"carver cares: a multi-sector community coalition approach to address youth marijuana and prescription drug use" will enhance and further strength community collaborations to further reduce and…

"carver cares: a multi-sector community coalition approach to address youth marijuana and prescription drug use" will enhance and further strength community collaborations to further reduce and prevent youth prescription drug use and marijuana use in the rural town of carver, massachusetts. Carver cares will work with the town of carver, located in plymouth county, massachusetts and is 38.73 square miles. The town is situated approximately 45 miles south of boston with about 11,797 residents. The target population for the proposed project are individuals aged 18 and under in carver. According to the US census, carver's population is made up of 94.5% white, 0.4% black/african american, 0.2% american indian/alaskan native, 1% asian, and 2.3% two or more races. Hispanic or latino of any race were of 1.2% the population. The purpose of this project is for the carver cares coalition to improve and create an interdisciplinary multi-pronged approach to educate and inform the community of carver about adverse childhood experiences (aces), the impacts, risks and harms of youth marijuana use as well as the misuse of prescription drugs. This project is intended to further establish community-based efforts in creating a robust curriculum and processes in carver that will specifically address the perceived acceptance and accessibility to both marijuana and prescription drugs by youth, and include components regarding the long-term impacts of aces. The project goals are to change local policies, regulations and laws related to youth substance use in order to continue to decrease access of substances and minimize the risk for aces, while increasing education and resources for all residents in carver.