SMITHS FALLS, ON and TORONTO , May 28, 2019 /CNW/ - Canopy Growth Corporation ("Canopy Growth" or the "Company") (WEED.TO) (CGC) is pleased to announce the next phase in its partnership with Parent Action on Drugs ("PAD") and Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy ("CSSDP") which will see PAD launch two new digital tools to help youth along with their parents, adult caregivers, and influencers, on how to make responsible decisions about cannabis use.
"Weed Like to Know"
Chatbot
PAD employed the technical expertise of Massively, a leader in artificial
intelligence, to develop a fun and interactive chatbot designed to
engage, educate and encourage conversation between parents and
their kids about cannabis. This tool helps parents structure
conversations with their pre-teens about cannabis to inform and
prevent early use, associated with a number of negative
short and long-term outcomes. By having an informed, open dialogue
about cannabis, parents can protect their children while creating a
culture of knowledge and resiliency.
Through activities like charades, quiz questions, and "what would you do?" scenarios, chatbot users learn age-appropriate evidence-based information about cannabis, its effects, the law, risks to youth during brain development, and reasons youth consume or not. Content related to harm reduction and safety for cannabis consumers is also covered.
Weed Like to Know can be accessed on a desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone, through the PAD website, or Facebook Messenger and Twitter. Additionally, the chatbot will be deployed directly inside display ads on targeted websites.
What's With Weed SMS Tool:
PAD
collaborated with Evolution Health Systems, a trailblazer
in creating digital health tools, to build a youth-focused cannabis
education and problematic use prevention text message program aimed
at teens and young adults (15-21 years).
People can subscribe through the new, What's With Weed (WWW), comprehensive cannabis education website, whatswithweed.ca. Once they do, they will receive texts with proactive messages every day for 54 days. The text messages will focus on:
Subscribers can also select from a list of "keywords" to get additional, targeted educational and support messages. Although the tool is more relevant for youth who use cannabis, or those who may be concerned about their use, anyone will be able to learn from this valuable information. The WWW site also includes an anonymous brief intervention questionnaire, Check Your Cannabis, and personal risk profile report.
"PAD is incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to advance its resource development forward by providing educational information on cannabis through unique digital tools," stated Joanne Brown , Executive Director of Parent Action on Drugs. "PAD's mandate is to provide youth, parents, and youth influencers with evidence-based information to support youth in making informed decisions. Through the partnership with Canopy Growth and CSSDP, we are excited to launch these innovative tools that will put current information in the hands of parents and youth through their smartphones."
"We're thrilled to see CSSDP's Sensible Cannabis Education Toolkit being used to inform the development of new educational tools in a rapidly changing and expanding policy landscape. Parents are often left out of cannabis education initiatives. Yet, they are on the frontlines of engaging youth in evidence-based cannabis conversations," says Dr. Jenna Valleriani , Strategic Advisor for Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
"Now that cannabis is legalized in Canada , we have a tremendous responsibility to ensure families have the tools they need to have pragmatic, well-informed conversations about cannabis," commented Hilary Black , Chief Advocacy Officer, Canopy Growth. "It is our privilege to have brought together Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy and Parent Action on Drugs, the leaders in evidence-based education for youth to develop these essential interactive tools we are launching today."
Today's announcement follows the recent publication by CSSDP of a comprehensive cannabis education toolkit aimed at youth as part of the first phase of the partnership with Canopy Growth, CSSDP and PAD. The Sensible Cannabis Education: A Toolkit for Educating Youth focuses on realistic and evidence-based approaches to cannabis education for young Canadians. Since its launch, it has been viewed online over 1,000 times, with over 500 hard copies in English and French being distributed to parents, educators, other stakeholders and youth.
Canopy Growth continues to focus on engaging in meaningful Corporate Social Responsibility ("CSR") initiatives. Its CSR strategy is based on listening to communities and stakeholders and supporting areas where awareness and education can make a difference. Just some of the initiatives Canopy Growth has undertaken include:
Here's to Future (Responsible) Growth.
About Parent Action on Drugs
Parent
Action on Drugs is a Canadian registered charitable organization,
has addressed the issues related to youth substance use since 1983.
PAD develops and disseminates a range of programs and resources for
parents, youth, educators, health promoters and communities. We aim
to reduce the harms associated with the use of alcohol and other
drugs and increase informed decision making and build resiliency
among youth.
About Canadian Students for Sensible Drug
Policy (CSSDP)
Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy
(CSSDP is a grassroots national network comprised of youth and
students who are concerned about the negative impact our drug
policies have on individuals and communities. CSSDP considers
problematic drug use in society primarily a health issue rather
than a criminal justice issue, and advocates for appropriate,
evidence based responses to reduce and prevent harm from drug use.
CSSDP currently runs 12 local youth-run chapters across Canada , in
addition to a national Board of Directors, and is working to
increase access and awareness of harm reduction, support
evidence-based legislation, and promote drug policy reform on
local, national and international levels.
About Canopy Growth
Corporation
Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED, NYSE:CGC) is a
world-leading diversified cannabis, hemp and cannabis device
company, offering distinct brands and curated cannabis varieties in
dried, oil and Softgel capsule forms, as well as medical devices
through the Company's subsidiary, Storz & Bickel GMbH & Co.
KG. From product and process innovation to market execution, Canopy
Growth is driven by a passion for leadership and a commitment to
building a world-class cannabis company one product, site and
country at a time. The Company has operations in over a dozen
countries across five continents.
The Company's medical division, Spectrum Therapeutics is proudly dedicated to educating healthcare practitioners, conducting robust clinical research, and furthering the public's understanding of cannabis, and has devoted millions of dollars toward cutting edge, commercializable research and IP development. Spectrum Therapeutics sells a range of full-spectrum products using its colour-coded classification Spectrum system as well as single cannabinoid Dronabinol under the brand Bionorica Ethics.
The Company operates retail stores across Canada under its award-winning Tweed and Tokyo Smoke banners. Tweed is a globally recognized cannabis brand which has built a large and loyal following by focusing on quality products and meaningful customer relationships.
From our historic public listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange to our continued international expansion, pride in advancing shareholder value through leadership is engrained in all we do at Canopy Growth. Canopy Growth has established partnerships with leading sector names including cannabis icons Snoop Dogg and Seth Rogen , breeding legends DNA Genetics and Green House Seeds, and Fortune 500 alcohol leader Constellation Brands, to name but a few. Canopy Growth operates ten licensed cannabis production sites with over 4.6 million square feet of production capacity, including over one million square feet of GMP certified production space. For more information visit www.canopygrowth.com
Notice Regarding Forward Looking
Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the United States Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking
information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities
legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements and
information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans",
"expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates",
"intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes",
or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain
actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or
"will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements
or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or
achievements of Canopy Growth or its subsidiaries to be materially
different from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements or
information contained in this news release. Examples of such
statements include "launch two new digital tools, and "continues to
focus on engaging in meaningful Corporate Social Responsibility
("CSR") initiatives". Risks, uncertainties and other factors
involved with forward-looking information could cause actual
events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
information, including tool functionality, and such risks contained
in the Company's annual information form dated June 27, 2018 and
filed with Canadian securities regulators available on the
Company's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company
believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the
forward-looking information or forward-looking statements in this
news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on
such information and no assurance can be given that such events
will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The
forward-looking information and forward-looking statements included
in this news release are made as of the date of this news release
and the Company does not undertake an obligation to publicly update
such forward-looking information or forward-looking information to
reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless
required by applicable securities laws.