For now, we are using this space as the President's blog. Feel free to email your updates and comments at ChrisThurstone@me.com.
CCAPS Board Votes to Oppose Legalization of Marijuana
In November, Coloradans will vote on Amendment 64, which would amend the state constitution to allow adults 21 and over to possess 1 ounce of marijuana and 6 plants. The proposal would also allow distribution centers to sell marijuana.
It is widely known that marijuana disproportionately affects youth. For example, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration data, youth comprise 60% of all new marijuana users every year. Various pediatric advocacy groups have taken a stand against Amendment 64. These include the Colorado chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Rocky Mountain Society for Adolescent Medicine and CCAPS. For a video on why we believe marijuana legalization is a bad idea for children, see my CCAPS fall dinner presentation, titled "Why CCAPS Should Oppose Legalization of Marijuana".
This is an important step for CCAPS not only because it encourages Coloradans to ask what's best for children in this issue but it also opens to door for us to take other bold steps to advocate for children and our profession in the future.
Level One Society to Raise $1 Million for Child Mental Health Research
The Level One Society was founded in 2006 to expand the efforts of the Denver Health Foundation. The Society recently raised $371,000 for the new child and adolescent psychiatry inpatient unit at Denver Health. Their next project, called Beyond The Stigma, is seeking to raise $1.5 million dollars to support an endowed chair for child psychiatry research at Denver Health. This is an unprecedented, but important, step for Denver Health because it offers a unique opportunity to bridge clinical care and medical research. Too often medical research stops in the laboratory and doesn't make it to the clinic where real world patients can benefit. This research fund would help address this gap. To learn more about this important and exciting effort, visit the Society's website at www.BeyondTheStigma.org.
