In 2017, when a group of us came together to launch Youth Forward, we held the assumption that in the near future, the state would collect significant new tax revenues from the cannabis industry. The voters had approved Prop 64 just a few months earlier. We wanted to see if we could influence how the state would spend the millions of new revenues. We wanted those revenues to be invested in supporting healing and prevention in the communities of color most impacted by the War on Drugs. We also assumed that post-legalization, the marijuana industry would grow dramatically and would come to resem ..read more

In a new paper, Jim Keddy explores the intersections between two dynamics having an enormous impact on the country: cannabis legalization and the opioid epidemic. The paper reveals the intersections between these two dynamics and suggests that, through policy development and narrative change, we could seize this opportunity and change the direction of the country when it comes to drug policy and addiction. If we take what we have learned through decriminalizing and legalizing cannabis, and add to the analysis the tragic lessons from the opioid epidemic, we can begin to see a new consensus ..read more

In the 1980’s, the Partnership for a Drug Free America ran a commercial that showed a rat confined in a cage drinking from a cocaine-filled water bottle. In ominous tones the commercial told us that the rat would choose the cocaine water over regular water to the point where the rat starved to death.  This commercial was based on actual research and was part of the larger effort in the 1980’s to raise concern, and hysteria, over drug use. A researcher, Bruce Alexander, observed that the rat in the cage experiments were always conducted with one isolated rat. He wondered what would happen ..read more

On January 25th, 2018, Youth Forward, Public Health Advocates and the California Urban Partnership held a legislative briefing at the State Capitol on the health effects of marijuana use. Presenters shared research on medical uses and adverse health effects and discussed policy recommendations for state and local governments.  The Sacramento Bee covered the briefing. To access the presentations click here.  ..read more

A few weeks ago I had the good fortune of speaking with a class of Latino, African-American, and Asian students at Florin High School (Go Panthers!) in South Sacramento. I want to thank the students and their teacher for an enlightening and energetic 90 minute dialogue about the Big Wide World of Weed.  Wow! Here are a few things that stood out in the conversation: Students know a lot about weed. They know about all the various types of weed:  strains and varieties, edibles, concentrates etc.. They are surrounded by weed. Weed is everywhere! Parents, siblings, relatives, frien ..read more

In the mid and late 1990’s, a couple colleagues and I were helping organize parents to improve schools in South Sacramento. As we met with parents and formed parent organizing committees, we encountered a real disconnect between the schools and their families. In these schools in which most teachers were white and most families were of color, some teachers viewed the parents of their students as uncaring or even dysfunctional. Parents often experienced the school to be unresponsive and intimidating, and some were told that they were to blame for the low achievement of their children. In each ..read more

From what I’m seeing, at least in California, the answer to this question is yes.   Across California, numerous cities and counties already have marijuana taxes in place. Starting in 2018, when the commercial sale of recreational marijuana becomes legal, these local governments will start to rake in more revenues. The City of Los Angeles, for example, projects that it will collect $50 million in new revenues as a result of the tax passed by the voters in March of this year. And that’s just for year one of legal marijuana sales. Imagine how that will grow in the coming years as the marijua ..read more

Across the country, racial justice organizers and advocates are turning the tide of the failed, racially biased War on Drugs by changing laws to reduce mass incarceration. This is a growing, vibrant movement, primarily led by people of color and by those who have experienced incarceration first hand. ​ It’s time for the vast array of children’s advocacy groups to join this movement in a more visible and assertive way.  It’s time for those who advocate for preschool expansions, for children’s health insurance and for public education to get with it. It’s time. Mass incarceration is a kids ..read more

The top response in the recent Marist poll of over 1,000 adults?  The dresser drawer! The pollsters didn’t take this question a step further but if they had, I bet the most common drawer for stash placement would have been the underwear drawer. What compels us to hide our secrets in our underwear drawer? I always have. It’s a fascinating question….but let’s get back to the Marist poll. Here are some other noteworthy findings: 52% of Americans 18 or older have tried marijuana. 22% use marijuana 14% use marijuana regularly. Please note that this poll did not take into account ..read more

In 2017, when a group of us came together to launch Youth Forward, we held the assumption that in the near future, the state would collect significant new tax revenues from the cannabis industry. The voters had approved Prop 64 just a few months earlier. We wanted to see if we could influence how the state would spend the millions of new revenues. We wanted those revenues to be invested in supporting healing and prevention in the communities of color most impacted by the War on Drugs. We also assumed that post-legalization, the marijuana industry would grow dramatically and would come to rese ..read more