Marijuana Studies Reveal Some Risks Not Known Before; News Roundup

Juvenile Justice Reform

• New Web-Based Expungement Tools Launched by IL, MD, LA (National Juvenile Justice Network)
  Having a record—even from youth court—can drastically affect a young person’s life chances, including their prospects of education, employment, and housing. Expunging that record is one way to address this issue, but the requirements for expungement are often opaque to many who are eligible.

• Critics Point to Problems in Louisiana’s Reformed Juvenile Justice System (JJIE)
  Reports of gladiator-style fighting, guards molesting children and a lack of basic education for kids as young as 14 once gave Louisiana’s juvenile justice system the reputation of one of the worst in the country. In 2003, the Louisiana Legislature passed sweeping reforms. Over time, those efforts helped whittle down the number of kids locked in sprawling, prison-like facilities from more than 2,000 to about 350 today.

• State Awarded $6.75 Million to Support Offender Re-entry Services (Effingham Herald)
  Gov. Nathan Deal announced that Georgia was awarded $6.75 million in federal grant     money to support re-entry services for rehabilitated offenders.
• No Country for Young Men (The Marshall Project)
  On Feb. 27, 2013, 17-year-old Junior Smith was summoned to the front office of his Philippi, West Virginia, high school. It was eighth period, just a few minutes before everyone would start streaming out of the building for dismissal. When Junior got to the office, a police officer was there, waiting for him. The officer handcuffed Junior and led him past his staring classmates to a waiting patrol car.

Jobs, Grants, Events and Webinars

• Please share the Reclaiming Futures Opportunity Board with your colleagues in the juvenile justice, adolescent substance abuse and teen mental health areas. It’s free to browse and post!

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment and Mental Health

• Children’s Mental Health Changes Aimed at Addressing ER Crisis (CT Mirror)
  Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is expected to announce a plan Wednesday to expand the services available for children and teens with significant mental health needs, a response to concerns about the growing number of young people going to -- and often stuck in -- emergency rooms in psychiatric crisis.

• Strong Attention Skills Can Help Some Teens Avoid Substance Use Problems (PsychCentral)
  New research suggests teens with strong executive attention skills – the ability to focus on task and ignore distractions – are more likely to avoid substance abuse issues after early drug experimentation.

• Butte Lands Big Grant for Suicide Prevention (Montana Standard)
  Butte public schools have landed a massive grant aimed at preventing suicide. The district will split the $1.2 million grant with Kalispell and Browning public schools, part of a series of grants announced this week by Superintendent Denise Juneau of the Montana Office of Public Instruction.

• Marijuana Studies Reveal Some Risks Not Known Before (The Wichita Eagle)
  With clever names like Peace of Mind, Girl Scout Cookies, Train Wreck and Tsunami, it’s a good bet that the marketers of legal marijuana finished high school. That’s less certain for their younger customers. New research shows daily marijuana use before the age of 17 cuts your chances of graduating from high school or getting a college degree by 60 percent.