Recent email from a school in the Land of Closed Schools and Open Marijuana Shops…. (not in quote style for superior readability)
Massachusetts law mandates school districts to screen students for possible substance use. To address this mandate we will be conducting a screening program to take place for all 7th grade students attending the Lincoln Public Schools (for more information about the law, please visit http://www.masbirt.org/schools). The screening will take place during the day on March 15, 2022 at the Hanscom Middle School and the Lincoln 5-8 School. The goal of this program is to let students know that we are available to support healthy decisions and to assist them in obtaining support if needed for substance use related problems.
In order to help prevent students from starting to use substances, or to intervene with early use, the Lincoln Public School nurses and the middle school counselors will be providing an interview-based screening for all 7th grade students regarding the use of alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs. This screening utilizes the most commonly used substance use screening tool for adolescents in Massachusetts, the CRAFFT II. Student screening sessions will be brief (approximately 5 minutes). These screenings are conducted confidentially and in private, one-on-one sessions conducted by our school nurses and social workers.
Students who are not using substances will have their healthy choices reinforced by the screener. The screener will provide brief feedback to any student who reports using substances, or is at risk for future substance use. If needed, we will refer students to our counselors for further evaluation. Results of the screening will not be included in your child’s school record, nor will results be shared with any staff other than the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) Team. The SBIRT Team is composed of the school nurse and middle school counselors. All students will receive some educational material and a resource list at the time of the screening.
The governor says that marijuana is “essential” and people in Maskachusetts generally agree that marijuana can heal most medical problems (which is why, even before there was a profitable legal recreational marijuana industry, there was a thriving “medical marijuana” industry). Yet a separate collection of state bureaucrats wants to tell 12- and 13-year-olds that marijuana is somehow bad. (Same argument on alcohol, which was “essential”.)
I would love to meet the 7th grader with the temerity to point out to the screeners that nearly every billboard on the Mass Pike promotes marijuana use and wondering how it is possible that something that is great for adults is terrible for 13-year-olds. Also that adults couldn’t wait to stick 13-year-olds with a vaccine designed for older people.
Separately, it is interesting how Colorado and Maskachusetts set up their respective marijuana industries. In Colorado, there are numerous marijuana shops, each fairly small. As far as I observed, none of them has become rich enough to outbid Apple, Verizon, McDonald’s, et al. for billboard space. In Maskachusetts, by contrast, the number of cronies authorized by the government to sell marijuana is much smaller and, therefore, the profits are apparently staggering.
Here’s a photo from January 2022 of Mountain Medicinals, a “family-owned dispensary” in Idaho Springs, Colorado (contrary to the name, this is recreational and they can sell even to those who do not need to be healed):
As you can see, there are only three cars in the parking lot and the sign is modest. (In MA, the marijuana shops are so busy that they need to pay off-duty police officers to direct traffic.) Also, speaking of maximizing health, note the masked pedestrian in the crisp mountain air (it was below freezing outside and he and I were the only people outside within a 500′ radius).
Related:
- Department of Blessings of Lockdown…. “Marijuana Sales Increased In Multiple States During COVID, Study Finds” (Marijuana Moment, 8/9/2021): Legal marijuana sales in multiple states reached record highs in mid-2020 as coronavirus spread across the nation, according a new study. To date, sales in the four states examined in the analysis—Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington—”have increased more during the COVID-19 pandemic than in the previous two years.” (Tough to understand how labor force participation rate has fallen so much when so many more Americans are starting each day with a motivational bong hit)
Isn’t the point Phil that MJ and alcohol are “essential” for people over the age of 21 but illegal for those below that age — assuming that 21 is the age that people are permitted to buy MJ in Mass.? There is research out there showing or suggesting that MJ can be especially injurious to adolescent brains that are still developing — so that is a rule that would make some sense. The “essential” point is of course ludicrous but that is a different issue & depends what you mean by “essential” — I mean none of the essentials were essential like oxygen. And as far as essential things go you would think that alcohol and mj are pretty far down the list.
Jack: So the Science is that marijuana has a vastly different effect on those over and under age 21 and therefore our policies regarding marijuana should be age-specific. At the same time, Science says that infection with SARS-CoV-2 has roughly the same effect on the young and the old and therefore our policies regarding COVID-19, e.g., vaccine coercion, should not be age-specific.
Next time I pass it, I’ll try to take a picture of a big Mass Pike billboards (you’re right about the overall saturation level) that proclaims: “Marijuana is Good for Springfield” It does not say: “Marijuana is Good for Adults in Springfield.” Everyone is included, so it’s perfectly reasonable for an adolescent Springfield resident to ask their parent/parents/guardian/caregiver(s): “How come it’s good for Springfield but not good for me?”
To which they might respond: “The money goes to help you in school.”
And if the kid is bright they might say: “But they teach me to make healthy choices and that drugs like alcohol and marijuana are bad for me.”
And if their adult(s) aren’t exasperated could hear: “But it helps the teachers and the schools deal with COVID, so it’s good for you.”
“But if it’s bad for me, why is it OK for teachers and schools and everybody else?”
This could go on a long time…
Alex: I would be so grateful if you can do a Marijuana billboard photo survey!
@Philg: I’ll give it a shot over the sections of the Mass Pike and 91/291 I regularly drive over the coming week. It may take a few days b/c I cannot imagine being able to capture them all in a single day. There are so many sprinkled around the Springfield Poor Mines™ it might take a few days to get most of them. I can also capture some photo comparisons of various kinds of commerce in Springfield, which as we know hosts the MGM Casino, many prominent Health Care facilities, and of course a Federal Court House as well as the Hampden County Superior Court and the Western Housing Court. So basically Springfield runs on: 1) Health care 2) Immigrants Who Are Not Illegal 3) Casino Gambling 4) Essential Marijuana 5) Putting people in jail and the lawyers who do it or try to stop them.
I’ll not mention the *really* fun one right now. I’m sure you’ll love it, but it’s a real challenge to photograph. I’ll have to park and get out of the car for that one but I’ll do it.
But that is an actual billboard targeted at drivers entering Springfield: “Marijuana Is Good For Springfield.” I looked at it so long while driving past it I almost crashed.
More later this week…
@PhilG: Oh, one quick semi-related note. One of the other prominent, US Government-related business “public/private partnerships” in Springfield is the big US Postal Service Network Distribution Center, one of their larger area facilities for mail routing and distribution. Due to the decline in First Class mail and the rise of Amazon and continued seismic changes in the shipping business, it now handles a fraction of the volume that it used to and now sheds jobs by attrition. People might say: “Well, those were government jobs, surely the private sector absorbed them” but I cannot see direct evidence that people working in what used to be good $20 and up government jobs, who lived locally, and supported local businesses, restaurants, car dealerships, etc., etc., have been replaced. My sense is that those who could took their pensions and moved away, leaving a gaping hole in the economy there, now being partially filled by marijuana.
https://tinyurl.com/ycym5bdh
This quite funny: ‘Students who are not using substances will have their healthy choices reinforced by the screener.’ How would said reinforcement work? will they give cash prizes for sobriety? Or will they reinforce the healthy choices by providing large quantities of free doughnuts?
Federico: I hadn’t focused on that part, but it is interesting in light of the billboard saturation from marijuana retailers. The adolescent gets one interview with a person who says that not consuming healing cannabis is a “healthy choice”. The adolescent then gets exposed to multiple daily billboards saying that consuming cannabis is a good choice. Why do we expect this to be different from soda consumption? Once per year, an adolescents hears from the doctor that drinking soda is bad. The rest of the year, the adolescents sees ads for Coke, Pepsi, et al. What do we observe regarding soda sales to adolescents?
“Once per year, an adolescents hears from the doctor that drinking soda is bad. The rest of the year, the adolescents sees ads for Coke, Pepsi, et al.
Coke , Market Cap 271.27B
Pepsi, Market Cap 229.307B
It used to be parents know what’s good or bad for their kids and what’s right or wrong. It used to be schools is where kids go to to learn about STEM and trade. I guess parents are too consumed with alcohol and marijuana, and teachers know more about the danger of drugs and woke to teach students how to read and write. Coming soo, schools will screen students for brushing your teeth, or wearing their clothes right, or taking a shower, etc.
Btw, for folks who don’t know Lincoln Public Schools is one of the richer schools in MA. If they need to do this in Lincoln, there are other public schools in MA that they need to do this 24/7.
Boston Population (2020 Census): 675,647
Idaho Springs Population (2020 Census): 1,810
I wonder why the parking lot is less busy. Totally stumped! Great stuff Phil!
KB: Maybe if a million-car-per-month highway with two exits could be built through Idaho Springs the town could become prosperous, e.g., with 7 gas stations, a massive Safeway, and 30 restaurants, coffee shops, etc. in https://thisisidahosprings.com/eat-drink-sleep/eat/ . My idea for naming such a highway: Interstate 70.