Your Position about Cannabis in Your Community

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Resource
Cannabis Education Resources
Grade(s)
10

Overview

  • Students use a Mind Map to identify local issues related to cannabis use, analyze their impact, record information gathered, and consider connections to national and international issues.
  • Students create an advocacy presentation for a local council to demonstrate their understanding of local issues related to cannabis use, their impact on the community, and their connections to national and international issues.
  • This activity may be used as part of a unit of learning or at the end of a unit of learning. It may also be used as a follow-up to the Grade 10 Cannabis Education activity “Cannabis and You: Conflicts, Resolutions, and Well-being.”

Curriculum Expectations

1.5, C3.3

Materials Needed

  • Four Corner statements
  • Chart paper, markers, envelopes, and terms related to cannabis
  • Information about current issues related to cannabis use, such as:
  • Phones, tablets or computers for conducting research and gathering additional information

Learning Goals

  • We are learning about public issues related to cannabis.
  • We are learning how issues related to cannabis impact us locally, nationally, and internationally.

Sample Success Criteria

  • I can identify local issues related to cannabis.
  • I can analyze the impact that cannabis has on our community.
  • I can analyze how local issues related to cannabis are connected to national and international issues related to cannabis.

Opportunities For Assessment

  • During the Minds On, use the Four Corners activity to assess students’ prior knowledge of issues related to cannabis use.
  • During the Action, use the Mind Maps and class discussion to assess students’ understanding of issues related to cannabis use and their local, national, and international impacts.
  • During the Consolidation, use the group presentations to assess students’ learning related to the Learning Goals and Success Criteria.

Minds-On

  • Create a Four Corners activity by posting four terms, one in each corner of the room, such as Yes, No, Somewhat, and Maybe.
  • Pose statements to students about issues related to cannabis, such as:
    • Cannabis education should be mandatory for all individuals under 25 years of age
    • Cannabis should not be legal for recreational use
    • Individuals under the age of 25 should have priority access to support services for individuals dealing with mental health issues and addictions related to cannabis
    • Cannabis sales should be closely regulated by government and available only at regulated outlets
    • Cannabis should be widely available in all forms
  • After posing a statement, have students consider their own position on the statement, move to the labeled corner of the room that best describes their response to the statement, and share their reasoning with other students who have chosen the same corner.
  • Have each group share their perspective with the larger group.

Action

  • Share the Learning Goals with students and co-create Success Criteria.
  • Have students assemble in small groups of 4–5.
  • Provide each group with chart paper, markers, and an envelope containing strips of paper with the following terms (one term per slip):
    • cannabis
    • legal system
    • addiction
    • access to services
    • storefronts
    • edibles
    • education
    • medicinal use
    • international border laws
    • legal consequences
    • trafficking
    • recreational use
    • mental health
  • Have groups remove the strips of paper from their envelope and place the term cannabis in the middle of their chart paper.
  • Have groups examine the other terms and identify how each term relates to cannabis, either as a benefit, as an issue, or as both, depending on the circumstance.
  • Have each group create a Mind Map illustrating how each term is connected to cannabis, either as a benefit, an issue, or both, and illustrating any interrelationships between the terms.
  • Explain to groups that they may also add any other terms to their Mind Map (e.g., school, safety, gateway drug) that arise from their discussion of the other terms.
  • Have groups post their completed Mind Maps around the activity space.
  • Using the ideas and connections generated from the group Mind Maps, engage students in a discussion about current issues related to cannabis use and how these issues might impact their community. Have students consider how these local issues are connected to national and international issues related to cannabis use.
  • Provide groups with information about issues related to cannabis, such as Municipal Guide to Cannabis Legalization, or Drug Use among Ontario Students 1977–2019, or provide students with sufficient time to research issues related to cannabis on local, national, and international levels.
  • Using the ideas generated during the class discussion and the information provided or researched, have groups continue to populate their Mind Maps by adding to their ideas about current issues related to cannabis use, their impact in the local community, and the connections to national and international issues related to cannabis.

Consolidation

  • Have students return to their Mind Map groups, reach a consensus on what they believe to be the top three issues that need to be addressed in the local community related to cannabis use, and justify their reasoning for the selection.
  • Provide groups with the following scenario:
    • You are members of a youth advocacy group representing youth voice in your community. Issues related to cannabis use have arisen in your community, and your group has been asked to share your position on the issues. You have been invited to give a 5-minute presentation to the local council. Your presentation should address the following questions.
  1. What do you believe is the most pressing local issue regarding cannabis use that needs to be addressed, and how would you address it?
  2. How does addressing your selected issue at a local level connect to national and international issues related to cannabis?
  3. How might addressing your issue on a local level have an impact nationally or connect to international issues related to cannabis?
  4. What role are you willing to adopt to support the council should your issue be the one chosen as the most pressing?
  • Have groups consider their top three issues and select one to present to the local council as an issue that should be a priority.
  • Provide students with sufficient time to gather any additional information or evidence they need in order to present their issue and their rationale for making this the priority issue for the council to address.
  • Have groups create their presentation and share it with the class either through a live or recorded presentation.

Ideas For Extension

  • Have a member from each group act as a council member who will select the issue to be addressed based on the presentations.
  • Invite colleagues to act as council members.
  • Have groups write a letter or create a virtual presentation to send to the local community council.
  • Continue the learning by having students investigate other public issues related to other addictions (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, gambling) and make national and international connections to these issues.

Notes To Teachers

Providing opportunities for students to explore concepts from multiple perspectives and through a variety of lenses enriches their learning.

  • Explore cross-curricular opportunities such as making connections to civic responsibility as part of their learning in their Civics course.
  • Encourage students to develop critical thinking and inquiry skills for information related to cannabis use, including analyzing, synthesizing, examining opinions, identifying values and issues, detecting bias, and exploring alternatives, in order to help formulate their position about the use of cannabis and other drugs.
  • This activity focuses on cannabis education, so students should be provided with additional opportunities to investigate other public issues related to other addictions (e.g., alcohol, tobacco, gambling) and make national and international connections to these issues in order to fully address the learning as articulated in curriculum expectation C3.3. This may be included as part of this activity as suggested in the Ideas for Extension above or as an additional activity.