PORTLAND, Ore. (PORTLAND TRIBUNE) — Oregon City Together has launched a campaign to encourage parents and other adults to lock up marijuana and alcohol in their homes to prevent children and teens from using these substances.
As part of the effort, the coalition is giving away 180 lockboxes and posting a billboard on McLoughlin Boulevard for the next five months. These efforts ($2,160 for the lockboxes, $4,100 for the billboard’s production and rental) are funded through federal Drug-Free Community Grants providing $125,000 annually to combat youth marijuana and alcohol use in OC.
According to anonymous surveys of students conducted statewide, Oregon City teens routinely report that one of the most common ways they obtain marijuana, alcohol and prescription medications is from their home. In explaining the need for lockboxes, OCT Coalition Chair Maureen Palaoro pointed to surveys showing youth obtain drugs from their home or the homes of their friends and relatives.
According to 2020 survey data, for example, 15% of Oregon City 11th graders and 33% of OC eighth graders who said that they drank alcohol in the past month obtained the alcohol without parental permission from their parents’ stash. Many other students obtained alcohol or drugs from peers who may have obtained the contraband from parents before sharing it with friends.
“We can’t be everywhere all the time, and securing these substances is one thing we can do that is under our control,” Palaoro said. “Reducing access is important because still-developing teen brains are more vulnerable than adult brains to the effects of drugs.”
Portland Tribune and its parent, Pamplin Media Group, are KOIN 6 news partners.
A health teacher at Gardiner Middle School, Palaoro added that using drugs can hijack healthy adolescent brain development and lead to addiction.
A new study at the National Institute on Drug Abuse adds to the already-strong evidence that the younger the first-time user, the more likely addiction occurs later in life. The study found that young people who first try marijuana or misuse prescription drugs when they are teens are almost twice as likely to develop a substance-use disorder than those who wait until they are young adults before their first substance use or misuse.
“Not only will securing these items protect teens, it will also protect children,” Palaoro said. “Cannabis edibles can look like candy. And the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission recently adopted new rules allowing edible concentration limits to increase from 50 mg THC to 100 mg per package. Thus, more harm may occur if it gets into the wrong hands.”
Palaoro added: “As part of this effort, we are reminding parents to talk frequently to their tweens and teens about the risks of early drug use. There’s a lot of stress and anxiety right now, and we need to help teens cope in healthy ways and not try to self-medicate.”
Parents and other adults can pick up free lockboxes this month at several locations including Buel’s Impressions Printing, Mary Rose NW Boutique and the Oregon City Swimming Pool. There are drive-thru pickup opportunities as well. Go to octogether.org to learn more.