Colorado has been at the forefront of drug reform in the United States since 2014, when it became the first state to legally sell marijuana for recreational use. Eight years later, in 2022, it became the second state in the nation to offer legal access to psychedelic-assisted therapy, building on efforts to decriminalize psilocybin mushrooms dating back to 2019. As these drugs have become more culturally acceptable and legally accessible, schools have had to rethink how they approach talking about them. After all, how do you educate youth about substance use and abuse when you can’t tell them to ‘just say no’? Colorado’s “local control” approach means there’s no standardization for drug and health education, and lessons vary widely throughout the state — from Denver where there are many types of prevention education and interventions to rural districts like Gunnison, which hired its first full-time staff member to oversee health programming in 2024. Read the three-part series at the...