(CBS DETROIT) – The Detroit Public Colleges Group District says it has seen a surge in consumption of marijuana edibles and vape pens at colleges and is urging native, state and federal leaders to implement a coverage.
In an e mail despatched on Thursday, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti says the district recorded 289 drug-related incidents between 2019 and 2021, nevertheless it has since elevated to 1,735 between 2021 and 2023.
The e-mail was despatched to officers, together with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, metropolis council members and Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow.
“This faculty 12 months alone, we now have already confronted 745 drug-related infractions as of final week,” Vitti wrote within the e mail. “Every week of college not often passes the place a pupil is just not taken to the hospital as a result of intentional or unintentional consumption of edibles. This development is unacceptable and requires instant coverage intervention.”
The district proposed that producers label edibles as such to eradicate confusion and prohibit the usage of packaging that mimics non-cannabis sweet. The district additionally proposed that every faculty obtain funding from the marijuana gross sales tax to acquire detection techniques for vape pens and marijuana and provoke public consciousness campaigns funded by marijuana legalization revenues.
“College day-to-day operations are being considerably disrupted because of the unintended penalties of correctly legalizing marijuana,” Vitti stated.
“Allow us to work collectively to forestall additional hurt and make sure the security of our kids, educators and communities.”
