Monthly Archives: September 2015

Maine marijuana summit highlights the failures of marijuana legalization

In the face of a continued push to legalize marijuana in Maine, a full day, statewide summit on marijuana, “Marijuana in the New Millenium”, was held Wednesday.  This event was planned and coordinated through a collaboration between Bangor Public Health, Healthy Acadia, and their respective community-based substance abuse prevention task forces.  Smart Approaches to Marijuana, […]

What Maine can learn from Colorado’s legalization of marijuana

A newly released report in Colorado doesn’t give marijuana legalization many positive marks. In fact, it points to a troubling 32-percent increase in marijuana-related traffic deaths in just one year from 2013, with a 92 percent increase from 2010 to 2014. What’s more, drug-related suspensions and expulsions increased 40 percent between school years 2008-2009 and […]

HHS finds marijuana use up 12%, perception of harm down

This week, the Department of Health and Human Services found that marijuana use among all Americans 12 and over – especially those over 26 – significantly increased in 2014 compared to 2013. The number of 16 and 17 year-olds using marijuana in the past month also increased, (14.2% versus 15.0%). “We should not be surprised […]

Community coalitions are the change makers in substance abuse prevention

This week I’ve begun a transition professionally as I prepare to end my current role as Substance Abuse and Tobacco Prevention Manager at Healthy Androscoggin and begin my new role as the Director of Operations at AdCare Educational Institute of Maine, Inc.  As transitions in life tend to go, they bring up a period of […]