Community norms are among the strongest
predictors of youth marijuana use according to research conducted by the University
of Washington’s Social Development Research Group. Community norms are
communicated to children through social practices, policies, and adult
expectations. An example of a social practice that is not uncommon
in Seattle is the public use of marijuana.
An opinion piece in
today’s Seattle Times discusses concerns from parents about this norm. The
piece starts with a description of what recently happened to a parent at one of
our city’s parks:
She took three kids —
two 8-year-olds and a 7-year-old — for a quick mid-afternoon trip to Golden
Gardens on Sunday. Pails, shovels and ice cream in hand, they set up camp… and
were enveloped in a cloud of marijuana smoke from three adults sitting upwind
just a few feet away.
He then goes on to share a
personal experience:
Last winter, my son’s middle-school ultimate
frisbee match at Cal Anderson Park came to a sudden halt when the kids turned
their noses to the marijuana smoke wafting from the nearby skateboard park. I
yelled at the tokers to put it out, and was ignored. I support Initiative
502 for the same reasons as Natalie, but left the park wondering what we’d
actually done.
People who don’t see a
problem with public marijuana use are going to say that parents need to tell
their kids that marijuana use is for adults only. They are
right. But as prevention science tells us, it takes a village to
raise a child. Parents alone cannot prevent adolescent marijuana use
– they need the support of other adults who model healthy and responsible
behaviors. They need the support of policies that prevent the public
use of marijuana. They need community norms to support healthy youth
development.
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