“I’m trying to figure out how can I make myself happy again without using a drug,” Richardson said. “I think more and more schools are going to be doing this kind of thing.”Īt the church in Charlestown, the teenagers listed healthy alternatives to cannabis they pledged to try: sports, reading, sleeping, getting lost in nature. “Discipline on its own wasn’t really working,” Imbusch said. The school still suspends students for marijuana but sets a hearing within three days to craft a treatment plan, usually involving a private therapist, and now, the cessation course. This year, he offered all students the chance to enroll, promising they wouldn’t get in trouble. Students are rarely suspended for pot, she said, unless they’re caught selling it.Īt Walpole High, principal Stephen Imbusch was alarmed by a rise in vaping last year, so he sent his school nurse to learn how to run a cessation program.

She talks to teens about why they use - often college anxiety, stress, and partying - and sets goals. Last year, she said, referrals doubled, with most needing help with vaping marijuana, nicotine, or both. Minott counsels students who decide they want help or are referred by an adult.

“If a student walked in and I said, ‘You should never smoke pot again,’ they might walk out the door,” said Mary Minott, a longtime substance abuse counselor at Brookline High. While educators and addiction specialists believe abstinence from cannabis is ideal until the brain fully develops, typically around age 25, they see value in teens reducing the frequency, potency, or amount of use. Schools can apply for grants, a spokeswoman said, though none are available now. This year, the Legislature gave nearly $84 million of those taxes to the Department of Public Health’s substance services bureau, but the budget does not require that it fund youth programs statewide.ĭPH said it will support more youth interventions. Under state law, part of the 10.75-percent excise tax on recreational pot should fund youth substance programs. In theory, there should be money for programs from taxes on the state’s booming cannabis industry, which brought in nearly $400 million of sales its first year. The office said it is implementing the multi-year plan, has trained educators on marijuana, and is improving interventions. Walsh’s office of recovery services issued a comprehensive plan in 2018 that acknowledged critical needs, but it lacked sufficient financial backing. Youth advocates say Boston Mayor Martin J. The district said it prioritizes treatment and sends suspended students - 98 last year - to substance abuse programs.

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