Secure Your Cannabis

What's this about?

We've been hard at work on this project and want you to know about it! Prevent Coalition partnered with cannabis retailers, prevention coalitions in the southwest region and community organizations like Washington State University, Cascadia Tech Academy and Southwest Washington Accountable Communities of Health to develop a point of purchase campaign called Secure Your Cannabis. The committee guiding this project developed reminder cards to distribute to all customers who purchase cannabis at select Washington retailers encouraging customers to secure their products and talk with youth about substances.

High End Market Place, cannabis retailer, was involved in the design and implementation process. High End Market Place helped select the design, articulate the message and was the first retailer not only willing but excited to distribute the point of purchase cards.

Prevent Coalition pilot launched the campaign at High End Market Place on April 20th or 4/20. During the launch, Prevent gathered feedback from customers using an IRB approved design survey before finalizing design and officially launching the cards at multiple locations across Clark, Klickitat and Skamania counties.

When surveyed, 100% of customers or staff had a "very positive" or "somewhat positive" response to the design. 72% rated the design with 5/5 stars and 77% rated the message with 4/5 stars or higher. 89% of respondents said the cards would effectively persuade them to consider securing their cannabis after their purchase.

We used short-answer feedback to revise and improve our message and design. Thank you to all who engaged with us and shared ideas! Now we're excited to fully launch the project with communities and retailers across the state at bit.ly/secureyourcannabis.

Click here to read a Columbian article mentioning the project.

Currently reminder cards are distributed in:

• Three The Herbery NW retail locations in Clark County. The Herbery NW met with Prevent early April to share strategies, new ideas and partner on this project.
• Three 2020 Solutions locations in Bellingham, WA. The Director of Actualization heard about us at the Washington Cannabis Alliance meeting and was enthusiastic to partner.
• High End Market Place, mentioned above.
• Margie's Pot Shop in Bingen, WA.

What counts as secure?

Out of reach, out of sight, labeled right and sealed up tight.

With guidance from our multiple partners, Prevent developed a shared website at http://bit.ly/secureyourcannabis. The Secure Your Cannabis website outlines the campaign, offers tools for talking to youth about cannabis, describes cannabis laws in Washington and provides materials you can download to implement point of purchase projects in your own communities. Downloads include the cards in English, Spanish and Russian, how-to guide, computer wallpaper, Facebook banner and more.

Our Approach

The project committee wanted something friendly, connection-based, short and to the point, non-judgmental and focused on youth. The committee desired something eye-catching, playful and colorful and something that didn't look like your traditional health-messaging brochure. The committee agreed on a set of cards that were small and could be displayed on a counter or placed in consumer shopping bags pre-purchase. Additionally, the committee developed a list of signposts describing cannabis retailers that go above and beyond in protecting youth from the potential harms of youth cannabis use. Lastly, the committee wanted everything documented and posted online for other communities to use/adapt/borrow, establishing a sense of shared ownership and sustainability.

Why here, why now?

Schools in our community offer a youth survey called Healthy Youth Survey (www.askHYS.net). Between 2016 and 2018 most youth reported ease of access to cannabis, most were obtaining it from their friends and some from their parents with/without their permission, most youth reported low perception of harm and although most parents talked with their youth about not using cannabis we would like the number of conversations between youth and trusted adults to increase.

Spread the Word

We're looking for more retailers to join our efforts and distribute cards. For more information about Secure Your Cannabis or if you want printed cards for your cannabis retailer contact Christopher Belisle, Coordinator at Christopher.belisle@esd112.org.

Click to visit the web page.

Read the ESD 112 Spotlight.

Email: christopher.belisle@esd112.org
Website: bit.ly/secureyourcannabis
Location: 2500 NE 65th Ave., Vancouver, WA, USA
Phone: 360-952-3587
Facebook: Facebook.com/PreventCoalition
Twitter: @preventcc112