In 2018 Bluntalk expanded its mission to address underage marijuana, vaping,  opioid, alcohol, and other drug use, by providing education so youth can choose to make an informed decision. Bluntalk has three programmatic goals:

1. Reduce the percentage of youth and young adults who begin to use marijuana, and encourage harm reduction for youth that use with alternatives coping skills and techniques. 

2. Encourage parents to talk with their children and teens about the risks of marijuana, vaping, alcohol, opioids, tobacco, prescription drugs, and other illicit drugs. 

3. Promote community outreach, public education campaigns and other strategies to provide informational resources and support to community groups around Cuyahoga, Lake, Summit, Lorain, Geagua, Medina, Stark County, as well as surrounding counties, and support changes to local and state policies and laws that promote healthy youth and communities.   

Bluntalk’s Strategies

Bluntalk uses six strategies identified by The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that shape our prevention work. This includes:

Information dissemination - Increases knowledge and changes attitudes through communications. This method of learning is mainly one-way, such as classroom speakers, workshops and media campaigns.

Prevention education - A two-way approach to teaching participants important social skills. These skills can include resisting pressure to use drugs, looking at the intent behind advertising, or developing other skills used in making healthy choices. 

Positive alternatives - Provide fun, challenging, and structured activities with supervision so people have constructive and healthy ways to enjoy free time and learn skills. These alcohol- and drug-free activities help people—particularly young people— stay away from situations that encourage use of marijuana, tobacco, or illegal drugs. 

Environmental strategies - Are aimed at the settings and conditions in which people live, work, and socialize. These strategies call for change in policies and enforcement— to reduce risk factors and increase protective factors.

Identification of problems - This includes educating the community and parents about the behavior of young people who are at high risk or who are using alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. 

Connect to resources -  To increase the community’s ability to identify and refer to effective prevention and treatment services.