Our Mission
The Weed Out Misinformation campaign was created by the cannabis research team at Humber College in Toronto. The project was staffed by 25 students from various programs, and the majority of the work you see in this campaign is created by students, for other young people.
The primary objective of this project is to develop an evidence-informed base of information for cannabis consumers in a format that is easily understood in order to maximize the benefits and reduce potential harms of cannabis consumption.
The website you’re viewing is part of a larger research project to better understand how to engage people with information about cannabis. The materials here were created based on data collected from 1,600 survey responses and interactions with cannabis consumers at eight focus groups. We took that data, analyzed it, and gave it to advertising students at Humber College so they could create campaign materials. We took the draft campaign materials created by the students and held a second round of focus groups with cannabis consumers, budtenders, and cannabis policy experts. From the feedback we received our student team built out the materials for a public education campaign. We asked cannabis experts from around the world to weigh in on certain questions, and to help dispel myths about cannabis.
We’re researchers who built a public education campaign, and our goal with this website is twofold. Yes, we want Weed Out Misinformation to be a successful tool to help people make evidence-informed decisions about how they consume cannabis, but there is a bigger aim for this project. We’ll be conducting evaluations of this campaign so we can report to other drug policy, public health, and academic stakeholders what we’ve learned about how to engage people without stigma or fearmongering, and incorporating inclusive materials and images. Maybe we’ve created something special here, or maybe we’ll find out that our materials aren’t really resonating with people, but either way we can advance the way we discuss drugs and people who consume drugs. D.A.R.E, and all the other fear-based drugs education initiatives left us worse off because they weren’t based on science and never actually engaged people to learn about what information they wanted to help make decisions about their drugs use. Those programs tried to make us fear drugs, but never offered to help ensure we have a safe and enjoyable experience if we chose to consume. With any luck we’re done with those old approaches, and maybe this project can help move us towards a new normal where we talk about consuming cannabis like we would any other activity that is both enjoyable and carries with it small risks that can be mediated by a bit of forethought and knowledge.
Thanks for visiting our website, and taking the time to explore the materials here. We’ve got a great reference list, but if you find any inaccuracies, want to ask a question, or have a myth you’re trying to dispel, please reach out via the Contact Us form. We’d love to hear from you.