Denver Teens Are Not Enthralled With Pot: Study

DENVER, CO – A Denver campaign to educate teens about marijuana in a peer-to-peer prevention campaign appears to be working a year after launch.

The High Costs campaign was developed and financed by the City and County of Denver, managed by the Department of Excise and Licenses, to "educate Denver’s youth on how underage marijuana use can affect their passions, pursuits and future," the agency said in a press release.

According to a survey released this week, 75 percent of teens aware of the High Costs campaign said that its messaging discouraged them from using marijuana, the agency said in a statement.

The campaign steered away from "promoting scare tactics," and focused on "providing facts for teens so they have accurate peer-to-peer conversations," a press release said.

The survey was conducted by Insights Lab. It polled 502 teens representative of Denver’s youth population.

According to the city of Denver, the survey found:

• Awareness of the High Costs campaign is high, with 78 percent of teens indicating that they were familiar with the campaign, either through top of mind awareness or after being shown components of the campaign.
• 68 percent of survey respondents were aware of the “Weeded Out” game show video – the country’s first marijuana education game show - that served as the centerpiece of the 2018 campaign.
  • Among teens who viewed the game show, 87 percent talked about it with either friends, family, or both.
• The majority of teens agreed that High Costs has a clear message (83 percent), is educational (83 percent), trustworthy (75 percent), and likeable (73 percent).

“Teens want facts and they want to be able to make their own decisions. When we give teens the facts and equip them with knowledge, they make smarter choices about using marijuana,” said Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock in a press release.

The campaign, which can be found online at TheHighCosts.com, is marketed to teens through social media, on the radio, and in public signage. The campaign emphasizes the risks of youth marijuana usage, including losing financial aid in college after a conviction; youth brain development and marijuana use and memory impairment by marijuana.