tomorrow. Ultimately, if we do our job well, we will educate our young people about the real, and potential, dangers of smoking marijuana, and they won’t go this route.

Start gathering your unused, unwanted, or expired prescription drugs because our semi-annual Take Back is Saturday, April 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. I will have a list of sites next week. You know, every day is take back at the CV Sheriff’s station, but on this day we join a national campaign to get drugs out of the house and away from young people.

April Parent Resource Workshops: April 16 – Family Stressors, April 23 – Motivation, and on April 30 – Proms & Parties. All sessions are led by Pam Erdman, LMFT, and take place at the Y on Foothill beginning at 7:15 p.m.  They are free and open to parents and guardians. For information, visit our website www.cvdapc.org.

  Suzy JACOBS