New health curriculum puts emphasis on harm reduction

Manitoba is revamping how students are taught about drugs with an emphasis on harm reduction, the complexities of substance use disorders and the role of ceremonial tobacco in Indigenous cultures.

For the first time this century, physical education and health curriculum is undergoing a systematic overhaul set to debut in September 2028.

Drafts released this back-to-school season have “substances and patterns of behaviour” units across kindergarten to Grade 12.

Grade 6 has been updated so students learn about the short- and long-term effects and risks of using and misusing cannabis products, as well as caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and vaping.

Steven Stairs is calling on the province to mandate an in-depth exploration of Manitoba’s “cannabis landscape” after reviewing the changes.

“This is not about promoting cannabis. It’s about ensuring students have access to accurate, balanced information so they can make informed decisions,” the cannabis activist and consultant wrote in an email to Premier Wab Kinew and Education Minister Tracy Schmidt.

Stairs said there’s key information missing about methods of consumption and high-potency products, the distinction between medical and non-medical use and cannabis-induced psychosis.

“Pot’s gotten so strong. There wasn’t really a cannabis psychosis epidemic (before legalization in 2018), but it’s becoming real,” he said in an interview.

The existing curriculum was drafted more than a decade before the legalization of cannabis and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s release of its 94 calls to actions.

Cannabis — “cannabis gummies,” to be exact — first appears in the new curriculum in a kindergarten unit designed to help children recognize the difference between safe and unsafe substances. It’s mentioned along with alcohol, medications and other common items in households.

In the old and revised editions of Manitoba’s health curriculum, early years lessons in this area are about respecting safety symbols and asking for permission to consume, smell or touch things. Medicine and tobacco, among other substances, have long been introduced in kindergarten — cannabis just wasn’t listed.

Grade 3 students are set to learn about how substances, from communion wine to vaping, can be used “for the body and/or mind.”

The following year investigates peer pressure, mood-altering symptoms and substance use disorder.

One update in Grade 4 is the expectation that kids consider the credibility of different sources about substances and find reliable information.

All of the drafts were written through a harm-reduction lens with non-stigmatizing language that’s a stark contrast to traditional anti-drug messaging.

For example, junior high students will look at how personal values, genetics, curiosity, legality and other factors “influence the use/avoidance of substances and one’s engagement in potentially harmful patterns of behaviour.”

Grade 9 students will be taught misconceptions about drug use, symptoms of substance use disorders and how individuals and communities are impacted by both.

Forms of substance-related stigma and steps to tackle it are a part of Grade 10.

The final years of high school cover prohibition, safe consumption sites and other “broader issues” related to substances.

The curriculum development team made a point of acknowledging the existence of traditional Indigenous medicines and substances being used in Indigenous ceremonies throughout the documents.

Leaders from the Physical Health Educators of Manitoba and Manitoba First Nations School System have endorsed the addition to the curriculum that recognizes spirituality, land-based learning and cultural activities all influence one’s health and well-being.

Teaching children how to offer ceremonial tobacco is listed as one example of how to carry out a new kindergarten requirement to “explore ways to respectfully interact with the land.”

The education minister has said the province plans to collect feedback on the curriculum’s contents throughout a two-year pilot project.

There were 25 schools signed up to immediately start using the new curriculum when the minister hosted a news conference before Labour Day to tease its release. That sum has quadrupled over the last three weeks.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca