WOODLAND PARK – The Woodland Park District is getting life-saving information to parents about drug use and vaping, on the heels of marijuana-laced meth being found with Woodland Park students.
A meeting coming up on Monday will feature a speaker from the Marijuana Education Initiative.
The group sheds light on the negative effects of marijuana on brain development.
Plus, it’ll teach parents and other adults how to talk to kids about vaping and exactly what to look out for if they think a child is vaping.
On November 23, we reported the Teller County Sheriff’s Office discovered meth-laced marijuana going around Woodland Park Middle School.
This is the warning they had for parents.
“If you’re allowing them to vape, that’s a concern,” said Commander Greg Couch with the Teller County Sheriff’s Office.
“Some of these drugs may have been involved in the vape containers.”
Even though the students who consumed the drugs are fine, it still served as a wake-up call for the school district.
“You never know what’s in the vape, you never what you’re smoking and somebody could be putting something in it,” said Stacy Schubloom, a spokesperson for the Woodland Park School District.
Now they’re hosting a public meeting to teach everyone what to look out for in the classroom and beyond
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“They look like USB ports and so students are bringing them into the schools and teachers don’t even know what to look for,” she added.
And the misconception isn’t just about what they look like, but who’s actually using them.
“It’s not just at-risk kids that are doing this, it’s your cheerleaders, it’s your football players, it’s your theater kids, it’s all groups of kids are doing this,” Schubloom explained.
Even though underage vaping is illegal, there’s also the fallacy that it’s safe to use.
But in reality, it can have a damaging effect on brain development.
“Especially that marijuana is legalized now, that it’s ok. And it’s not, it’s not,” Schubloom said.
“They’re still developing.”
The meeting will be happening Monday at 5:30 p.m. at Woodland Park Middle School.
The district will also be providing a free meal and free childcare.
