Transcript marijuana and drug prevention strategies

Drug Prevention Education
Strategies and Marijuana
Awareness
12th Annual Adult Prevention
Educator Conference
Ralph Cantor
Berkeley, CA May 6, 2009
Topics covered today
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Goals of drug education/prevention
Strategies for working with youth
The case for delaying use
The Reward Center
Some understanding of marijuana
Raising awareness about alcohol
Promoting Resiliency
Messages for parents
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
How people learn
Heart
Emotions
Thought
Prior Experience
and Knowledge
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Stages of Change
Age Appropriateness
• Pre Contemplative Stage (Not even
thinking about it)
• Contemplative Stage
• Planning Stage
• 7th and 8th Delay Usage
• 9th Transition
• 10th thru 12th Nonjudgmental
Process
• 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
w/balanced answers
Reasons for delaying message
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Development of the prefrontal cortex
Pruning and myelination
Neuroadaptivity: dull pleasure center
Short circuiting developmental tasks
Greater need for dopamine
Pharmacological solutions resulting
pharmacological insults
• The research
Adolescent Brain
Adult Brain
Pruning
• “USE IT OR LOSE IT”– Reading, sports,
music, video games, x-box, hanging out—
whatever a child/teen is doing—these are
the neural synapses that will be retained
• How children/teens spend their time is
CRUCIAL to brain development since their
activities guide the structure of the brain
Neuroadaptivity, Hypofrontality,
Memory Loss
• Neuroadaptivity – Dulling of the
pleasure center of the brain
• Hypofrontality – Interference with the
decision making area of brain
• Memory loss – Damage to the
hippocampus
Developmental tasks
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Boredom
Good times
Stress
Social Skills
Academic Skills
Percentage of U.S. Adults Aged 18 and Older
Dependent on Alcohol, By Age of Drinking Onset
Dependent in Lifetime
100%
80%
60%
47% 45%
38%
40%
32%
28%
15% 17%
20%
11%
9%
0%
≤ 13
14
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16
17
18
19
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Age Began Drinking
≥ 21
Reward System
• The reward system is responsible for
seeking natural rewards that have survival
value (food, water, sex, and nurturing)
• Dopamine is the system’s primary
neurotransmitter
Sketch the synaptic space
Drugs Hijack the
Brain’s Reward Circuitry
• Immediate effect of drug use is an increase in
dopamine
• Continued use of drugs reduces the brain’s
dopamine production
• Because dopamine is part of the reward system,
the brain is ‘fooled’ into ‘thinking’ that the drug has
survival value for the organism
• The reward system responds with “drug seeking
behaviors”
• Craving occurs and, eventually, dependence.
Dopamine vs. Serotonin
• 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
Marijuana
Cannabinoid Sites
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Nucleus Accumbens
Hippocampus
Cerebellum
Amygdala
Hypothalmus
Hippocampus
• 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
Concerns with Marijuana
• Intrudes on the ecology of the brain at a
crucial developmental time having an
influence on present performance and
future functioning
• Hippocampus/Learning
• Ultimately producing opposite results
• Gateway to cigarettes
• Pruning and Neuroadaptation
The Lungs
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THC and resin
Damage to cilia
Viewing the bronchi
Marijuana/tobacco connection
Blunts
The power of nicotine and endorphins
Compromised immune system
Adolescents more susceptible
to alcohol than adults
1) Reduced sensitivity to intoxication
2) Increased sensitivity to social
disinhibitions
3) Greater adverse effects to cognitive
functioning
4) It seems to be endorsed as a norm
Issues with alcohol: Why do
kids have to drink?
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Ever see a group of drunk teenagers
Binge drinking
Demeaning behavior
Accidents
Sexual Behavior
Brain damage
Addiction
Driving and deaths
Teenage Proofing your house
Risk of addiction
How well does the drug work
Positive and Negative Reinforcement
If, in addition to producing pleasure
(positive reinforcement), a drug is more
addicting, if it relieves negative states:
boredom, anxiety, depression or stress
(negative reinforcement).
Pleasure Scale
Anhedonia
Dysphoria
NORMAL RANGE
Bored
“I feel negative”
Pleasure
Interested
“I feel good”
Euphoria
Promoting Resiliency,
Connection and Engagement
• Supportive family (tuned in, time
together, supervision, fair
rules/boundaries)
• Non using peers and role models
• Developing interests and academic skills
• Youth are connected (school, activities)
• Social Skills
• Dealing with boredom, stress, partying
• Exercise, movement, sweat
Parents
• Talk to your child
I care, I see, I feel, Listen
• Clear expectations and consequences
• Communication & Monitoring
• Integrity & Self Assessment – Modeling
• Teen-proof your home
• Promote Connection & Interests
The power of your presence
• Self Care
• This is work of the heart
• Clarity of Intention
Personal Self Assessment
Andrew Weil – Unhealthy relationship
• Ignorance that the substance is a drug and
what it does to the body
• Loss of desired effect with increasing
frequency
• Difficulty separating from the drug
• Impairment of health or social function
References
S. Alex Stalcup, M.D.
New Leaf Treatment Center
251 Lafayette Circle, Suite 150
Lafayette, CA 94549
Timmen Cermak, M.D.
Mill Valley, CA
Marijuana: What’s a Parent to Believe
Hazelden Press 2005
Contact Information
Ralph Cantor
Alameda County Office of Education
(510) 653-9410
[email protected]