New Study Examines Youth Experiences with Cannabis-related Discipline in Schools
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A new study led by health policy and management alumna Faith English '25PhD, now a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and public health researcher at the leading drug policy think tank Parabola Center for Law and Policy, is one of the first to explore the relationship between adult-use cannabis legalization in Massachusetts and implications for adolescents in schools – and is the first to center youth voices on this topic.
There has been a significant focus on preventing access to cannabis among youth, but little attention has been paid to other potential unintended consequences. This study critically examines the relationship between adult-use cannabis policies and the “school-to-prison-pipeline” in which zero tolerance policies are implemented in schools that push students, especially from marginalized communities, into the criminal justice system.
The study, titled “Just take it away from them and talk to them about it”: exploring youth perspectives on and experiences with cannabis-related school discipline and co-authored with Health Promotion and Policy faculty members Jennifer Whitehill (senior author), Airín Martínez, and Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson, along with Youngmin Yi from Wellesley College, appears in the International Journal of Drug Policy. It includes 18 in-depth interviews with young people about their experiences with suspension and expulsion in schools for cannabis-related offenses. English and colleagues found that surveillance of students is extensive, that disciplinary responses are harmful, and that young people support alternatives to punitive responses. “There was universal agreement among participants that cannabis does not belong in schools, but instead of being suspended from extracurricular activities or being suspended or expelled from schools – they advocated for alternatives to abstinence-only messaging and called for more mental health and substance use resources for kids who need it,” described English. “We hope these findings will encourage the adoption and expansion of alternatives to exclusionary discipline for cannabis – particularly in the context of a state with adult-use legalization.”
In Their Own Words:
The study yielded important insights into how young people experience cannabis-related surveillance and discipline in Massachusetts and suggestions for ways that schools can respond to these incidents without contributing to the “school-to-prison-pipeline.”
“So, when she got caught, she had to be sent to the office, and she got searched and, like one of the female teachers, they searched underneath her clothing as well, which I thought was a bit extreme.”
“I think that punishing students on the school level is kind of stupid in my personal opinion; taking away their education because they're doing something that's not correct. They should correct the action of what they are doing instead of taking away their education.”
“Kids who possibly are going through abuse at home, a lot of the time those kids will turn to drugs [to] cope. And then, they are sent home without even taking that into account.”
These findings build on prior research published by English and colleagues, which examined the relationship between cannabis policy changes and cannabis-related disciplinary incidents in MA. They found that rates of suspension and expulsion increased after decriminalization in 2008, however they decreased after both medical legalization in 2012 and adult-use in 2016. Findings from the current study provide important context to her quantitative research by centering the voices of young people and shedding light on what young people are experiencing in schools.
Parabola Center is a nonprofit of legal, public health, and policy professionals coming together to put people over profits. Through research and education, it provides the public with the tools and expertise to shape emerging fields, from marijuana to artificial intelligence. Its public health team recently won a $50,000 Seed Funding grant from the Cannabis Research Institute at University of Illinois.