We are happy to see the early beginnings of a webcast series focused on informing our community on the current concerns around youth and alcohol and other drug use. Stay tuned for future installments. With big thanks to Bill Stewart, Donny Wright, and the Willamette Falls Media Center.
Parents – your experience matters!
If you are a parent in Oregon City with one or more children in grades 5 and up, we want to hear from you!
You may have already received an invitation to this year’s survey in an email from the School District. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can follow this link to help us gather this crucial information.
OCT’s annual Parent Survey is due May 20.
Thank you for helping us to keep Oregon City’s kids healthy & safe!
And, while you’re here, check out these top ten things Parents can do for a safe graduation season:
Parents and Mentors of young people, come learn about what is happening with youth in Oregon City. OCT is hosting a panel and Q & A session to help us re-think our assumptions about Oregon City’s youth marijuana and alcohol use.
Bring your questions, share your thoughts, and plan a better future!
Have you seen the latest research? We all need to be current with the studies on young people and pot. Here is some useful information on what makes youth use different from adult use. Please read and share!
You can go directly to the study by Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
Pot Legalization: Why It’s Still a Big Deal If Your Teen Smokes Pot
With each passing day, it seems, smoking pot becomes less and less stigmatized in our society.
In a much-buzzed-about piece in The New Yorker this week, President Obama suggested making pot legal in large part to correct the vast inequities that minorities face in terms of cannabis-related arrests and imprisonment. Besides, said the president, who was known to smoke his fair share of weed back in the day, “I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol” for the individual user.
Even the straight-laced Bill Gates recently announced his support of legalization. And this year’s Super Bowl has been dubbed the “Super Doobie Bowl,” a reference to the fact that the teams vying for the NFL championship, the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, hail from the two states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Mainstream websites are circulating marijuana-laced game-day snack recipes. It won’t be long before Martha Stewart comes up with her own pot-brownie concoction.
With all of this hanging in the air, it’s obvious we parents should be talking to our kids about smoking dope. But what are we supposed to tell them when it’s clear that “just say no,” isn’t going to cut it?
Oregon City Together is looking forward to seeing you at this year’s Family Focus Forum. Visit our table and take the pledge to “Be The Wall” between teens and alcohol.
AND, we want to learn from you. Look for the Parent and Mentor survey at the Forum and help us learn from your experience. With your help we can build a healthy and drug-free future for OC’s youth.
Register now for the 6th Annual Family Focus Forum: Raising Families in a Challenging World, being held Saturday, February 9th at Oregon City High School. This free event includes workshops on issues important to all families and their students — preschool through high school — and includes a keynote address by Tim O’Brien. Childcare and lunch available with event registration.
We are fortunate to be hosting nationally acclaimed author, storyteller, and youth advocate Michael Meade.
He will be speaking on the role of ‘Mentor’ in a community on Friday September 14, and offering a day long workshop on Saturday September 15.
A mesmerizing storyteller, Michael Meade takes us into a timeless understanding of youth, elderhood, rites of passage, and possibilities for a resilient and vital community. You will be able to register for the Saturday workshop through Oregon City Community Education.
Here is a tiny sample of what we have to look forward to:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUAvVOAGUlU]