Delta 8 – What is it, and how do we address it?
David Merriman
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08/10/2023
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43
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Description
2023 NECPA Statewide Convening
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- [00:00:04.170]Good morning, everyone.
- [00:00:05.003]Thank you so much for joining us.
- [00:00:06.930]As Megan shared, I am in a new role at UNL,
- [00:00:11.070]so I'm no longer directly working in the AOD sphere.
- [00:00:13.860]However, it was a privilege for me
- [00:00:15.690]to get to be as involved as I was with NECPA.
- [00:00:18.720]I learned so much.
- [00:00:20.130]Even now, if I am going out with friends
- [00:00:22.800]or I'll hear my mother-in-law has made passing comments
- [00:00:25.590]where I'm like, "That's actually not how those things work.
- [00:00:27.840]Let's unpack that.
- [00:00:29.190]Let's talk more about it."
- [00:00:30.870]So I love the amount of knowledge that I have gained
- [00:00:33.630]through these various roles
- [00:00:35.070]and enjoy the opportunity to share it when I'm able to.
- [00:00:39.030]And I guess a fun fact with, you know,
- [00:00:41.820]kind of how all of this is intertwined,
- [00:00:43.530]I so much view alcohol and drug education prevention
- [00:00:46.500]as a retention effort.
- [00:00:48.930]And my new role is all retention.
- [00:00:51.510]I'm working with someone who is kind of effectively
- [00:00:55.020]like the director of retention efforts at UNL.
- [00:00:57.900]And so it has been fun to talk more, you know,
- [00:01:00.180]about what we can do on the academic side.
- [00:01:01.500]But then I also have this other element
- [00:01:03.385]that I am so familiar with
- [00:01:05.430]and just like, oh, like the stars are aligning,
- [00:01:07.012]we're forming bridges, all sorts of good stuff.
- [00:01:09.540]So that has been really fun for me.
- [00:01:11.760]Jumping into things,
- [00:01:12.930]I realized that I failed to update the date.
- [00:01:15.540]So you can tell that I am reusing some of these slides.
- [00:01:19.470]Delta-8, I would say, kind of came on my radar.
- [00:01:22.890]I imagine for a lot of us it was around the same time.
- [00:01:25.920]It was kind of January 2022, and a little bit before that.
- [00:01:29.430]But I was, you know,
- [00:01:30.407]trying to talk a little bit more about it at that point,
- [00:01:32.580]where I was just asking, you know, are we doing anything?
- [00:01:36.270]What do we know about it?
- [00:01:37.290]We keep having these little shops pop up around campus
- [00:01:40.020]that say like, "Cannabis sold here."
- [00:01:42.690]What does that mean and what are we doing about it?
- [00:01:45.720]I will warn you now,
- [00:01:46.770]if you are here looking for answers or like a guidebook,
- [00:01:50.010]it is not that kind of presentation.
- [00:01:52.740]'Cause I think a lot of us
- [00:01:53.670]are still trying to figure out what that looks like
- [00:01:55.980]because there's not a lot of law
- [00:01:57.300]and policy in place around it.
- [00:01:58.920]So I do not have clear cut answers for you.
- [00:02:01.740]I apologize in advance for that.
- [00:02:03.033]I'll be very upfront.
- [00:02:04.260]If you're like, "I need to go now," totally get it.
- [00:02:07.560]However, the goal is
- [00:02:09.030]that we have great folks who are in the room
- [00:02:10.560]and we have people from private, people from public,
- [00:02:12.690]people from larger institutions, people from smaller,
- [00:02:15.528]and I'm hopeful that we can kind of share it,
- [00:02:18.630]what it is that we're seeing at our various institutions
- [00:02:21.270]and talk through, here's strategies that we have used
- [00:02:23.970]and they've worked really well or they haven't worked;
- [00:02:27.090]here are things that we've done for alcohol specifically,
- [00:02:30.210]or maybe marijuana specifically,
- [00:02:31.500]and I think it could transition to Delta-8 education.
- [00:02:34.980]But my hope is that at the end
- [00:02:35.940]we have some really robust discussion
- [00:02:37.500]and folks feel like they get to go home
- [00:02:39.240]with some solutions at that point.
- [00:02:41.640]So that being said, we're gonna jump in.
- [00:02:45.510]We're gonna jump in to talk about language,
- [00:02:46.950]and then we'll jump in.
- [00:02:48.720]So some of you might be familiar with this.
- [00:02:52.470]Some folks choose to use the marijuana language,
- [00:02:54.510]some people choose to use cannabis.
- [00:02:57.480]So in my experience,
- [00:02:58.994]I think students tend to be more familiar
- [00:03:00.660]with the term marijuana.
- [00:03:02.010]They're more familiar with cannabis now.
- [00:03:04.470]But I think depending on the setting
- [00:03:06.390]where you're talking with students,
- [00:03:07.500]if you say cannabis,
- [00:03:08.520]you sound like an alcohol and drug educator
- [00:03:10.547]and they might not wanna talk to you.
- [00:03:13.650]And so I think there's certain times
- [00:03:14.820]where it's really relevant and applicable
- [00:03:17.010]to use the word cannabis.
- [00:03:18.060]There's certain times where I think that it is appropriate
- [00:03:20.010]to use the word marijuana,
- [00:03:21.371]but I think it is important to acknowledge the fact
- [00:03:23.850]that marijuana is somewhat of a controversial term
- [00:03:26.880]because there's some racist roots to that,
- [00:03:29.460]particularly used as harmful terminology
- [00:03:31.680]around the Mexican and Latino/Latina community.
- [00:03:34.440]So just something to be aware of if you're like, you know,
- [00:03:36.990]maybe some students in particular
- [00:03:38.850]seem to be shying away from that term,
- [00:03:40.470]or you're like, "Why have I seen a shift in the language
- [00:03:43.924]in the literature?"
- [00:03:45.510]That might be why.
- [00:03:47.250]I will use the terms somewhat interchangeably here.
- [00:03:49.590]Usually, when I'm talking about traditional marijuana,
- [00:03:52.920]I just say marijuana.
- [00:03:53.790]If I'm talking about the umbrella of cannabis,
- [00:03:56.820]I say cannabis.
- [00:03:57.930]I think it's a helpful differentiator,
- [00:03:59.700]but I did wanna provide that context.
- [00:04:01.920]And my slides should be made available
- [00:04:03.270]if you wanna read more.
- [00:04:04.103]I'm gonna be honest,
- [00:04:04.936]I basically pulled this all from this website
- [00:04:07.710]because I think that they said it better
- [00:04:08.820]than I could paraphrase.
- [00:04:10.500]But if you wanna read more about it,
- [00:04:11.430]the link is included there.
- [00:04:14.490]So there are more than this at this point in time,
- [00:04:17.400]but the big ones that we're seeing
- [00:04:18.660]in my experience in Nebraska
- [00:04:20.580]are Delta-9, which is kind of our traditional marijuana,
- [00:04:24.390]CBD, and Delta-8.
- [00:04:26.550]And I think folks that work at our field
- [00:04:29.460]are a little more familiar with those,
- [00:04:30.688]but when I'm out and about
- [00:04:31.800]and I'm talking with parents or with faculty,
- [00:04:34.080]or sometimes even students,
- [00:04:35.326]they're like, "So what is the difference
- [00:04:37.230]between all of these things?"
- [00:04:38.793]So I think it's really helpful to have a clear understanding
- [00:04:41.010]of what that difference is.
- [00:04:43.620]You know, our traditional marijuana
- [00:04:45.030]is kind of what we think about.
- [00:04:46.680]You know, it's what you can buy in Colorado and Oregon
- [00:04:49.620]and all of these places.
- [00:04:50.940]It is still federally illegal.
- [00:04:53.040]It is legalized in some states.
- [00:04:55.620]Some medical, some recreational.
- [00:04:57.420]I'm sure all of you are very familiar
- [00:04:58.830]with our traditional marijuana.
- [00:05:01.350]CBD is also derived from the cannabis plant.
- [00:05:05.387]It's not gonna get you high in the same way.
- [00:05:07.950]It's not really a psychoactive.
- [00:05:10.269]Maybe it's psychoactive
- [00:05:11.700]the way that we think of caffeine being psychoactive.
- [00:05:15.248]There are some effects,
- [00:05:16.081]but not the way that Delta-9 or marijuana's gonna have.
- [00:05:21.360]And then, you know, a lot of people,
- [00:05:24.180]I hear they're taking that for stress or anxiety.
- [00:05:28.200]Or maybe there's like a salve,
- [00:05:29.340]that they're rubbing it on their skin.
- [00:05:30.900]Lotion, things like that.
- [00:05:32.400]And then Delta-8 is our newer one to the family
- [00:05:35.940]and what has been popping up a bunch around our campus.
- [00:05:39.030]Delta-8 is a derivative of, again, the cannabis plant.
- [00:05:42.990]And I think I have a slide that goes more in depth
- [00:05:45.360]on the next one.
- [00:05:46.290]I'm gonna skip ahead here.
- [00:05:47.670]Maybe I skipped too far.
- [00:05:51.180]Shoot, maybe I didn't include it.
- [00:05:53.430]The difference between Delta-8 and Delta-9
- [00:05:55.410]is that it's like,
- [00:05:56.910]I'm not a biologist or a chemist by any means,
- [00:06:00.330]but in terms of the literal molecular structure
- [00:06:02.700]of these two chemicals, or these two compounds,
- [00:06:06.270]one of them has 8 and one of them has 9.
- [00:06:08.880]So they're very, very similar.
- [00:06:10.230]There is a slight difference in that chemical makeup.
- [00:06:14.220]Delta-8 can still get you high.
- [00:06:18.060]I've not personally used it.
- [00:06:19.350]From what I understand,
- [00:06:20.760]it is a slightly different experience than Delta-9.
- [00:06:23.190]I've heard some people talk about it
- [00:06:24.390]being like "marijuana light" or like "diet weed."
- [00:06:28.140]But it can still get people high,
- [00:06:29.640]and, also, I think, very importantly,
- [00:06:30.840]it can still show up on drug tests.
- [00:06:33.090]CBD is much less likely to show up on drug tests.
- [00:06:35.565]I mean, there's always a chance
- [00:06:37.620]that you could get a weird batch or something,
- [00:06:40.920]or that it's not very well regulated
- [00:06:42.379]from the person that you're buying it from.
- [00:06:44.970]But Delta-8 can in fact show up on drug tests,
- [00:06:47.820]which I think a lot of students aren't maybe aware of,
- [00:06:50.460]and I think that is more likely to have an effect on them
- [00:06:54.210]and they might want to be informed about that
- [00:06:56.040]before making the decision to use it.
- [00:06:59.160]In terms of cannabis plants, we have marijuana versus hemp.
- [00:07:03.300]Marijuana is gonna have that higher concentration
- [00:07:05.070]of THC in it.
- [00:07:06.690]It contains CBD.
- [00:07:07.710]It is federally illegal.
- [00:07:09.540]Hemp has a higher concentration of CBD rather than THC.
- [00:07:15.450]And legally, it has to contain less than 0.3%
- [00:07:18.750]or it has to be less than 0.3% THC
- [00:07:21.955]in order to be considered legal on a federal level.
- [00:07:25.320]And so this is kind of how these loopholes
- [00:07:27.360]have started to exist where,
- [00:07:28.890]in these states where, you know,
- [00:07:30.270]you can't legally grow marijuana in Nebraska,
- [00:07:32.910]but you can legally grow hemp in Nebraska,
- [00:07:36.540]which, you know, this seems like this great thing, right?
- [00:07:40.350]From what I understand, it is a much more sustainable plant.
- [00:07:45.180]It's a little bit better for the environment.
- [00:07:46.590]There's a lot of things that can be derived from hemp.
- [00:07:49.439]From lotions, to different types of plastics.
- [00:07:52.140]Like there's a lot of things that you can do.
- [00:07:54.600]However, there's also folks who have found
- [00:07:56.760]kind of a workaround where they're like,
- [00:07:57.877]"Oh, this is so great.
- [00:07:58.800]We can get Delta-8 from this
- [00:08:01.050]or we can get other substances from this."
- [00:08:04.572]And then for those who may not be aware,
- [00:08:06.840]THC is a psychoactive drug.
- [00:08:08.790]So that means it does cause a high.
- [00:08:10.770]It binds with your cannabinoid 1 receptors in the brain,
- [00:08:13.800]which, you know,
- [00:08:15.480]we already have those naturally occurring in the brain.
- [00:08:18.330]So, again,
- [00:08:19.163]that is where that psychoactive component comes in.
- [00:08:22.530]And because we already have those naturally occurring
- [00:08:24.360]in our brains,
- [00:08:25.193]that's why it works as well as it does,
- [00:08:28.170]because it's heightening an effect that we already have,
- [00:08:30.240]or it's heightening a chemical component of our brains
- [00:08:33.660]that already take place,
- [00:08:35.010]but it's enhancing what happens naturally.
- [00:08:38.490]CBD, technically, as I said earlier, is a psychoactive,
- [00:08:41.160]but it does not cause a high,
- [00:08:43.250]and it binds much more weakly, or it doesn't bind at all,
- [00:08:46.320]to those cannabinoid 1 receptors.
- [00:08:49.110]And so that's where there's not a high that's happening
- [00:08:51.840]because it's not binding in the same way.
- [00:08:56.520]For those who may not be familiar,
- [00:08:57.660]the 2018 Farm Bill
- [00:08:59.010]is how all of this kind of came to be for us.
- [00:09:01.590]So prior to 2018,
- [00:09:03.600]my understanding is that it was still illegal to farm hemp.
- [00:09:07.770]2018, they made it legal to farm hemp,
- [00:09:10.170]again, as long as there was no more
- [00:09:11.730]than that 0.3 THC amount.
- [00:09:14.250]Which, again, feels like a really great thing.
- [00:09:16.140]You know, like if there's so little THC,
- [00:09:19.140]what could possibly go wrong?
- [00:09:21.120]What a great opportunity for us
- [00:09:22.500]to expand our agricultural offerings.
- [00:09:25.080]However, that created these loopholes
- [00:09:27.106]that exist across the nation,
- [00:09:29.820]particularly in states
- [00:09:31.200]that have not legalized marijuana recreationally yet.
- [00:09:34.530]Because in states where it has been legalized,
- [00:09:36.030]like, kind of why would you bother?
- [00:09:38.574]So as a result, CBD and other cannabinoid derivatives
- [00:09:42.030]were effectively legalized.
- [00:09:44.520]They're not illegal.
- [00:09:45.750]You know, they're not really on the chart from the FDA
- [00:09:48.150]that says Schedule I, Schedule II, what have you.
- [00:09:50.310]Like marijuana is still there.
- [00:09:51.960]Delta-8, CBD are not listed in the same way.
- [00:09:56.400]And previously, federal law did not differentiate
- [00:09:58.320]between hemp and other cannabis plants.
- [00:10:00.300]If there was any THC whatsoever, they made it illegal.
- [00:10:03.360]So, you know, again,
- [00:10:04.260]previously they weren't able to farm this.
- [00:10:06.479]So I understand why they made that decision,
- [00:10:08.201]but it has just opened up this whole new world
- [00:10:10.681]of in-betweens and gray areas to exist.
- [00:10:17.580]So as far as Delta-8 itself,
- [00:10:19.560]Delta-8 is a tetrahydrocannabinol.
- [00:10:22.590]So it is still THC,
- [00:10:23.730]which means that it still can get you high.
- [00:10:26.280]It exists naturally in marijuana and in hemp plants,
- [00:10:28.975]but it's in very small quantities.
- [00:10:31.140]And so, you know, it's existing in both, right,
- [00:10:33.780]our marijuana plants, our hemp plants,
- [00:10:35.201]but it's not something that anyone would really
- [00:10:37.230]depend on to get high
- [00:10:38.730]if they just had this plant in front of them
- [00:10:40.680]and they were like, "Okay, you know,
- [00:10:42.000]I grew my hemp or I grew my marijuana, I dried it up,
- [00:10:44.280]I'm using it to smoke or something."
- [00:10:46.440]Delta-8 wouldn't get you high in that situation.
- [00:10:50.100]However, once it was realized that Delta-8
- [00:10:54.030]was a psychoactive and could in fact get you high,
- [00:10:57.810]very creative individuals
- [00:10:59.520]started synthetically processing it.
- [00:11:01.977]So it would convert either CBD or Delta-9 into Delta-8,
- [00:11:05.880]or they would process it
- [00:11:06.810]to where they're extracting so much Delta-8
- [00:11:08.640]that that's way beyond what would exist naturally
- [00:11:10.590]in a plant.
- [00:11:12.090]And so it does get you high.
- [00:11:14.670]However, it is very, very synthetic.
- [00:11:17.940]The way that it gets you high does not exist in nature.
- [00:11:21.420]The other piece is that it is not very well regulated,
- [00:11:24.300]because, again, it is not legal or illegal,
- [00:11:27.930]it just kind of exists in this loophole.
- [00:11:30.120]And so it's not like the FDA can go do checks
- [00:11:33.270]on farms or factories, or what have you,
- [00:11:35.730]and make sure that they're not harming consumers.
- [00:11:39.690]And so not only is it synthetic in this very, you know,
- [00:11:43.913]complex scientific process
- [00:11:45.690]in order to extract or to convert the Delta-8 to begin with,
- [00:11:50.670]there's also not a lot of regulation with that.
- [00:11:52.770]However, seeing how long it took me to explain all of this,
- [00:11:56.732]it's not very glamorous to students to explain.
- [00:12:00.390]We'll get into that in a second.
- [00:12:02.010]So this is kind of an overall comparison
- [00:12:04.500]of Delta-8, Delta-9, and CBD.
- [00:12:06.030]Delta-9 being that traditional marijuana.
- [00:12:08.790]Delta-10 has started to exist as well.
- [00:12:10.560]I have not seen that as...
- [00:12:13.170]It hasn't been as common to me as Delta-8,
- [00:12:15.810]but I know that it does exist.
- [00:12:18.510]Also, I need to do a little more looking at this.
- [00:12:22.140]I have seen, and maybe I'll...
- [00:12:24.660]I'm gonna call you out, Brigham, and Mark in the back.
- [00:12:27.150]I have seen shops in the area,
- [00:12:29.730]like their fliers or their Instagram ads
- [00:12:32.100]or their Facebook ads also promoting Delta-9 gummies,
- [00:12:35.280]and somehow they're not being shut down.
- [00:12:37.620]So I don't know if that's like people...
- [00:12:39.750]I don't know if Lincoln Police
- [00:12:41.010]just don't know the difference between Delta-8 and Delta-9,
- [00:12:43.290]or aren't paying attention,
- [00:12:46.299]or if that is somehow different
- [00:12:48.765]than what has existed in these other areas.
- [00:12:50.760]I admit that I have not done the deep dive on that,
- [00:12:52.920]but I have noticed that more and more places
- [00:12:54.870]are advertising Delta-9.
- [00:12:56.610]Please, go ahead.
- [00:12:57.443]I have done the deep dive.
- [00:12:58.680]Okay, so when they say they have the Delta-9...
- [00:13:01.899]Hold on a second.
- [00:13:02.760]Oh, gosh.
- [00:13:04.050]I'm gonna get a mic.
- [00:13:05.430]Sorry, guys.
- [00:13:06.360]That's what happens when I speed up.
- [00:13:08.700]My bad.
- [00:13:12.060]Okay, so I have done a little bit
- [00:13:13.560]of the deep dive on this.
- [00:13:14.490]So when they advertise Delta-9,
- [00:13:17.070]they're basically admitting that, yes, it has Delta-9,
- [00:13:19.950]but it has that 0.003.
- [00:13:21.960]Gotcha.
- [00:13:22.793]So like, "Oh, yeah, we have the Delta-9,"
- [00:13:24.194]but it's 0.3.
- [00:13:25.170]Okay.
- [00:13:27.090]But here's what they're...
- [00:13:29.340]Have you guys...
- [00:13:30.173]The THC-0 is when they come by now.
- [00:13:32.397]Oh, this is a new one for me.
- [00:13:33.990]So the THC-0 is when it's got components
- [00:13:36.660]of the Delta-8, the Delta-9, and the CBD
- [00:13:39.420]all at the same time.
- [00:13:41.070]That's the newest one that's out.
- [00:13:42.672]Okay. So the THC-0,
- [00:13:46.530]parents and aunts and uncles
- [00:13:49.410]and big brothers and big sisters,
- [00:13:51.150]if you guys find that
- [00:13:52.560]in your especially nine-year-old to 14-year-old's stuff,
- [00:13:58.050]break it.
- [00:13:59.130]It will make them have seizures.
- [00:14:02.468]They had a breakout of seizures in the Washington, Idaho,
- [00:14:05.370]like that little sliver in Idaho,
- [00:14:07.500]'cause a teenager would go over,
- [00:14:09.300]have somebody buy it for them.
- [00:14:10.800]They had a breakout of five seizures
- [00:14:12.420]in this little tiny town in three months.
- [00:14:15.870]And they were like, "What's going on?"
- [00:14:18.450]Well, come on, it's not something that just happens
- [00:14:20.955]if it's five teenagers.
- [00:14:22.500]It was the THC-0
- [00:14:24.000]'cause they're combining Delta-8, Delta-9 and CBD.
- [00:14:27.270]But they get away with it because it's the low percentage.
- [00:14:29.940]So when they say it's Delta-9, that's why.
- [00:14:32.040]Okay.
- [00:14:32.910]I was like, once again,
- [00:14:34.080]there has to be some sort of legal workaround here,
- [00:14:36.480]and I had not yet done the deep dive, so thank you.
- [00:14:39.405]They're able to advertise it
- [00:14:40.530]because, technically, it's in there
- [00:14:42.597]because it's got the- Yeah.
- [00:14:46.140]So there we have it, folks.
- [00:14:47.520]People are continuing to get creative and workaround here.
- [00:14:51.090]So just know that this is not an exhausting list.
- [00:14:54.300]People are continuously coming up with new products
- [00:14:57.750]and versions of things.
- [00:14:59.730]And as soon, I mean, well before even policies are passed
- [00:15:03.150]to try to address these,
- [00:15:04.080]they're coming up with new things.
- [00:15:05.370]But I feel very assured that, you know,
- [00:15:08.460]if our legislature was to pass something,
- [00:15:10.770]we would have five other things pop up
- [00:15:12.600]before that would even take effect.
- [00:15:15.180]So, again, I won't go over all of this,
- [00:15:17.520]but it will be accessible in the slides
- [00:15:19.542]if you want to kind of do that comparison piece.
- [00:15:24.120]So as I said earlier,
- [00:15:25.350]Delta-8 is often called "marijuana light" or "diet weed."
- [00:15:29.340]Something along those lines.
- [00:15:34.011]Because it's synthetic,
- [00:15:35.010]it is most common in non-flower forms.
- [00:15:39.660]So your oils, your gels, your gummies,
- [00:15:43.800]your tinctures, your vapes, things like that.
- [00:15:47.340]So it's gonna be a lot more common in those forms.
- [00:15:50.010]Something that I was somewhat horrified to learn, I admit,
- [00:15:52.290]was that if someone is using Delta-8 flower, right,
- [00:15:55.890]that doesn't exist naturally.
- [00:15:57.240]So it is some sort of bud that they're gonna be smoking,
- [00:16:00.840]but it's been, like, basically covered in the oil,
- [00:16:03.750]so that way you get the experience of being able to smoke
- [00:16:09.210]like you would a traditional joint.
- [00:16:11.490]But it's not actually just flower.
- [00:16:13.380]Like, it had to be covered in the synthetic stuff.
- [00:16:16.620]So I was like, "Oh, that's very unpleasant to me."
- [00:16:20.159]So, again, you can tell that I would not personally
- [00:16:22.410]choose to use this.
- [00:16:24.678]So I apologize,
- [00:16:25.511]my judgment is like kind of coming through here,
- [00:16:27.210]but it's just so synthetic that I'm like,
- [00:16:28.687]"I don't think that I would personally want that
- [00:16:30.690]inside of me."
- [00:16:32.430]So these are pretty common forms.
- [00:16:33.840]You know, whenever I see ads for these
- [00:16:35.790]or if you go into the little shops, it's a lot of these.
- [00:16:38.940]It's a product.
- [00:16:40.902]If you go into a dispensary in Colorado or something,
- [00:16:44.160]they usually have like all of the different
- [00:16:45.480]types of strains of flower.
- [00:16:47.070]That doesn't exist in the same way here.
- [00:16:48.630]It's primarily gonna be your oils and your gummies
- [00:16:51.769]and things like that.
- [00:16:55.770]So as I talked a little bit about,
- [00:16:57.300]this is that chemical bond here.
- [00:17:03.780]Again, I'm not a chemist by any means.
- [00:17:05.910]So I look at that, I'm like...
- [00:17:07.770]That means something to people who do chemistry.
- [00:17:10.140]I'm not one of them. (chuckles)
- [00:17:13.050]But that's what it looks like.
- [00:17:15.420]So, again, concerns with Delta-8,
- [00:17:16.770]it is marketed as natural,
- [00:17:18.900]but the way that it's being used does not occur naturally.
- [00:17:22.080]So it's highly synthetic.
- [00:17:24.750]In order to get it, there's lots of chemical additives,
- [00:17:26.910]all of that stuff.
- [00:17:28.500]So our students, I think,
- [00:17:30.360]especially if they maybe are more familiar
- [00:17:32.550]with traditional marijuana,
- [00:17:33.720]they might feel like this is,
- [00:17:35.167]"Oh, like, you know, marijuana's so natural,"
- [00:17:36.900]which we also can unpack
- [00:17:38.010]'cause that's also not necessarily true anymore.
- [00:17:40.050]We're like, "Oh, marijuana, it's natural and it's safer
- [00:17:42.964]and it's, you know, all of these things,"
- [00:17:44.910]and they might be applying
- [00:17:45.960]that same frame of mind to Delta-8.
- [00:17:48.780]And that's even less true for Delta-8
- [00:17:50.700]than it is for marijuana,
- [00:17:51.533]and it's not even true for marijuana anymore.
- [00:17:53.850]So, again, highly synthetic process.
- [00:17:55.320]Lots of chemical additives.
- [00:17:56.910]It's still psychoactive.
- [00:17:58.190]Although, it is...
- [00:18:00.210]I think, at least the time
- [00:18:01.320]that I had done this research initially,
- [00:18:02.760]it was reportedly less so
- [00:18:04.440]than your traditional marijuana THC.
- [00:18:07.080]I don't know.
- [00:18:07.913]I think also it's not regulated,
- [00:18:09.360]so there might be some batches where it's not,
- [00:18:11.040]and there might be some batches where it's really intense
- [00:18:12.840]and you have a bad experience with that.
- [00:18:16.020]It's not FDA approved
- [00:18:17.520]and so it's not regulated as a result of that.
- [00:18:20.640]So, again, if there were to be some sort of issue
- [00:18:23.010]at a manufacturing or a farm or something
- [00:18:25.620]and they're trying to, you know.
- [00:18:27.120]And the same with all of our cars,
- [00:18:28.350]if you need a recall and it's very clear,
- [00:18:30.690]and they send you a letter
- [00:18:31.523]and they're like, "This has been recalled."
- [00:18:33.120]That cannot happen with this 'cause it's not regulated.
- [00:18:35.460]And so it's like if something happens,
- [00:18:36.660]just kind of like, "Oh well."
- [00:18:37.800]They might choose to post something on the door,
- [00:18:39.750]but how many of our 18, 19, 20-year-old students
- [00:18:42.210]are reading the recall that would be posted on the door,
- [00:18:44.340]if they even post one.
- [00:18:47.280]And top hits,
- [00:18:48.510]like when I was doing the research for this presentation,
- [00:18:50.280]the top hits on Google are from Delta-8 retailers
- [00:18:53.009]explaining what Delta-8 is.
- [00:18:55.170]There is a clear conflict of interest
- [00:18:57.300]when you're trying to find information about Delta-8
- [00:18:59.070]and how to keep yourself safe
- [00:19:00.540]when it's the seller of Delta-8 telling you how safe it is.
- [00:19:03.570]They obviously are very interested in getting your money.
- [00:19:07.792]And so like, "Oh, yeah, it's really great,
- [00:19:09.870]it's natural, it's safe," all of these things.
- [00:19:12.600]And so I think a really important part of strategy
- [00:19:16.830]to address this issue on our campuses
- [00:19:19.980]and to provide education
- [00:19:21.224]is to find a way to be a reputable source for our students.
- [00:19:25.080]So that way they're not just saying,
- [00:19:26.047]"Well, delta8.com told me that Delta-8 was safe."
- [00:19:30.450]You know, where are our students going for information
- [00:19:32.640]and how can we be in that space
- [00:19:34.350]and put true, accurate information in front of them?
- [00:19:40.200]So as I said earlier,
- [00:19:41.190]there's a challenge of explaining these risks.
- [00:19:42.720]It took me...
- [00:19:44.010]What time is it?
- [00:19:45.780]What, 25 minutes, 20 minutes to go through all of that.
- [00:19:50.820]Our students,
- [00:19:51.690]well, first of all, we're lucky
- [00:19:52.620]if we can get them in a room with us for 20 minutes, right?
- [00:19:54.810]Like usually that has to be someone,
- [00:19:55.980]like, force them to come sit down with you.
- [00:19:58.470]And they're probably not stopping by your table
- [00:20:01.470]for 20 minutes, if they're stopping by at all.
- [00:20:03.270]'Cause there were so many students
- [00:20:04.320]who would do the, like, "What is that?
- [00:20:05.520]Oh, nope, not for me."
- [00:20:06.552](attendees laughing)
- [00:20:07.830]Right, we would see that a lot. (chuckles)
- [00:20:10.710]And if you do get them in a conversation, right?
- [00:20:12.630]Again, it's not exactly glamorous to be like,
- [00:20:14.737]"There's improper records in case a recall is necessary."
- [00:20:18.870]At least with alcohol, you can be like,
- [00:20:20.677]"You could get in a drunk driving accident
- [00:20:22.200]and that's really scary and that's not great.
- [00:20:24.390]Or you could get a ticket
- [00:20:25.530]because it's illegal and you're underage."
- [00:20:27.900]That rolls off the tongue a lot better.
- [00:20:29.310]It's a little bit more of a motivator than like,
- [00:20:30.615]"it's highly synthetic and the government can't trace it."
- [00:20:35.340]When you're 19, right,
- [00:20:36.600]you're not thinking about things in the same way, right?
- [00:20:38.880]Your frontal lobe is not fully developed.
- [00:20:42.270]And so in terms of weighing risks,
- [00:20:44.310]they're like, "That sounds a lot better
- [00:20:46.230]than getting in a drunk driving accident."
- [00:20:47.610]Like, "Sign me up."
- [00:20:48.828]Like, I understand why you would say that.
- [00:20:51.060]Let's unpack that a little bit more.
- [00:20:53.820]So anyway, just lots of challenges,
- [00:20:55.950]but, again, they're not exactly glamorous to talk about,
- [00:20:58.290]don't roll off the tongue super well,
- [00:20:59.970]that takes a lot of nuance to go through.
- [00:21:02.130]Also, right, THC isomers are psychotropic and impairing.
- [00:21:05.520]That doesn't mean anything to a 20-year-old
- [00:21:07.680]who stops by your table.
- [00:21:09.810]You know, all of these things
- [00:21:10.890]just make it much more difficult, I think,
- [00:21:13.530]to do the education around it.
- [00:21:16.110]So important, they are concerning,
- [00:21:19.530]makes it difficult to engage in that education.
- [00:21:23.850]This is a quick look at UNL's City Campus.
- [00:21:27.960]So for those who might not be familiar,
- [00:21:30.540]a lot of people know where this stadium is,
- [00:21:31.770]so this is Memorial Stadium.
- [00:21:34.200]We're not here 'cause this is City Campus.
- [00:21:36.060]But let's see here.
- [00:21:37.650]This is the Union.
- [00:21:40.560]Down here we have one, two, three sellers of Delta-8,
- [00:21:46.110]or other CBD products.
- [00:21:48.360]But they do sell Delta-8.
- [00:21:50.460]This is our closest residence hall.
- [00:21:52.020]So that is a group of three there.
- [00:21:54.240]So it'd be one, two, three,
- [00:21:55.920]like three blocks from campus.
- [00:21:57.540]We have three retailers of Delta-8 all right there.
- [00:22:02.190]And for our students who might be living off campus,
- [00:22:04.590]the university doesn't own housing,
- [00:22:05.880]but this is huge student housing.
- [00:22:07.470]A lot of our sophomores live here.
- [00:22:09.450]This is our Fraternity and Sorority Life Greek Row area.
- [00:22:13.350]So this is readily accessible to our students.
- [00:22:15.330]It's all right here.
- [00:22:16.860]And then here we are on East Campus.
- [00:22:20.070]So this is us hanging out on East Campus.
- [00:22:22.980]Over here is Nebraska Wesleyan,
- [00:22:25.410]if we have any folks who are from Wesleyan here in the room.
- [00:22:27.930]And we have another one here,
- [00:22:30.150]another one over here,
- [00:22:31.410]and two more down here, which I think...
- [00:22:34.920]There was another one here.
- [00:22:35.820]Oh, over, yeah.
- [00:22:36.653]This says Hy-Vee, but there's also a CBD store there.
- [00:22:39.750]So if our students are going down to Target
- [00:22:41.550]to do their shopping,
- [00:22:43.260]also Super Saver's over here,
- [00:22:45.390]how convenient that there's Delta-8 right next door
- [00:22:47.460]for them to pick up in their weekly errands.
- [00:22:50.100]And so, you know, not quite as close for,
- [00:22:52.590]you know, within walking distance, necessarily,
- [00:22:54.120]for all of our students that are on East Campus,
- [00:22:56.100]but if anyone has a car or knows how to take the bus system,
- [00:22:58.350]this is readily accessible for our students.
- [00:23:00.210]And that's not just impacting our UNL students,
- [00:23:02.040]but it's impacting our Wesleyan students as well.
- [00:23:05.670]I admit I did not go and do a deep dive for Union College,
- [00:23:09.060]but they're also in Lincoln.
- [00:23:11.550]So even if there's not anything in walking distance,
- [00:23:13.011]they would be able to access it throughout town.
- [00:23:18.210]So policy challenges.
- [00:23:19.860]Delta-8 is really challenging to address
- [00:23:22.620]through law and policy because there is no law about it.
- [00:23:27.060]Not in Nebraska.
- [00:23:28.620]There might be other states that have it,
- [00:23:29.453]'cause, again, I haven't done a super deep dive in a while.
- [00:23:32.880]I prepared this presentation initially internally for UNL
- [00:23:36.420]and then I facilitated it
- [00:23:37.380]at the NASPA Strategies in January.
- [00:23:39.990]So I'm not sure if anything changed in those six months.
- [00:23:43.860]But certainly Nebraska,
- [00:23:46.110]we haven't seen any laws passed in that area.
- [00:23:49.380]So for private universities
- [00:23:51.060]they have a little bit more freedom.
- [00:23:52.410]You know, it just kind of depends
- [00:23:53.490]on how your institution operates, right?
- [00:23:55.230]If you're an institution
- [00:23:56.130]that it's really easy to pass a new policy at,
- [00:23:58.200]great, you can do that.
- [00:23:59.310]When I was working at Creighton,
- [00:24:00.900]which was through 2020, 2021,
- [00:24:06.300]kind of in the tail end of my time there,
- [00:24:07.650]they had passed a substance.
- [00:24:08.640]It wasn't Delta-8 specific,
- [00:24:10.650]but it was the Use and Possession
- [00:24:12.090]of Mind-Altering Substances policy.
- [00:24:14.310]So that way, you know, if Delta-8 came up,
- [00:24:15.930]if it was Delta-10, what have you,
- [00:24:18.810]you know, it was all available through,
- [00:24:20.760]or it would cover all of those things.
- [00:24:22.230]So they intentionally
- [00:24:23.250]did not have it be Delta-8 specific.
- [00:24:26.490]But they are a private institution.
- [00:24:27.960]It is much easier for them
- [00:24:29.520]to be able to just pass something.
- [00:24:31.500]Public Safety was like, "We're worried about this."
- [00:24:33.330]Student Conduct was like, "Yeah, we are, too."
- [00:24:36.000]And I think Public Safety drafted this,
- [00:24:38.700]the Conduct Office looked over it, they put it forward,
- [00:24:40.860]they had a Committee on Student Life Policy,
- [00:24:43.080]and they put it forward to the committee,
- [00:24:44.070]and I think it was passed within like two months.
- [00:24:46.710]So it was much faster at a private institution
- [00:24:49.560]that was able to act a little bit more quickly.
- [00:24:53.100]Public universities, I can't speak for all of them,
- [00:24:54.960]but specifically at University of Nebraska
- [00:24:57.090]and the related institutions,
- [00:24:59.250]my understanding is that they are unable to address Delta-8
- [00:25:02.250]through policy at this point in time
- [00:25:03.780]because there's no state law against Delta-8.
- [00:25:05.730]So, for example, UNL Police Department,
- [00:25:08.640]if they find something in a student's room,
- [00:25:10.230]that's not illegal.
- [00:25:11.063]Like they can take alcohol and write you a ticket.
- [00:25:12.690]Having Delta-8 isn't illegal.
- [00:25:13.980]They could have it on campus.
- [00:25:16.200]There's also no university policy covering Delta-8.
- [00:25:18.840]There are some, for example,
- [00:25:20.400]like Housing and Residence Life could decide
- [00:25:22.980]that they don't want to permit it in their buildings,
- [00:25:26.400]but it would be a housing only policy.
- [00:25:28.020]It would not be a violation of the Student Code of Conduct
- [00:25:30.330]at University of Nebraska.
- [00:25:33.180]And a challenge is that at University of Nebraska,
- [00:25:36.390]the way that they have designed for all three institutions,
- [00:25:37.943]the way they have designed their code of conduct,
- [00:25:40.230]is that the code of conduct is system-wide.
- [00:25:43.860]And so a policy can only be added to the student handbook,
- [00:25:47.370]my understanding is through the Board of Regents.
- [00:25:48.960]Like it has to be approved by the Board of Regents.
- [00:25:50.370]So it's a big deal to go through
- [00:25:52.770]and try to overhaul the code of conduct.
- [00:25:54.540]They did one in, I think it was 2018 or 2020.
- [00:25:56.520]Brigham, you might know better than I do.
- [00:25:58.560]I think it was maybe 2020
- [00:26:01.110]that they just did a huge, big overhaul.
- [00:26:04.260]And, again, that required folks from all three institutions
- [00:26:07.620]and folks from the system.
- [00:26:09.660]So I don't think they'll be doing that anytime soon
- [00:26:12.030]to be able to have that addressed.
- [00:26:13.740]And so that just makes it very difficult
- [00:26:16.958]at our public institutions to be able to address this,
- [00:26:19.530]even though it's so readily available to our students
- [00:26:21.690]and we know that it can have some negative impacts.
- [00:26:25.410]You know, that policy piece doesn't exist.
- [00:26:30.270]So as we know, certainly in this area,
- [00:26:32.940]but we see this across many other elements
- [00:26:35.880]of our society, right?
- [00:26:36.713]We see this with technology and social media.
- [00:26:39.360]Law and policy are always slow to catch up
- [00:26:41.010]to changes in culture and in technology.
- [00:26:43.710]You know, we're out here
- [00:26:44.880]with all sorts of different tech stuff that exists
- [00:26:51.420]and we have senators who are still trying to understand
- [00:26:53.730]how Facebook makes money, right?
- [00:26:55.590]Ads. (chuckles)
- [00:26:58.230]And so that same thing exists, right,
- [00:27:01.182]for substance use and misuse
- [00:27:04.080]where, by the time a Delta-8 law were to be passed,
- [00:27:07.530]the cannabis industry will have moved on to Delta-10
- [00:27:10.080]and whatever other thing might exist.
- [00:27:13.560]So, you know, it's just slow
- [00:27:15.480]and it is a challenge to try to address things,
- [00:27:18.240]definitely through law and through policy
- [00:27:19.920]at public institutions.
- [00:27:22.530]So this is a variation of what's on the NECPA website,
- [00:27:27.570]I just made it match the PowerPoint,
- [00:27:29.490]that, you know, NECPA is aiming to take...
- [00:27:32.430]You know, their strategy
- [00:27:33.510]is that we have this comprehensive environmental approach
- [00:27:35.760]where it is kind of a trifecta
- [00:27:37.800]of policy, enforcement of that policy, and education.
- [00:27:42.420]However, we've taken away policy.
- [00:27:44.460]And also, if there's no policy, there's nothing to enforce.
- [00:27:47.040]So we don't have policy, so we don't have enforcement,
- [00:27:48.990]so we're just left with education
- [00:27:50.330]in a very leaning attempt at addressing this.
- [00:27:55.380]And so we, at this point, can try to advocate
- [00:27:58.860]for policy and change,
- [00:28:00.300]but in the meantime
- [00:28:01.133]throw everything that we have towards education,
- [00:28:03.540]'cause at least in Nebraska
- [00:28:04.500]that's really all we can do at this point.
- [00:28:08.190]So, you know, with that being said,
- [00:28:09.960]our educational efforts may need to go beyond
- [00:28:12.060]what is usually offered for alcohol.
- [00:28:13.800]A lot of institutions have robust offerings
- [00:28:15.630]for alcohol, right,
- [00:28:16.680]where we're having students do the Y1CBP
- [00:28:20.130]as they're coming in.
- [00:28:21.750]You know, Conduct usually has a...
- [00:28:22.647]You know, if you go through the conduct process for alcohol,
- [00:28:25.260]you have to do something.
- [00:28:26.910]Fraternity and Sorority Life are usually doing something.
- [00:28:29.340]And then some institutions have more beyond that.
- [00:28:31.410]Just depends.
- [00:28:33.240]But a lot of it is for the students.
- [00:28:36.480]We might have to think a little bit more outside the box.
- [00:28:38.520]I'm not sure that necessarily something at the same caliber
- [00:28:41.100]of a Y1CBP for Delta-8 specifically is necessary
- [00:28:43.710]'cause a lot of our students aren't using it
- [00:28:44.970]at that same level.
- [00:28:45.803]But do we sprinkle something in about Delta-8
- [00:28:48.090]into our Y1CBP?
- [00:28:49.740]Also, we focus a lot of our efforts on students.
- [00:28:52.230]But, as we've discussed today,
- [00:28:53.940]staff and faculty, parents and caregivers,
- [00:28:56.040]community members,
- [00:28:57.120]a lot of them don't know what Delta-8 is.
- [00:28:58.890]They don't understand it.
- [00:28:59.850]They don't really understand why it's a problem.
- [00:29:02.220]So we need to educate our students on it,
- [00:29:04.050]but we also need to look at how we can educate
- [00:29:05.940]some of our partners in supporting students.
- [00:29:08.640]And, again, what does that look like?
- [00:29:13.410]I think, for me, there's kind of a few buckets
- [00:29:15.660]that your education could fall into.
- [00:29:16.797]And the first one is just being, "What is Delta-8," right?
- [00:29:19.200]That whole, how is it different from marijuana?
- [00:29:21.120]How is it different from CBD?
- [00:29:22.860]How does it affect the body, right?
- [00:29:24.840]Like, what might a student experience
- [00:29:26.880]if they were using that?
- [00:29:27.870]What are some of those, certainly risks,
- [00:29:30.330]but just, literally, what are the effects of that?
- [00:29:34.950]You know, mentally, why might someone enjoy that experience
- [00:29:38.181]of using it?
- [00:29:40.174]For our students,
- [00:29:41.007]there are perceived benefits to that, right?
- [00:29:42.570]And so why might they want that?
- [00:29:43.830]What are other elements?
- [00:29:45.180]Are there harm reduction strategies that we can use
- [00:29:47.550]in order to...
- [00:29:48.540]You know, if a student does choose to use this,
- [00:29:50.312]are there some brands or manufacturers
- [00:29:52.950]that are more reputable than others?
- [00:29:58.410]Do we use in groups?
- [00:30:00.480]Not in groups. That sounds bad.
- [00:30:01.560]Do you not use alone?
- [00:30:02.529](chuckles) Let me rephrase.
- [00:30:03.690]Do you not use alone?
- [00:30:06.330]You know, what do those harm reduction strategies look like?
- [00:30:09.150]And research on Delta-8.
- [00:30:10.980]So this would be a little bit more of that.
- [00:30:12.420]You know, we're getting more into the nitty-gritty
- [00:30:14.340]of maybe the chemistry makeup
- [00:30:17.190]or the chemical makeup of these things.
- [00:30:20.010]There's been more research coming out.
- [00:30:21.728]If you're not in the Delta-8 Teams group
- [00:30:25.470]that NECPA has put together,
- [00:30:26.730]there's some great resources in there.
- [00:30:30.390]And there's some...
- [00:30:32.310]Is it Hayley?
- [00:30:33.143]Is that her name, Megan?
- [00:30:33.976]Is that your intern?
- [00:30:35.910]Hayley has put in a lot of scientific research
- [00:30:40.020]and literature into that group
- [00:30:42.300]so you can do some follow-up research
- [00:30:43.560]and really understand how is this affecting the body
- [00:30:46.950]on a much more scientific level.
- [00:30:48.780]And maybe our students don't necessarily need to know,
- [00:30:51.260]or we need to be able to disseminate it
- [00:30:52.830]in a way that they understand it better,
- [00:30:55.290]but it's helpful for all of us to know,
- [00:30:56.850]and probably for some parents
- [00:30:58.290]and potential community members to know as well.
- [00:31:00.900]So these are some of the buckets that I think could exist.
- [00:31:02.880]This is not the only ones.
- [00:31:04.110]This was my initial brainstorm.
- [00:31:05.820]Again, you all are professionals in this field.
- [00:31:08.790]You know your institutions much better than I would.
- [00:31:11.430]You know your student populations that you're working with
- [00:31:13.500]better than I would.
- [00:31:16.260]You know what their relationship may be
- [00:31:18.030]with their parents or caregivers
- [00:31:20.220]or with the community surrounding your institution
- [00:31:22.380]would look like.
- [00:31:23.340]And so I hope that the wheels are sort of starting to turn
- [00:31:26.010]in terms of like, oh, we could bring in this partner,
- [00:31:28.290]or we need to make sure that the local police
- [00:31:30.630]or our public safety are educated on this topic.
- [00:31:34.020]Whatever makes the most sense for your institution.
- [00:31:38.550]So with that being said, we'll shortly move into discussion.
- [00:31:42.691]Before we kind of break off into that,
- [00:31:45.720]does anyone have any initial questions, responses,
- [00:31:50.370]anything before we break into groups?
- [00:31:54.420]Yeah. Hold on, mic.
- [00:31:56.250]Sorry.
- [00:31:57.083]I'm just ready to go,
- [00:31:58.256]and I know we need to use the mics. (chuckles)
- [00:32:01.950]I'm curious about how public safety
- [00:32:04.360]or anybody in the housing institution is differentiating.
- [00:32:09.750]I mean, is it very obvious
- [00:32:11.490]that this is a Delta-8 product versus a...
- [00:32:14.197]Okay.
- [00:32:15.810]Great question.
- [00:32:17.400]You have hit one of the huge challenges of this
- [00:32:21.210]for, I think, any institution
- [00:32:23.610]that has a residential component.
- [00:32:26.670]I've asked those questions as well,
- [00:32:28.230]and it was kind of like, "I don't really know.
- [00:32:30.720]You hope it's in the original packaging."
- [00:32:32.250]If you're a student and you're smart,
- [00:32:34.200]you're not gonna keep it in the original packaging.
- [00:32:35.730]Get rid of it.
- [00:32:37.849]Then you can say, "Oh, I don't know, I lost it,
- [00:32:40.380]but it's Delta-8."
- [00:32:41.790]'Cause I had that challenge
- [00:32:42.750]when I was working in Conduct still,
- [00:32:44.280]where a student was found with gummies,
- [00:32:45.952]and I don't know if it's their fridge
- [00:32:47.340]or a lockbox or something.
- [00:32:49.680]And so I was like, "Okay, well, do you have the packaging?"
- [00:32:52.110]And they were like, "No."
- [00:32:53.550]And they were like, "It was Delta-8."
- [00:32:54.510]And I was like, "Well, I don't have any proof otherwise."
- [00:32:59.340]So, okay. (chuckles)
- [00:33:02.700]Basically, was what happened.
- [00:33:03.750]Yeah, Brigham.
- [00:33:05.190]I can further complicate this, too,
- [00:33:07.680]because I do a lot of communication
- [00:33:09.510]with UNL PD and Student Conduct
- [00:33:11.430]'cause I work in the counseling center.
- [00:33:13.320]And some students are sophisticated enough to use THC,
- [00:33:17.580]bring it, and keep it in Delta-8 packaging.
- [00:33:19.860]And I talked to UNL PD, "Have you considered that?"
- [00:33:23.010]They don't have the time and resources and money
- [00:33:26.100]to take a low-level charge like that,
- [00:33:28.050]possession of marijuana,
- [00:33:29.460]to pursue it.
- [00:33:30.660]But what we've done under an umbrella with conduct,
- [00:33:33.360]I think a lot of people are doing this,
- [00:33:35.040]is treating Delta-8, even though it's legal,
- [00:33:39.870]just like it's cannabis.
- [00:33:41.910]So it's a conduct violation.
- [00:33:43.620]But as far as pursuing a legal violation,
- [00:33:47.160]if you have a student who's kind of savvy like that,
- [00:33:49.590]who's going to pass off their THC as Delta-8,
- [00:33:52.560]there's no way to really prove that
- [00:33:55.170]without greater funding, time and resources.
- [00:33:57.960]Huge challenge.
- [00:33:58.890]Yeah.
- [00:33:59.723]My understanding is that it is quite expensive to do a drug,
- [00:34:03.720]not drug test a student,
- [00:34:04.650]but to test what the substance is itself.
- [00:34:06.510]I think, Brigham, is it like 110 or 150,
- [00:34:09.660]like $110 per test that you would be facilitating?
- [00:34:14.090]Depends where and what type of-
- [00:34:15.780]Yeah. Yeah, that's a ballpark.
- [00:34:17.850]Yeah.
- [00:34:19.290]And, you know, since kind of, as a society,
- [00:34:22.170]we have decided that we're largely gonna decriminalize
- [00:34:24.660]marijuana possession use to begin with, why?
- [00:34:28.350]Like, why would we test it?
- [00:34:29.730]Like, do we really care?
- [00:34:31.590]Which I understand
- [00:34:32.610]from outside of the university sphere, right,
- [00:34:35.460]like that has a huge impact on people's lives
- [00:34:37.800]if they're put in jail for many, many years
- [00:34:40.200]for possession of marijuana.
- [00:34:41.514]Like I totally understand
- [00:34:42.990]why we're moving away from that criminalization piece.
- [00:34:46.431]Makes it really challenging to address it
- [00:34:48.330]on our college campuses.
- [00:34:50.250]So great question.
- [00:34:52.650]That was the insight we have from UNL.
- [00:34:54.990]But, yeah, the testing is really challenging.
- [00:34:57.210]I think that training for your RAs is really important.
- [00:35:01.770]If you are not already doing
- [00:35:04.065]a somewhat robust drug training with them,
- [00:35:09.990]this is hearkening back to my RA days,
- [00:35:12.000]so, like, with a grain of salt,
- [00:35:14.160]but we were lucky enough to have our police come in,
- [00:35:18.084]and they probably went a little bit of overkill.
- [00:35:20.370]Like they had fun with it.
- [00:35:21.203]They'd be like, "Look at this skull-shaped bong
- [00:35:23.220]that we found in a room."
- [00:35:25.110]You could tell the RDs, the resident directors,
- [00:35:27.600]were like, "Do they need to know that?"
- [00:35:29.880]Like, "Are they really gonna find that?"
- [00:35:31.740]However, it was helpful to learn
- [00:35:34.140]about things like, oh, yeah,
- [00:35:35.130]students will oftentimes store flower or, you know,
- [00:35:38.880]drugs of some sort in the refrigerator.
- [00:35:40.590]So if you see a pack of cigarettes in the fridge,
- [00:35:42.600]that's kind of weird.
- [00:35:43.650]Maybe pull that up, pull that out,
- [00:35:45.570]open it up, see what's inside
- [00:35:47.580]'cause that's not really a normal practice.
- [00:35:48.990]They might be keeping other things in the fridge.
- [00:35:50.910]And so I think having that, whether it's your RA staff.
- [00:35:54.780]And also a lot of institutions
- [00:35:55.830]have moved away from RAs actually doing room searches,
- [00:35:57.750]and it's now your professional staff or your public safety.
- [00:36:01.140]Make sure that they know, too.
- [00:36:02.190]Because we did have a policy confrontation
- [00:36:05.940]where a room was searched when I was at Creighton
- [00:36:08.220]where either Public Safety knew and Res Life didn't,
- [00:36:12.240]or vice versa.
- [00:36:13.073]I don't remember what it was,
- [00:36:13.906]but they didn't know what they were looking at.
- [00:36:15.270]And it was one person in the room happened to be like,
- [00:36:18.487]"Yeah, we should follow up on that."
- [00:36:20.100]And like the RD and the other public safety officer
- [00:36:22.206]and the RA who was there,
- [00:36:23.640]it totally went over their heads.
- [00:36:26.340]So making sure that folks are really familiar with
- [00:36:28.830]all of the variations that exist now.
- [00:36:30.570]Which is hard to keep up on because there is so much of it.
- [00:36:34.140]I would honestly advocate for your professional staff,
- [00:36:36.960]probably not students, but for professional staff,
- [00:36:39.210]take a little field trip,
- [00:36:40.260]go see one of the Delta-8 stores, right?
- [00:36:42.450]See what exists there.
- [00:36:44.190]Just take a look around.
- [00:36:46.304]If you are someone who's from western Nebraska
- [00:36:48.570]and you're close to Denver, I don't know,
- [00:36:50.040]take a day trip, go see what exists in the dispensaries.
- [00:36:53.400]'Cause I think the best way to become familiar with it
- [00:36:55.440]is by just going in and looking at it.
- [00:36:57.660]So that way you know like, oh, wow,
- [00:36:59.430]now they have, I don't know, CBD.
- [00:37:01.740]Not CBD, we're not really care about CBD.
- [00:37:03.570]Now we have Delta-8 mouthwash. Who knew?
- [00:37:06.210]Isn't that crazy?
- [00:37:08.190]Or, you know, we have this interesting tea that might exist.
- [00:37:10.740]And so I feel like every day I find out something new
- [00:37:14.550]about these products that exist,
- [00:37:16.050]'cause people are very creative
- [00:37:17.640]and very interested in making money.
- [00:37:20.820]And so I think taking the time to learn
- [00:37:24.660]and take folks out is really beneficial.
- [00:37:29.670]Sorry that wasn't a clear answer
- [00:37:31.980]'cause, again, there's just not a really great clear answer
- [00:37:34.380]for that one.
- [00:37:35.580]Other questions?
- [00:37:40.290]Great.
- [00:37:41.790]So I have two sets of questions.
- [00:37:44.190]The first one is more general.
- [00:37:46.050]The next one is gonna be more focused on education.
- [00:37:48.780]If your conversation devolves
- [00:37:50.520]into that education piece early,
- [00:37:52.260]that's not a problem at all.
- [00:37:54.450]I just want to let you know that that part is coming.
- [00:37:58.110]So to start out,
- [00:37:59.790]I would say I'm gonna split maybe into quarters of the room,
- [00:38:02.280]or if we wanna do thirds.
- [00:38:03.450]She just left.
- [00:38:05.520]I assume she's coming back,
- [00:38:06.420]but if not, you might want to join forces.
- [00:38:09.180]But, you know, kind of do a quarters of the room,
- [00:38:10.770]split into smaller groups, maybe like four to six roughly,
- [00:38:15.870]and talk through these.
- [00:38:17.340]I would love to hear what folks have to say at the end.
- [00:38:19.980]It doesn't have to be a formal, like someone's taking notes,
- [00:38:23.010]but I would love to hear what folks have to say at the end.
- [00:38:26.460]If you feel like you have something that you're like,
- [00:38:27.817]"This was really eye-opening for me,"
- [00:38:29.490]or, "This was really helpful for me,
- [00:38:30.780]I can't believe other people aren't talking about this,"
- [00:38:32.940]we would love to be talking about it
- [00:38:34.260]and have you share it out with the group.
- [00:38:36.300]So, again, our first four questions are,
- [00:38:38.670]is Delta-8 being discussed at your institution?
- [00:38:41.040]How is your institution
- [00:38:41.940]addressing Delta-8 through policy?
- [00:38:43.470]And if you're not, that's fine, you can say that.
- [00:38:46.140]How is your institution
- [00:38:47.160]addressing Delta-8 through enforcement?
- [00:38:48.870]How is your...
- [00:38:49.860]There's a pattern here.
- [00:38:50.693]How is your institution
- [00:38:51.600]addressing Delta-8 through education?
- [00:38:53.533]Knowing that policy and enforcement
- [00:38:55.830]is more of a challenge for folks,
- [00:38:57.390]I have allotted more time to delve into education.
- [00:39:01.650]However, if you're at an institution that is doing something
- [00:39:04.380]from a policy and enforcement standpoint,
- [00:39:06.330]boy, would we love to hear about it.
- [00:39:08.700]And so with that, I leave you all...
- [00:39:11.160]Let's see, it is 10:25.
- [00:39:13.050]We're here until 11:45?
- [00:39:16.260]Megan? 11:15.
- [00:39:17.250]11:15, thank you.
- [00:39:18.083]I was like, "That seems way too long."
- [00:39:20.670]So let's do like 20 minutes or so to get through this.
- [00:39:24.030]And then if you switch gears to education, great.
- [00:39:27.960]If not, then I'll change the slide
- [00:39:30.270]to our more education-focused questions,
- [00:39:32.340]and then at the end we will share out.
- [00:39:35.610]Any final questions, comments, concerns before we split?
- [00:39:39.630]Wonderful.
- [00:39:42.270]Before I switch,
- [00:39:43.260]I'm sure lots of you already dived into the education piece,
- [00:39:46.410]but I wanted to take a brief moment for us to share out now
- [00:39:49.380]in case it sparks conversation for our next round,
- [00:39:53.910]and, you know, maybe someone else has something
- [00:39:55.535]from another group
- [00:39:56.460]that you haven't had the chance to talk to,
- [00:39:58.380]and then you'll be able to discuss that
- [00:40:01.140]in our part two of discussion.
- [00:40:04.170]We're just opening up the floor.
- [00:40:05.190]Did anyone have any, you know,
- [00:40:07.110]something that they thought was really interesting,
- [00:40:08.520]a big takeaway,
- [00:40:10.590]something that they're hoping
- [00:40:11.423]to bring back to their institution
- [00:40:12.660]that maybe was shared with them?
- [00:40:15.960]Hold on.
- [00:40:18.660]No one learned anything. (chuckles)
- [00:40:23.520]Always.
- [00:40:24.990]One thing that I liked, Mary Kate here said,
- [00:40:27.390]was that there's not as big of a stigma
- [00:40:30.870]around the Delta-8 usage,
- [00:40:33.720]and, especially, you related it to mothers
- [00:40:38.040]or, you know, groups that used to have mommy juice or wine.
- [00:40:43.170]And, yeah, they're not having the hangovers or the stigma
- [00:40:47.310]of being the neighborhood alcoholic.
- [00:40:49.680]So I thought that was a really good point.
- [00:40:53.100]That is interesting.
- [00:40:54.000]Outside of maybe the university sphere,
- [00:40:58.619]how are people interacting with this.
- [00:41:00.420]That is interesting.
- [00:41:05.310]Don't let the microphone intimidate you.
- [00:41:09.600]Brigham and Mark,
- [00:41:10.433]I feel like I heard some conversation around
- [00:41:12.300]policy, slash, how your institutions are addressing things,
- [00:41:15.960]which I think has been a challenge for folks.
- [00:41:17.460]I would love to hear maybe a summary of what you discussed.
- [00:41:22.830]Do you wanna rock, paper, scissors it?
- [00:41:24.504]Yeah. No, go ahead.
- [00:41:26.947]It was validating, just here,
- [00:41:29.820]the struggles that go into not just looking at
- [00:41:32.940]how do you change a policy,
- [00:41:35.370]whether it's going through the legal route
- [00:41:38.790]of saying, "How do we incorporate this?"
- [00:41:40.530]We're acknowledging, it's present,
- [00:41:42.270]that it is an issue for a lot of people.
- [00:41:45.690]So that's one challenge,
- [00:41:47.310]working in a big system in bureaucracy
- [00:41:49.380]is getting that pushed through
- [00:41:50.730]and having it cover all bases.
- [00:41:53.070]And then where I work is intervention, too,
- [00:41:55.620]is to say having to educate myself,
- [00:41:58.230]whether through research.
- [00:41:59.310]And that's been a huge challenge
- [00:42:00.720]'cause there's not a lot of research
- [00:42:03.150]with it being a pretty young substance.
- [00:42:05.700]I was saying it's helpful to me,
- [00:42:07.800]whether it matches the research or not,
- [00:42:11.550]talking to students who do use it
- [00:42:13.590]and seeing their own unique response.
- [00:42:15.570]And there's a lot of varied responses,
- [00:42:17.250]even though most of the students
- [00:42:18.810]would categorize, as you said, as marijuana light.
- [00:42:22.980]So that's been something, whether...
- [00:42:25.380]It hasn't gone to the level
- [00:42:26.970]where we've had to create its own unique intervention,
- [00:42:30.330]but it's how do we fold this into what we already have
- [00:42:32.790]with our psychoeducation,
- [00:42:34.770]or with the K6, for example, like that.
- [00:42:37.200]So it has created a lot of energy and time towards it, too.
- [00:42:42.300]And I was saying, as an alcohol and drug expert,
- [00:42:45.000]substance use expert,
- [00:42:46.620]I've had to educate a lot of people on campus,
- [00:42:51.090]Lydia and I have kind of worked on committees like that,
- [00:42:53.473]but also within our clinic,
- [00:42:55.200]of saying, "How do you be aware of this?
- [00:42:57.390]How do you talk to a student about it?"
- [00:42:59.730]It's not just informing ourselves,
- [00:43:01.350]it's informing other professionals
- [00:43:03.000]where it might be present, too.
- [00:43:04.890]It's a big...
- [00:43:05.820]Validating is the word,
- [00:43:06.960]it's saying this creates a lot of institutional challenges.
- [00:43:14.550]Just to go along with that,
- [00:43:16.140]I'm a counselor at UNL,
- [00:43:18.720]and as far as what discussions are happening,
- [00:43:22.680]I'm also the liaison to Housing.
- [00:43:26.460]So I hear about the incidences,
- [00:43:28.980]but they're always marijuana and alcohol incidences.
- [00:43:32.520]So Housing has somehow decided that this Delta-8,
- [00:43:37.530]we're going to treat it as marijuana.
- [00:43:40.710]I didn't know.
- [00:43:42.060]In our staff meetings we have questions about Delta-8.
- [00:43:45.570]We don't know.
- [00:43:46.740]Right, these discussions, maybe they're happening,
- [00:43:49.290]but they are not campus-wide.
- [00:43:51.510]And I think the stigma, right?
- [00:43:53.160]Teachers, like you said, teachers see it,
- [00:43:56.940]are like, "Oh, it's fine,"
- [00:43:59.400]so they don't need to educate or investigate.
- [00:44:02.730]So, I mean, that's jumping ahead to the education piece,
- [00:44:06.870]but I feel like,
- [00:44:08.820]at least from where we sit at our university,
- [00:44:11.940]these conversations aren't even happening.
- [00:44:29.190]We had to redo all of our policies
- [00:44:31.620]and procedures very recently for this
- [00:44:33.960]to get in line with some of the Clery Acts and the Title IX.
- [00:44:38.130]So we kind of looked at
- [00:44:40.170]the state of Nebraska's laws and regulations
- [00:44:43.050]and followed suit.
- [00:44:44.640]So when it comes to finding marijuana on campus,
- [00:44:48.982]we don't necessarily treat it right away as a legal concern.
- [00:44:52.410]We treat it as a behavioral problem,
- [00:44:53.970]unless it's harming other students
- [00:44:56.460]or it becomes a medical issue.
- [00:44:59.850]And then so with the police,
- [00:45:02.190]if there's like a cartridge or something
- [00:45:04.500]that looks like it could possibly be marijuana,
- [00:45:06.750]unless it's a very clearly labeled Delta-9
- [00:45:09.900]from the manufacturer, or it's with original packaging,
- [00:45:13.530]it's marijuana to us.
- [00:45:15.337]If you have Delta-9 you have to be 21 or older
- [00:45:18.480]or you're a minor in possession.
- [00:45:21.270]We just treat it very, very similar.
- [00:45:23.190]And we have a code of conduct
- [00:45:24.660]that says that you have to follow all state and local laws.
- [00:45:29.310]If you're in violation of the law,
- [00:45:30.660]then you're in violation of the code of conduct
- [00:45:32.670]and then it's a conduct problem.
- [00:45:34.620]And that's how we treat it at CCC.
- [00:45:36.840]I don't have any residence halls,
- [00:45:38.400]but Hastings and Columbus does,
- [00:45:40.999]and they just treat it as a behavioral issue.
- [00:45:43.380]Unless, again, you are dealing out of the res halls
- [00:45:47.190]or something like that,
- [00:45:48.570]then that becomes a problem.
- [00:45:49.800]But that's kind of how we've...
- [00:45:51.060]And then we put it in the policy,
- [00:45:52.440]so it's just treated as a minor in consumption
- [00:45:55.290]or a minor in possession.
- [00:45:57.600]The only thing that we haven't worked out is like,
- [00:46:00.030]how to make sure that we have it very standardized
- [00:46:02.013]for first offense is this, second offense is this.
- [00:46:05.280]So that way it's like, with the NABITA,
- [00:46:07.860]so that way it's not like,
- [00:46:09.420]well, why did you do it for this person and not this person?
- [00:46:12.300]That's the only thing that we got to make sure
- [00:46:13.950]that no one sues us
- [00:46:15.150]because Johnny got this and Susie got that
- [00:46:17.021]and why did you not do it for that person?
- [00:46:22.200]I am curious,
- [00:46:23.040]for those of you who do have a policy that, you know,
- [00:46:26.400]you're able to send it through conduct,
- [00:46:30.030]is the policy written regarding...
- [00:46:33.180]Is it mostly language around cannabis products
- [00:46:36.450]or is it language around illegal substances?
- [00:46:39.330]'Cause I think that's a challenge that I've encountered
- [00:46:40.980]where Delta-8 is not an illegal substance in Nebraska.
- [00:46:44.190]And so if it's an illegal substance...
- [00:46:46.620]If a student really wanted to push it, right,
- [00:46:48.090]if they're like, "I know my rights,
- [00:46:50.269]I'm not gonna accept it, I'm not gonna accept it,
- [00:46:51.930]I'm not gonna accept responsibility,"
- [00:46:53.760]to the point that they decide to come back
- [00:46:55.170]and, you know, sue the institution.
- [00:46:56.700]Or even sometimes they just have to have a lawyer
- [00:46:59.790]send a letter.
- [00:47:00.840]They're just shaking and rattling the chains, right,
- [00:47:03.480]a little bit.
- [00:47:05.640]You know, what has that looked like for you all?
- [00:47:09.728]They use illicit substances
- [00:47:11.370]and then they explain like,
- [00:47:13.140]we have to be able to see
- [00:47:14.160]that it's not an illicit substance at the time
- [00:47:17.270]or it will be treated as. Gotcha.
- [00:47:19.350]That's the way it's put in the Code of Conduct.
- [00:47:21.030]Kind of the same way the...
- [00:47:22.310]From what I understand, when they wrote it,
- [00:47:24.750]they literally looked at the state statute
- [00:47:26.520]and tried to make it as similar as possible.
- [00:47:30.870]Oh, sorry.
- [00:47:31.782](audience chuckles)
- [00:47:32.615]Yeah, but that's kind of what they did.
- [00:47:33.870]They just looked at it and made it similar.
- [00:47:35.782]Okay.
- [00:47:39.750]It seems like, to me,
- [00:47:41.100]for all things marijuana and cannabis related,
- [00:47:44.010]Delta-8 included,
- [00:47:45.210]it would seem like it would be wise for institutions
- [00:47:48.270]to talk about marijuana/cannabis derivatives,
- [00:47:51.390]rather than illicit products.
- [00:47:52.890]Because if at some point
- [00:47:54.060]Nebraska does join the ranks of nearby states
- [00:47:57.510]in legalizing marijuana,
- [00:47:59.160]institutions would still be guided by federal law
- [00:48:03.090]in terms of policies around substance use.
- [00:48:05.520]So I guess it still is illicit on the federal level,
- [00:48:07.980]but it seems like even further down,
- [00:48:09.720]that would help cover you longterm to talk about
- [00:48:12.300]this is our expectations for our campus
- [00:48:14.490]regarding these products.
- [00:48:16.080]I do think another challenge with that, too, is the CBD.
- [00:48:20.040]For me, personally, I don't have an inherent problem
- [00:48:22.620]with students that are using CBD.
- [00:48:23.970]I know some professionals feel differently,
- [00:48:26.040]but, for me, I'm like,
- [00:48:26.873]of the substances you could choose to be using,
- [00:48:28.980]CBD, to me, is very low-harm to students
- [00:48:31.680]and very low-harm to their community.
- [00:48:33.840]And so that is one that personally I don't really have...
- [00:48:36.030]if someone were asking me for guidance,
- [00:48:37.500]that I wouldn't have a huge issue with that.
- [00:48:40.290]But because it's a cannabis derivative,
- [00:48:41.730]that makes it really challenging.
- [00:48:42.740]If we're saying no cannabis products, no derivatives,
- [00:48:47.280]do we want to fight the fight with students
- [00:48:48.990]who have CBD gummies in their room, right?
- [00:48:51.027]And if that's something...
- [00:48:53.010]When I was at Creighton,
- [00:48:53.843]that fell under our drug policy violations.
- [00:48:55.770]So then they would have a drug policy violation
- [00:48:57.420]on their record because they had CBD or something like that.
- [00:49:01.500]And, you know, you put a student on probation.
- [00:49:03.240]If they wanna go to law school or something, you know,
- [00:49:05.400]that looks really bad for them to have a drug violation,
- [00:49:07.320]when it was, in reality, non-psychoactive CBD gummies.
- [00:49:10.470]Like, is that really worth putting on the record?
- [00:49:13.410]But that's just another challenge of being in higher ed
- [00:49:15.630]is all of that kind of like red tape pieces.
- [00:49:18.750]You know, we have to think about all of these things.
- [00:49:20.610]It's also challenging when, if you're in counseling
- [00:49:22.680]or you are in alcohol prevention or drug prevention,
- [00:49:27.090]our job isn't really to worry about conduct stuff.
- [00:49:30.150]I mean, we partner with them, right,
- [00:49:31.290]but it is not an expectation for us as professionals
- [00:49:34.320]to know the implications for student conduct
- [00:49:37.140]and what that might mean for students down the line.
- [00:49:38.640]Like we have conduct professionals for that.
- [00:49:40.350]But as you were saying,
- [00:49:41.340]when we're not all in the same room talking about things,
- [00:49:43.920]it makes it really, really difficult
- [00:49:45.390]to know how to effectively address this as an institution.
- [00:49:52.080]How about this side of the room?
- [00:49:53.963](audience chuckling)
- [00:50:11.460]Well...
- [00:50:12.346]Oh, sorry, go ahead.
- [00:50:13.179]I was just gonna say you got...
- [00:50:14.213]Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. (chuckles)
- [00:50:17.760]One thing that we notice is that,
- [00:50:19.560]we had a training not too long ago,
- [00:50:21.420]whatever policy that you guys do, right,
- [00:50:23.520]just make sure that it's applied
- [00:50:24.990]to every single person the same, no matter what.
- [00:50:27.990]Because apparently that can be a big issue
- [00:50:30.780]when it comes to like,
- [00:50:32.100]well, why did Markel, or whatever,
- [00:50:35.220]get an eight-hour class and put on probation,
- [00:50:38.940]but Susie got a verbal warning and told not to do it again?
- [00:50:44.010]You know, like that's something
- [00:50:45.120]that you have to make super standard
- [00:50:47.160]because people have gotten sued for discrimination
- [00:50:49.980]and all of that stuff.
- [00:50:51.300]That was something that like,
- [00:50:53.070]so you have to make it very, very standardized
- [00:50:55.080]so that no one can say,
- [00:50:56.130]well, you're giving harsher punishments
- [00:50:58.410]to the guys or the girls,
- [00:51:00.210]or the marginalized communities
- [00:51:02.700]versus the white communities or whatever.
- [00:51:04.560]That was something that I was like,
- [00:51:05.640]oh, we really gotta make this standardized
- [00:51:07.560]so that way no one ever feels like we're singling
- [00:51:10.620]a problem student out versus somebody that's not.
- [00:51:15.780]So that's something to keep in mind.
- [00:51:17.786]I think that's a great point,
- [00:51:18.900]and that's kind of what Lydia
- [00:51:19.920]was alluding to earlier today, right?
- [00:51:21.900]The whole cannabis vs. marijuana discussion,
- [00:51:24.150]is that we know that there have been communities
- [00:51:27.450]that have been targeted
- [00:51:28.710]in terms of policing around marijuana issues.
- [00:51:31.080]But then once marijuana became legalized in certain states,
- [00:51:34.110]it was cannabis now
- [00:51:35.250]and it was something that wealthy white people
- [00:51:37.140]were investing in
- [00:51:38.160]and it was no longer problematic, right?
- [00:51:40.410]We've seen a lot of similarities
- [00:51:41.550]with the opioid epidemic, right,
- [00:51:43.740]versus the crack epidemic of the '90s
- [00:51:45.570]and how different communities have been treated
- [00:51:47.250]with very similar issues.
- [00:51:49.410]So being aware of that discrepancy
- [00:51:53.100]is really important in making sure
- [00:51:54.510]that you're not treating different populations differently
- [00:51:57.810]with those substances is also really critical.
- [00:52:00.660]And I think, too,
- [00:52:01.493]kind of what I've heard from some of you sharing
- [00:52:03.300]is that we're constantly combating, you know,
- [00:52:06.570]the reality that a lot of our institutions
- [00:52:09.030]operate in silos, right?
- [00:52:11.520]The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing
- [00:52:13.050]a lot of times.
- [00:52:13.883]And I think that's where you all's work is really critical
- [00:52:16.560]because you can help be that bridge
- [00:52:18.870]between prevention and implementation and practice,
- [00:52:21.570]and making sure that people know
- [00:52:23.100]about those resources that are available
- [00:52:25.260]and how they impact students in different aspects
- [00:52:27.780]is also important.
- [00:52:29.340]But also kind of what Brigham and Mark
- [00:52:31.380]were alluding to earlier as well,
- [00:52:33.510]in that oftentimes our campus culture
- [00:52:36.060]is part of the problem, right?
- [00:52:37.800]I think it's easy to blame students
- [00:52:39.930]for bad decision-makings.
- [00:52:41.340]But like Lydia shared earlier, we really believe
- [00:52:44.430]in the comprehensive ecological model of health, right?
- [00:52:47.700]So we know students are making decisions
- [00:52:49.350]based off of messaging they're getting from us.
- [00:52:51.180]And students aren't the only ones with misunderstandings
- [00:52:54.090]about what Delta-8 is, or about marijuana either.
- [00:52:57.180]There's a lot of adults who are using their own experience
- [00:52:59.509]as their frame of reference, which is not present day,
- [00:53:02.310]and also just a lot of faculty members
- [00:53:04.740]that are not aware of those harms either,
- [00:53:08.130]and sometimes we perpetuate that,
- [00:53:09.720]but intentionally with students.
- [00:53:10.707]And so I think that's important, like Lydia has said,
- [00:53:13.650]to really educate your entire campus population
- [00:53:16.230]in the same way.
- [00:53:22.440]If there's no other conversation topics now,
- [00:53:26.130]I will transition us into our education discussion,
- [00:53:31.410]which, feel free to deviate from these topics,
- [00:53:33.630]but this is what I have right now.
- [00:53:35.910]Do your existing interventions address Delta-8?
- [00:53:38.430]So your Y1CBP, your conduct sanctions, you know,
- [00:53:41.430]social norming campaigns that might be happening,
- [00:53:43.170]any sort of intervention that you might have,
- [00:53:45.210]or prevention or intervention strategies
- [00:53:47.490]that you currently have at your institution.
- [00:53:50.100]Are they addressing Delta-8?
- [00:53:52.980]What interventions for other substances,
- [00:53:54.870]such as alcohol or marijuana,
- [00:53:58.050]could you apply to Delta-8 at your institution,
- [00:54:00.540]if you're looking at maybe ways
- [00:54:01.830]that you could expand the education around this topic?
- [00:54:04.980]And what are new interventions
- [00:54:05.997]that you could implement at your institution?
- [00:54:07.800]You know, as you're talking to other folks,
- [00:54:08.633]you're like, "Well,
- [00:54:09.466]we've never done a social norming campaign before,"
- [00:54:11.370]or, I don't know,
- [00:54:13.657]"We've never had RAs do programs in this area before."
- [00:54:17.070]As you're talking to other folks,
- [00:54:18.960]are there strategies that you feel like you could apply
- [00:54:21.090]on your campus that maybe you haven't?
- [00:54:22.710]It's maybe not an extension of what currently exists.
- [00:54:25.020]It would be totally new for you all.
- [00:54:26.910]And again, these are just three starters.
- [00:54:29.040]Please feel free to discuss
- [00:54:31.830]whatever you think is most applicable to you
- [00:54:33.930]and follow the conversation where it goes.
- [00:55:06.976](no audio)
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- [00:56:09.232](no audio)
- [00:56:40.589](no audio)
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- [00:59:12.114](no audio)
- [00:59:40.262](no audio)
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- [01:01:45.720]All right, everyone,
- [01:01:46.710]we're bringing it back a little bit faster,
- [01:01:49.110]or earlier this time,
- [01:01:51.564]'cause we have just five minutes left.
- [01:01:55.958](audience chattering)
- [01:02:00.840]Go ahead and wrap up your conversations
- [01:02:04.440]and I will be looking again.
- [01:02:06.690]And you'll fold it into-
- [01:02:08.160]Brigham, I'm calling you out again.
- [01:02:10.470]Why are you always cutting me off?
- [01:02:11.867]'Cause you're always talking. (laughs)
- [01:02:16.806]You take my words.
- [01:02:18.807]Oh, that makes sense.
- [01:02:20.670]Start yelling-
- [01:02:21.503]A lot of enlightenment
- [01:02:22.336]thinking back on those meetings, no. (laughs)
- [01:02:26.250]We have less time this time through,
- [01:02:28.680]but we only have five minutes left.
- [01:02:30.450]So any folks would like to share out
- [01:02:34.260]about, you know, things that they might tweak,
- [01:02:36.210]things that they might add at their institutions
- [01:02:38.010]related to Delta-8?
- [01:02:41.520]Do we have a mic?
- [01:02:42.353]Yeah, they have it.
- [01:02:44.849]Thank you, Megan.
- [01:02:46.680]So I'm from Metro Community College in Omaha, Nebraska.
- [01:02:49.530]We don't have dorm life and athletics and all that,
- [01:02:52.800]but I made a point to kind of say
- [01:02:54.870]that I've kind of taken a focus on substance use
- [01:02:57.930]in relation to coping skills and mental health.
- [01:03:01.590]We have a wide variety of aged students.
- [01:03:04.680]So kind of trying to teach some of our instructors
- [01:03:07.200]and things like that
- [01:03:08.070]that maybe it's not necessarily a substance misuse problem.
- [01:03:12.930]If they're saying they're having trouble sleeping
- [01:03:14.550]so they're drinking every night,
- [01:03:16.590]let's dive into why they're having trouble sleeping,
- [01:03:18.690]not necessarily the substance use right away.
- [01:03:22.311](attendee clapping)
- [01:03:25.230]Thank you.
- [01:03:30.330]Anyone else?
- [01:03:32.760]Does anyone currently have education
- [01:03:35.190]that exists around Delta-8 at your institutions?
- [01:03:39.330]I'm seeing mostly shakes, no.
- [01:03:42.000]We do.
- [01:03:43.800]Do you want me to- Yeah.
- [01:03:45.330]Megan's getting her steps in.
- [01:03:46.602](audience chuckles)
- [01:03:47.435]Sorry.
- [01:03:49.560]We do something called stall stories,
- [01:03:51.360]so I'm sure you guys all...
- [01:03:52.560]Do you guys all do that, too, in your colleges?
- [01:03:54.690]So on the back of the bathroom walls, we do random-
- [01:03:57.981]Oh, yeah, we call them toilet talks at my undergrad.
- [01:04:00.450]Yeah, okay.
- [01:04:01.283]So we do stall stories.
- [01:04:03.120]So we do one month of stall stories
- [01:04:05.430]about Delta-8 and marijuana use,
- [01:04:07.563]like in general. Oh, sure.
- [01:04:08.840]So we do do that.
- [01:04:10.200]And then one of my projects for the fall,
- [01:04:13.260]'cause we have little passive prevention stuff,
- [01:04:17.190]so I'm supposed to do one
- [01:04:18.270]that you can put into your wallet about marijuana.
- [01:04:20.220]Nice.
- [01:04:21.330]But that's about it for us.
- [01:04:25.320]The more passive stuff you can give out, versus talks,
- [01:04:28.080]like where they can just grab something
- [01:04:29.340]with food next to it and go,
- [01:04:30.870]we're starting to...
- [01:04:32.610]Have you guys figured out
- [01:04:33.480]that no one wants to sit in a lecture hall?
- [01:04:35.100]Is it just me?
- [01:04:35.975](audience chuckles)
- [01:04:36.808]Okay.
- [01:04:37.740]Like, passive, we're starting to realize
- [01:04:39.480]that paper stuff that you can hand them
- [01:04:42.390]with a fidget or food
- [01:04:44.640]is the only way I can get them to pay attention to me.
- [01:04:47.610]Anybody else got any other suggestions
- [01:04:49.290]besides food and fidgets?
- [01:04:50.850]No?
- [01:04:51.683]Okay.
- [01:04:52.800]We can talk after,
- [01:04:53.730]'cause I haven't done it for Delta-8, but I did...
- [01:04:56.490]That was my crusade this past year,
- [01:04:58.320]was we need hands-on, engaging alcohol education
- [01:05:01.110]because students don't wanna listen to you talk.
- [01:05:03.330]So I developed a program that was all around that.
- [01:05:07.290]But we can talk after it
- [01:05:08.160]'cause we have, like, three minutes.
- [01:05:09.750]Other folks?
- [01:05:14.160]I just might give a shout-out to my colleague
- [01:05:15.840]because I know that the...
- [01:05:17.003]Oh, I'm sorry.
- [01:05:18.930]I wanna give a shout-out to my colleague
- [01:05:20.370]because I know that in the last couple years
- [01:05:22.290]they've done a lot of education to the RA staff
- [01:05:25.560]in regards to trying to teach them
- [01:05:28.770]about alcohol and other substance.
- [01:05:30.420]And one of the things
- [01:05:31.253]that she was telling these ladies here today
- [01:05:33.240]was that they do have someone come in from the community
- [01:05:37.320]and teach the RAs, you know, what does this smell like?
- [01:05:40.350]What does this look like?
- [01:05:41.820]And so they do an education for the RAs
- [01:05:44.070]because we get a lot of kids in
- [01:05:45.300]that may not never even seen or smelled
- [01:05:48.660]or done any of that. Yeah, that's so important.
- [01:05:50.783]So I just think that's a great idea.
- [01:05:51.780]So if you can get outside resources
- [01:05:53.820]to come in and help educate.
- [01:05:55.890]You know, don't reinvent a wheel
- [01:05:57.840]that doesn't need reinvented, so.
- [01:06:05.160]Mark, it looked like you were gonna say something.
- [01:06:06.990]Okay.
- [01:06:07.823]You had a look that looked like
- [01:06:08.656]you were really excited to share.
- [01:06:10.680]Okay.
- [01:06:11.790]If you have not already,
- [01:06:14.370]NECPA has a Delta-8 Teams group,
- [01:06:16.740]and even if you are not affiliated with UNL,
- [01:06:18.780]I believe you can be a part of that.
- [01:06:21.150]There's a way that you can add guests to the group
- [01:06:23.130]so you can use your institution's email.
- [01:06:25.830]There's some really great resources in there.
- [01:06:27.720]And I'm sure as more folks are added to the group,
- [01:06:30.690]then that discussion can also be more robust
- [01:06:32.580]and there can be some additional sharing.
- [01:06:35.370]I don't own that group, so I can't personally add you in.
- [01:06:38.250]So if you would like to get added, connect with NECPA.
- [01:06:41.010]Mark.
- [01:06:41.843]Yeah, I was gonna ask you what the name of it is.
- [01:06:45.720]Megan, do you know?
- [01:06:46.560]I'll look into it. Okay.
- [01:06:48.750]Thanks, Megan.
- [01:06:49.583]It's fairly straightforward.
- [01:06:51.005]Like I think it's like UNL NECPA Delta-8 group,
- [01:06:54.780]or something like that.
- [01:06:55.650]It's not overly creative,
- [01:06:58.590]which I think is probably easier for everyone.
- [01:07:01.590]Here are some references from the presentation today.
- [01:07:04.350]So if you go back to look at it,
- [01:07:05.910]this is where I pulled the information from.
- [01:07:08.430]And there we go.
- [01:07:09.420]Thank you so much, everyone, for your time.
- [01:07:11.100]If you have any questions,
- [01:07:12.210]please do not hesitate to reach out to me.
- [01:07:14.160]I failed as a presenter
- [01:07:15.600]and I forgot to bring business cards,
- [01:07:17.100]so I'm very sorry.
- [01:07:18.630]However, Megan knows how to get into contact with me.
- [01:07:21.690]I'm fairly responsive to emails
- [01:07:24.300]and I'll be more than happy to chat.
- [01:07:25.860]If I can ever provide any insight or assistance,
- [01:07:28.260]even in my new role,
- [01:07:29.310]I still think this is a really important topic
- [01:07:30.739]and like to share the education and information that I have
- [01:07:34.740]so that I can support you in any way.
- [01:07:35.760]Please don't hesitate to reach out.
- [01:07:37.380]I hope the rest of the sessions today
- [01:07:38.970]are helpful and informative for you all,
- [01:07:41.250]and thanks for sharing your time.
- [01:07:42.652](audience applauding)
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