Kevnesha Boyd at Tuesday’s workshop. A city dispensary owner and a local trauma therapist stopped by Hillhouse this week to warn high school students about the downsides of recreational cannabis use — and to urge them not to consume cannabis before the age of 25, even though it’s legal for adults 21 and up. Kebra Smith-Bolden, a longtime New Haven cannabis entrepreneur and the owner of the East Street dispensary Lit New Haven, and Kevnesha Boyd offered that warning during a presentation Tuesday at the city’s second largest comprehensive high school. During an informational workshop and discussion held during students’ health classes, they urged young New Haveners to wait until their prefrontal cortexes are mostly developed before consuming cannabis. The two New Haven natives and health professionals partnered with Hillhouse librarian Malcolm Welfare to host the conversations, which took place between 7:30 a.m. through 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. During that time, group after group of students played a version of the game Jeopardy with Smith-Bolden and Boyd to become more knowledgeable about things like who regulates cannabis dispensaries in Connecticut, what the difference is between cannabis sold at smoke shops versus at permitted dispensaries, and the harmful impacts of using cannabis illegally while underage. Meanwhile, at the very same time that students at Hillhouse were learning about why not to use cannabis and about legal-versus-illegal sales of the drug, city police and federal agents were raiding a downtown smoke shop for selling illegal cannabis products. Tuesday’s conversations were especially relevant, Boyd said, because “we all have experienced some kind of stressful or traumatic experience” and for many young people those are key reasons why they illegally consume cannabis. “It takes conversations like this to let you all know that, yes, we understand being a young person right now can be very hard. But cannabis just isn’t the right way to deal with it,” Boyd said. Students listed off reasons that could cause someone their age to want to consume cannabis. Those included home issues, workload, stressing about college, community violence, peer pressure, and relationship issues. Boyd explained to the students that for young people, cannabis exacerbates issues with things like impulse control. When the duo asked who the teens would contact if they were to ever have an adverse reaction to cannabis, they got responses like a teacher, a staffer at the school’s health clinic, or a therapist. To access a therapist, Smith-Bolden and Boyd recommended anyone to call 211. “You’re not alone anymore now that you know us,” said Smith-Bolden, who graduated from Hillhouse in 1994. “A Real-Time Response To Student Needs” Shamina Charles: “Young people really need support.” Hillhouse junior Shamina Charles said her takeaways from Tuesday’s workshop were to never use cannabis and that the leading causes for youth deaths are suicide and gun violence. “Young people really need support,” Charles said. “I don’t go to the counselor and stuff here but that doesn’t mean I don’t have struggles. So it was a good talk without having to set up an actual meeting.”  Smith-Bolden, who has been a registered nurse for more than 20 years, and Boyd, a trauma therapist, both offer helping clients get medical cannabis certification for adults as a central focus of their respective practices.  For youth, they both agreed the goal is to educate teenagers on alternatives to cannabis use. Welfare reminded the students throughout Tuesday’s conversations to share what they had learned from Smith-Bolden and Boyd with their peers. The series has been in the works since February, after Welfare first introduced the idea to Hillhouse’s administration in an effort to combat school and communitt concerns with increasing use of cannabis and access to it around town. “This is a real-time response to student needs,” Welfare said. Boyd shared with the students about being a trauma survivor herself who grew up on Orchard Street. Her experiences dealing with both of her parents being incarcerated and living in poverty were what inspired her to work with adults who experience trauma. “I see myself in you all,” Boyd said. Boyd also shared that recreational use of cannabis, though legal, is not always helpful. The duo told the students about the big difference it made for them personally to move from a recreational to a medical cannabis use. During the workshop, students played “Cannabis Jeopardy” to talk about how cannabis harmfully impacts the minds and health of youth, about laws around the drug, and about how the legal cannabis industry works. For a “$100 question” in the law category, the students were asked, “At what age is cannabis use legally allowed in CT?” The students’ answers: 21 years old. Boyd hinted that there’s another age that she considers more important than just the legal age to consume cannabis. She revealed through a question in the game’s brain category that it isn’t until age 25 that one’s prefrontal cortex is mostly developed. “So using even at 21, the legal age, can be very different from using at age 25 when your brain is developed,” Boyd said. The duo added that if THC is consumed too early it can cause a lack of focus or poor impulse control and planning. That means that, even at 21 years old, “just because you can consume cannabis legally doesn’t mean you should,” Boyd said. “You can still open yourself to dependence or developing depression, anxiety, or psychosis.” The jeopardy game quizzed students on identifying that schools are drug free zones and that being caught with cannabis, whether as an adult or teen, on school grounds can result in suspension and possible criminal charges. A “$400 question” in the game taught the group that you cannot legally smoke cannabis anywhere in Connecticut the same way you can with cigarettes and if caught driving while consuming cannabis, you can face driving under the influence (DUI) charges. The students also learned that the maximum amount of cannabis an adult over the age of 21 can legally possess in Connecticut is 1.5 ounces. “Zero is allowed if you’re under 21,” Smith-Bolden noted. The group discussed how THC can affect one’s brain-reward-system chemical known as dopamine. A student explained it to the group as “misplaced dopamine.” Boyd said scrolling on social media, like cannabis use, can bring on increased dopamine, but both can cause your brain to limit producing natural dopamine. Smith-Bolden said that regular cannabis use by teenagers can impair their memory and motivation. Boyd said that, on a daily basis through her work, she sees young people drop out of school sports or have a hard time waking up and listening to parents due to cannabis use. “It might feel like cannabis is helping in the short term, but long term it can be a demotivator,” she explained. “Your ‘No’ Is A Full Sentence” T’Ari Thomas learns the difference between smoke shops and dispensaries, and decides she’s not a fan of smoke shops. When moving into the industry-secrets Jeopardy category, Hillhouse junior T’Ari Thomas asked if dispensaries are like smoke shops. “Not at all,” Smith-Bolden answered. Smith-Bolden explained that dispensaries like hers have to go through frequent background checks and always have each of its products tested to inform buyers of who made the product, where it comes from, and what’s in it. She said the responsibility of every single product falls on a dispensary, which is not the case at smoke shops. “None of you would even be able to come into my dispensary, but that’s not the same for a smoke shop. Doesn’t that tell you something?” Smith-Bolden asked. “I have to give customers the best and that’s why they require we track every single product. Smoke shops don’t have to give anyone the best.” This led Thomas to ask then why does the state allow for smoke shops to open, especially so many in New Haven? Smith-Bolden explained that a smoke shop is licensed to sell tobacco products, not cannabis. “If they are selling cannabis you all should know smoke shops have zero tracking, zero accountability,” Smith-Bolden said. After Tuesday’s workshop Thomas said she enjoyed the conversation because cannabis is talked about amongst adults and teens often. “A lot of young people are doing it which is why I took notes about the health parts so I can tell my friends it’s not good,” she said. She also left with the conclusion that the state shouldn’t allow smoke shops to open because in her experience they never ask for IDs and “could be giving people anything.” After returning from a lunch break at around 11:50 a.m., the group reconvened to discuss the social equity work that went into cannabis legalization. Smith-Bolden explained that Lit New Haven is a social equity business, meaning her dispensary hires from the community to “equalize the playing field” when it comes to Black and brown entrepreneurs being included in who profits from the legalization of adult-use cannabis. Hillhouse senior Alyssa said that, because the impacts of the war on drugs and environmental racism still linger in Black and brown communities, she believes it’s important that cannabis legalization include a social equity lens to acknowledge the histories of cannabis criminalization disproportionately impacting people of color. In the game’s final “real talk” category, Boyd and Smith-Bolden asked the group “if your friend offers you a hit at a party, what’s one thing you can say that doesn’t kill the vibe?” The students answered with responses like, “I got work in morning,” or, “I play sports,” or just a simple, “No.” “Your ‘No’ is a full sentence,” Smith-Bolden said.   Tuesday’s final workshop was cut short in its last few minutes due to a second fire alarm sounding at Hillhouse. While students dismissed from the building at around 12:20 p.m., three students who wished remain anonymous told this reporter they suspected the fire alarm was going off for the second time on Tuesday because students were smoking in the bathroom. The first occurred at around 7:45 a.m. Hillhouse Principal Antoine Billy did not confirm the exact reasons for both of Tuesday’s alarms. Instead, he said each was a result of “students making unhealthy choices related to the library education” about cannabis offered Tuesday. Billy described underage cannabis use and access as a “public health crisis” that is significantly impacting schools and the community. He hopes for other schools around the district and beyond to step up to “the hard but necessary” task of supporting students with knowledge. For the past two years, Hillhouse has also been partnering with the Department of Transportation to bring workshops to the students about driving safely and about the consequences of texting and driving as well as driving while under the influence. The goal with all of this education, he said, is to help students make informed decisions. “If we don’t get a handle on it, it can turn into another epidemic,” he concluded. “Our kids are great. Our kids are intelligent.” This is not a problem specific to Hillhouse, he said. “It’s a public heath issue.” Library media specialist Malcolm Welfare (center). The post Hillhouse Hosts Real Talk On Cannabis appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less