Bill Text: NJ S3360 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education include content on risks of cannabis and marijuana use.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-01-12 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee [S3360 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-S3360-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator MICHAEL L. TESTA, JR.
District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)
SYNOPSIS
Requires New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education include content on risks of cannabis and marijuana use.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning substance abuse instruction in the public schools and supplementing P.L.1987, c.389 (C.18A:40A-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Department of Education, in consultation with the Division of Addiction Services in the Department of Human Services, shall ensure the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education on substance abuse instruction includes, for each grade three through 12, age-appropriate instruction on:
a. the impact of cannabis and marijuana products on the adolescent brain and body;
b. the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive substance in marijuana that produces the high associated with smoking marijuana and which can also lead to central nervous system depression;
c. the risks of addiction to cannabis and marijuana products;
d. the risks of driving while under the influence of cannabis or marijuana products;
e. the difference between medicinal and recreational use of cannabis and marijuana products; and
f. an examination of the external and internal influences that may impact a person's decision to use or abstain from cannabis and marijuana products.
2. This act shall take effect on the 60th day after the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
Current law requires the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education include content on the nature and treatment of drugs, alcohol, anabolic steroids, tobacco, and controlled dangerous substances (N.J.S.A.18A:40A-2.2). This bill requires the Department of Education, in consultation with the Division of Addiction Services in the Department of Human Services, to ensure the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Comprehensive Health and Physical Education on substance abuse instruction include specific age-appropriate instruction, for each grade three through 12, on the use of cannabis and marijuana products.
Under the bill, the learning standards must include:
· basic information about cannabis and marijuana products and its impacts on the adolescent brain and body;
· the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive substance in marijuana that produces the high associated with smoking marijuana and which can also lead to central nervous system depression;
· the risks of addiction to cannabis and marijuana products;
· the risks of driving while under the influence of cannabis or marijuana products;
· the difference between medicinal and recreational use of cannabis and marijuana products; and
· an examination of the external and internal influences that may impact a person's decision to use or abstain from cannabis and marijuana products.
