- NEW RESOURCES INFORMED BY THE SENSIBLE CANNABIS EDUCATION
TOOLKIT
- GOAL IS TO HELP PARENTS JUMPSTART CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUTH
ABOUT CANNABIS USE
SMITHS FALLS, ON and
TORONTO, May 28, 2019 /CNW/ - Canopy Growth
Corporation ("Canopy Growth" or the "Company") (TSX: WEED) (NYSE:
CGC) is pleased to announce the next phase in its partnership with
Parent Action on Drugs ("PAD") and Canadian Students for Sensible
Drug Policy ("CSSDP") which will see PAD launch two new digital
tools to help youth along with their parents, adult caregivers, and
influencers, on how to make responsible decisions about cannabis
use.
"Weed Like to Know" Chatbot
PAD employed the technical
expertise of Massively, a leader in artificial intelligence, to
develop a fun and interactive chatbot designed to engage, educate
and encourage conversation between parents and their kids about
cannabis. This tool helps parents structure conversations with
their pre-teens about cannabis to inform and prevent early
use, associated with a number of negative short and long-term
outcomes. By having an informed, open dialogue about cannabis,
parents can protect their children while creating a culture of
knowledge and resiliency.
Through activities like charades, quiz questions, and "what
would you do?" scenarios, chatbot users learn age-appropriate
evidence-based information about cannabis, its effects, the law,
risks to youth during brain development, and reasons youth consume
or not. Content related to harm reduction and safety for cannabis
consumers is also covered.
Weed Like to Know can be accessed on a desktop, laptop, tablet
or smartphone, through the PAD website, or Facebook Messenger and
Twitter. Additionally, the chatbot will be deployed directly inside
display ads on targeted websites.
What's With Weed SMS Tool:
PAD collaborated with
Evolution Health Systems, a trailblazer in creating digital health
tools, to build a youth-focused cannabis education and problematic
use prevention text message program aimed at teens and young adults
(15-21 years).
People can subscribe through the new, What's With Weed (WWW),
comprehensive cannabis education website, whatswithweed.ca. Once
they do, they will receive texts with proactive messages every day
for 54 days. The text messages will focus on:
- Factoids about weed and how it works in the brain and body
- Cannabis laws
- Tips for reducing risks and safer use
- Questions to reflect upon one's use and why
- Alternative approaches to coping with life stress
- Support for cutting down/quitting
Subscribers can also select from a list of "keywords" to get
additional, targeted educational and support messages. Although the
tool is more relevant for youth who use cannabis, or those who may
be concerned about their use, anyone will be able to learn from
this valuable information. The WWW site also includes an anonymous
brief intervention questionnaire, Check Your Cannabis, and personal
risk profile report.
"PAD is incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to
advance its resource development forward by providing educational
information on cannabis through unique digital tools," stated
Joanne Brown, Executive Director of
Parent Action on Drugs. "PAD's mandate is to provide youth,
parents, and youth influencers with evidence-based information to
support youth in making informed decisions. Through the partnership
with Canopy Growth and CSSDP, we are excited to launch these
innovative tools that will put current information in the hands of
parents and youth through their smartphones."
"We're thrilled to see CSSDP's Sensible Cannabis Education
Toolkit being used to inform the development of new educational
tools in a rapidly changing and expanding policy landscape. Parents
are often left out of cannabis education initiatives. Yet, they are
on the frontlines of engaging youth in evidence-based cannabis
conversations," says Dr. Jenna
Valleriani, Strategic Advisor for Canadian Students for
Sensible Drug Policy.
"Now that cannabis is legalized in Canada, we have a tremendous responsibility to
ensure families have the tools they need to have pragmatic,
well-informed conversations about cannabis," commented Hilary Black, Chief Advocacy Officer, Canopy
Growth. "It is our privilege to have brought together Canadian
Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Parent Action on Drugs, the
leaders in evidence-based education for youth to develop these
essential interactive tools we are launching today."
Today's announcement follows the recent publication by CSSDP of
a comprehensive cannabis education toolkit aimed at youth as part
of the first phase of the partnership with Canopy Growth, CSSDP and
PAD. The Sensible Cannabis Education: A Toolkit for Educating
Youth focuses on realistic and evidence-based approaches to
cannabis education for young Canadians. Since its launch, it has
been viewed online over 1,000 times, with over 500 hard copies in
English and French being distributed to parents, educators, other
stakeholders and youth.
Canopy Growth continues to focus on engaging in meaningful
Corporate Social Responsibility ("CSR") initiatives. Its CSR
strategy is based on listening to communities and stakeholders and
supporting areas where awareness and education can make a
difference. Just some of the initiatives Canopy Growth has
undertaken include:
- A $2.5 million donation to the
University of British Columbia to
establish the Canopy Growth Professorship of Cannabis Science, held
by Dr. M-J Milloy, who is examining the potential utility of
cannabis in addressing the opioid crisis.
- A three-way partnership with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition
(CDPC) and Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada (MADD Canada) to
increase awareness and education surrounding the dangers of
driving under the influence of cannabis.
- A two-year partnership with the Canadian AIDS Society, which
has been working on issues related to medical cannabis access since
2004, to fund the development of Canadian guidelines on the use of
medical cannabis for the management of chronic pain and associated
symptoms.
Here's to Future (Responsible) Growth.
About Parent Action on Drugs
Parent Action on Drugs is
a Canadian registered charitable organization, has addressed the
issues related to youth substance use since 1983. PAD develops and
disseminates a range of programs and resources for parents, youth,
educators, health promoters and communities. We aim to reduce the
harms associated with the use of alcohol and other drugs and
increase informed decision making and build resiliency among
youth.
About Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy
(CSSDP)
Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP
is a grassroots national network comprised of youth and students
who are concerned about the negative impact our drug policies have
on individuals and communities. CSSDP considers problematic drug
use in society primarily a health issue rather than a criminal
justice issue, and advocates for appropriate, evidence based
responses to reduce and prevent harm from drug use. CSSDP currently
runs 12 local youth-run chapters across Canada, in addition to a national Board of
Directors, and is working to increase access and awareness of harm
reduction, support evidence-based legislation, and promote drug
policy reform on local, national and international levels.
About Canopy Growth Corporation
Canopy Growth
(TSX:WEED, NYSE:CGC) is a world-leading diversified cannabis, hemp
and cannabis device company, offering distinct brands and curated
cannabis varieties in dried, oil and Softgel capsule forms, as well
as medical devices through the Company's subsidiary, Storz &
Bickel GMbH & Co. KG. From product and process innovation to
market execution, Canopy Growth is driven by a passion for
leadership and a commitment to building a world-class cannabis
company one product, site and country at a time. The Company has
operations in over a dozen countries across five continents.
The Company's medical division, Spectrum Therapeutics is proudly
dedicated to educating healthcare practitioners, conducting robust
clinical research, and furthering the public's understanding of
cannabis, and has devoted millions of dollars toward cutting edge,
commercializable research and IP development. Spectrum Therapeutics
sells a range of full-spectrum products using its colour-coded
classification Spectrum system as well as single cannabinoid
Dronabinol under the brand Bionorica Ethics.
The Company operates retail stores across Canada under its award-winning Tweed and Tokyo
Smoke banners. Tweed is a globally recognized cannabis brand which
has built a large and loyal following by focusing on quality
products and meaningful customer relationships.
From our historic public listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange
and New York Stock Exchange to our continued international
expansion, pride in advancing shareholder value through leadership
is engrained in all we do at Canopy Growth. Canopy Growth has
established partnerships with leading sector names including
cannabis icons Snoop Dogg and Seth
Rogen, breeding legends DNA Genetics and Green House Seeds,
and Fortune 500 alcohol leader Constellation Brands, to name but a
few. Canopy Growth operates ten licensed cannabis production sites
with over 4.6 million square feet of production capacity, including
over one million square feet of GMP certified production space. For
more information visit www.canopygrowth.com
Notice Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This news
release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable
Canadian securities legislation. Often, but not always,
forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the
use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is
expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not
anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases
or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could",
"would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.
Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual
results, performance or achievements of Canopy Growth or its
subsidiaries to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements or information contained in this news
release. Examples of such statements include "launch two new
digital tools, and "continues to focus on engaging in meaningful
Corporate Social Responsibility ("CSR") initiatives". Risks,
uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking
information could cause actual events, results, performance,
prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those
expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including
tool functionality, and such risks contained in the Company's
annual information form dated June 27,
2018 and filed with Canadian securities regulators available
on the Company's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although
the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in
preparing the forward-looking information or forward-looking
statements in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance
should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be
given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or
at all. The forward-looking information and forward-looking
statements included in this news release are made as of the date of
this news release and the Company does not undertake an obligation
to publicly update such forward-looking information or
forward-looking information to reflect new information, subsequent
events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities
laws.
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/canopy-growth-collaborates-with-parent-action-on-drugs-to-launch-digital-cannabis-education-tools-300857272.html
SOURCE Canopy Growth Corporation