Parents have questions when it comes to cannabis and their kids.

Jennifer Lowe is one of them. She has three boys aged five, 10 and 12, and while her kids are still young, she’s looking to figure out “the talk.”

“I didn’t really give it a lot of thought until it started hitting the media, and then that’s when I kind of thought, ‘Okay I better start thinking about this,’” she said.

“You know, just a few Google searches, how to talk to your kids about drugs and alcohol and mental health, those kinds of things.”

Hillary Wand, a youth addictions counsellor with the Saskatchewan Health Authority, said she’s seen an increase in the number of parents asking her how to have the “drug talk” with their kids.

“How do we talk to our kids about it? What do we do? Is this going to make my kids use more? Is it going to provoke my kids to use? So there definitely has been a lot of concern, a lot of worry,” Wand said.

Wand recommends parents do their research, but cautions them when it comes to the Internet.

“The Internet can be misleading and can lead them down the wrong direction. For what parents need to know, I think, is educating themselves on the right facts, so how that [cannabis] influences an adolescent. How it impacts the brain development, how it impacts the social side of things.”

Teaching cannabis in schools

Both school divisions in Saskatoon say the curriculum will remain the status quo.

“Our lessons to students will be unaffected,” said Saskatoon Public Schools in a letter to parents and guardians.

“Following the provincial curriculum, our teachers introduce students to positive lifestyle choices in health and wellness classes starting in (Grade 3) with lessons about the use of harmful substances.”

Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools said the same.

“The teaching has been going on for many years through the curriculum, so for us, most of that hasn’t changed,” superintendent Scott Gay said.

Police also play a role in educating kids about cannabis.

School resource officers in Colorado, where recreational cannabis has been legal for just under six years, tells CTV it starts talking to students about cannabis in Grades 4 and 5, and they focus on facts.

“So that they can make good informed decisions when they’re faced with people asking them if they would like to eat an edible or smoke some marijuana. They can say ‘no’ because they know the effects and what it can do to you,” said Brad Gagon, school resource officer with the Arvada, CO police department.

Gagon said that information is crucial because kids now have easier access to the drug.

“We’re seeing it in the schools, kids are showing up with it in their backpacks. Kids as young as in Kindergarten are showing up smelling like marijuana a lot more frequently because their parents are smoking it in their house now that it’s legal,” he said.

CTV asked the Saskatoon Police Service what approach its school resource officers will take when teaching students, but a spokesperson said the service is still working out how to best educate and bring awareness on the topic.

What you need to know

While having the “drug talk” can seem daunting, there are some tips that everyone seems to agree on:

  • Be a good role model
  • Never forget that cannabis can hurt a child’s growing body and brain
  • Communicate your values about cannabis use
  • Stay informed and give your children and teens the facts
  • Take time to talk regularly with your children so they know they can turn to you with questions

“Come at it from a place of non-judgmental and open and ask them questions,” said Wand.

“I think it’s really important for parents to engage their kids on what they already know and just engage that conversation so it’s fluid, it goes both ways and the teen knows they can come and talk to them as well.”

Lowe said because cannabis has been such a hot topic lately, she decided to bring it up to her kids.

“Honestly, those conversations were really short. What do you think about marijuana? What do you know about marijuana? Pretty limited to their knowledge, but at least that opens up the conversation, so they know they can come talk to me or their dad, or some other safe person, adult in their life that they feel comfortable talking to,” said Lowe.

“Of course I’m nervous. It can happen to anyone – drug addictions and what not – but I’m feeling pretty okay moving into that time in our lives.”