Pubdate: Sun, 24 Aug 2014
Source: Daily Camera (Boulder, CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Daily Camera.
Contact:  http://www.dailycamera.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/103
Author: Alex Burness

'DON'T BE A LAB RAT' TEEN POT CAMPAIGN COMING TO BOULDER - BUT BVSD 
WANTS NO PART

Human-Sized Cage to Be Installed at 13th and Arapahoe on Tuesday

In an effort to educate teens about the effects of marijuana on the 
developing brain, Boulder this week will play host to a giant metal 
cage, complete with a to-scale version of the kind of water bottle 
hamsters drink from.

But the Colorado Department of Public Health's "Don't Be a Lab Rat" 
installation, defaced in its Denver debut, already is drawing jeers 
from the local pot industry - and is opposed by the Boulder Valley 
School District.

The "Lab Rat" display, targeted at 12-to-15-year-olds, is part of the 
state's public education campaign about pot's potential to harm a 
developing brain.

"Schizophrenia. Permanent IQ loss. Stunted brain growth," the 
campaign's website reads. "Still, some people question this research. 
Claiming the studies need to go deeper. Look further. But who will be 
their guinea pigs? Who's going to risk their brains to find out once 
and for all what marijuana really does?"

The 12-foot-long, 8-foot-high cage will be installed at 9:30 a.m. 
Tuesday at the corner of 13th Street and Arapahoe Avenue - near 
Boulder's Central Park - and will stay there through Sept. 15.

The campaign comes to Boulder after a run at two different Denver 
locations, the public library and the downtown skate park.

On Aug. 11 at the skate park site, CBS4 reported vandals scribbled 
over some of the posters on the cage, and that one man even smoked 
pot inside the cage.

Dr. Larry Wolk, who runs the state health department, told the TV 
station, "at least they're taking notice."

Opposition in Boulder

Over in Boulder, they're taking notice, too.

Boulder Valley School District, for one, already has announced it 
will not participate in the campaign.

"We had concerns about the use of human-scale rat cages being an 
effective tool for getting 12-to-15-year-olds to understand the risks 
involved with their developing brains," BVSD spokesman Briggs Gamblin said.

Superintendent Bruce Messinger emailed all district principals prior 
to the launch of the cages in Denver, informing them that the BVSD 
administration would formally oppose "Don't Be a Lab Rat" on the 
grounds that "a human scale 'rat cage'" may not be the most effective 
prop for the campaign's message.

"No BVSD school campus will be made available for the temporary 
siting of the 'rat cage' or distribution of campaign materials," he 
wrote in the email.

Additionally, Messinger raised concerns about the campaign posters 
possibly stigmatizing people who have been diagnosed with mental illness.

Boulder's Shawn Coleman, a marijuana industry lobbyist, called the 
campaign "racist and classist" for suggesting pot could usher someone 
behind bars.

"The first thing that happens is you see the illusion that cannabis 
use equals cage. So using marijuana equals jail," he said. "Black and 
brown people, these are the people who are by and large the victims 
of the war on marijuana."

One of the reasons some people voted for Amendment 64, Coleman 
argued, is that they'd grown tired of racist undertones in the war on drugs.

"I don't necessarily fault the governor's office and their staff for 
not putting the pieces together," he added. "They're not specialists 
in social justice or drug policy, but they should have consulted the 
people who are, before they rolled this thing out."

Delivery, not the message

But neither Coleman nor BVSD take any issue with the state trying to 
make teens aware of the perils of drug use. It's the delivery of the 
message they can't abide.

"I don't think it was the intent, and I think the intent came from a 
really positive place," Gamblin said. "But we just are not convinced 
that students would perceive it that way.

"This looked like a strategy that feel good for adults, but would not 
gain the respect of the target audience, of pre-teens and young teens 
we're trying to reach."

And, as Coleman notes, teen marijuana use has gone down 4 percent in 
Colorado since 2009, according to state studies.

"The data certainly suggests that putting cannabis behind the counter 
is having an effect on reducing teen use," he said. "The policy 
change is actually yielding the results everyone wants, but where is 
the (Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment)? Where is 
Boulder County Health? Where's Denver Health?

"They're talking about these rat cages. And they can't see how 
offensive this is."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom