HomeMy WebLinkAbout20172879.tiffRESOLUTION
RE: APPROVE REQUEST FOR PARTICIPATION IN MARIJUANA STUDY
WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners of Weld County, Colorado, pursuant to
Colorado statute and the Weld County Home Rule Charter, is vested with the authority of
administering the affairs of Weld County, Colorado, and
WHEREAS, the Board has been presented with a Request from the Weld County
Department of Human Services, Area Agency on Aging, to participate in a Marijuana Study with
the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, through the University of Colorado
Springs, and
WHEREAS, after review, the Board deems it advisable to approve said request, a copy of
which is attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of County Commissioners of Weld
County, Colorado, that the Request from the Weld County Department of Human Services, Area
Agency on Aging, to participate in a Marijuana Study with the Colorado Department of Public
Health and Environment, through the University of Colorado Springs, be and hereby is, approved.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Board that the Chair be, and hereby is, authorized
to sign said request.
The above and foregoing Resolution was, on motion duly made and seconded, adopted
by the following vote on the 23rd day of August, A.D., 2017.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
WELD CQ JNTY, COLORADO
ATTEST: dethiv'
Weld County Clerk to the Board
BY/
APP
ie A. Cozad Chair
EXCUSED
Steve Moreno, Pro-Tem
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can P. Conway
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arbara Kirkmeyer
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2017-2879
HR0088
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDEN'1'IAI,
MEMORANDUM
DATE: August 10, 2017
TO: Board of County Commissioners ---- Pass -Around
FR: Judy A. Griego, Director, Human Services
RE: Weld County Department of Human Services' Area Agency on
Aging (AAA) Participation in Marijuana Study
Please review and indicate if you would like a work session prior to placing this item on the Board's agenda.
Request Board Approval of the Departments' Area Agency on Aging (AAA) Participation in Marijuana
Study. The Area Agency on Aging has been approached by Dr. Sara Qualls to help locate seniors who may be
interested in participating in their Marijuana study, through the University of Colorado Springs. The
Department's only duty, in regards to the study, would be to allow access to seniors, who are participating in
our congregate meal sites throughout the county, by Dr. Qualls and her staff. We will not be participating in
collecting or analyzing the surveys.
We are recommending that we participate in the study because:
I) The results of the study will assist our planning efforts in providing service supports for our aging
populations; and
2) The study may point to the degree that our aging population is interested in using marijuana as a pain
control strategy, rather than narcotic use.
The study will be limited to those congregate meal sites that also agree to participate in the study. Attached is
the Executive Summary of the study; their hope is to gather data throughout August.
I do not recommend a Work Session. I recommend approval for AAA to participate in the study.
Sean P. Conway
Julie A. Cozad, Chair
Mike Freeman
Barbara Kirkmeyer
Steve Moreno, Pro-Tem
Approve
Recommendation Work Session
Schedule
Other/Comments:
2017-2879
Pass -Around Memorandum; August 10, 2017 — Not in CMS Page 1
Older Coloradoans and Marijuana:
A Public Health Problem or Policy Alternative
University of Colorado
Colorado Springs
Primary Investigator - Sara Honn Qualls, Ph.D
squalls@uccs.edu, 719-255-8038
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has illuminated several critical public
health issues pertaining to the increasing availability of recreational and medical marijuana. Yet, there have been only a
few glimpses into the public health issues concerning the use of marijuana by older Coloradans. The extent to which older
adults who use marijuana for either recreational, medical or both purposes has not been documented, nor have any of the
most relevant outcomes of using marijuana. The purpose of this research project is to close the gaps in what we
currently know by collecting pilot data from a small sample of older adults.
In conducting this pilot study, we will address four of the five CDPHE programmatic priority areas relative to
older Coloradans and marijuana use. In particular, though survey questions and focus group discussions, we will collect
data that allow us to illuminate: (i) access and safety concerns with using marijuana, particularly exploring how these
relate to (ii) potency and (iii) frequency and methods of marijuana use. We also will collect data and be able to conduct
preliminary analyses concerning (iv) negative (e.g., harm, increased morbidity) and positive (e.g., symptom relief)
outcomes associated with marijuana use.
Our primary aim is to empirically illuminate the rapidly growing intersection between Colorado's aging
population and marijuana use by pursuing a program of research organized by the central hypothesis that individual
outcomes of using marijuana (e.g., increased morbidity, reduced pain) are shaped by age (e.g., health needs), period (e.g,
access to dispensary sites) and cohort effects (e.g., more tolerant social attitudes about medical and recreational use).
With the support of a CDPHE Marijuana Public Health Research Pilot Grant, we propose to conduct 32 focus
groups across the state of Colorado and use primary data collected from up to 240 individual participants to meet three
objectives.
1) Provide an initial description of the population of older Coloradans who use marijuana, in terms of
frequency and methods; and contrast these older adults with those who do not use marijuana.
2) Explicate both positive and negative outcomes associated with marijuana use among older Coloradans and
conduct initial hypothesis testing about factors contributing to these outcomes.
3) Devise an efficient strategy to field a large, representative population survey of older Coloradans that
facilitates statistical analyses in which individual outcomes are evaluated over time and in consideration of
an exhaustive set of explanatory variables.
This pilot work will lead to several desirable outcomes including the production of a white paper focusing on
recreational and medical marijuana use among the fastest growing population group in the state of Colorado. We will
present our findings at professional and public meetings across the state of Colorado and at national academic research
meetings. More important, upon successful completion of this pilot work, we intend to submit a full research grant
proposal in which we propose to field a large, representative population survey among older Coloradans. This follow-on
study will capitalize on several aspects of the pilot work. For example, we will identify survey questions that were shown
to provide reliable and valid data; this proposed study also will feature an efficient sampling process that generates a
sufficiently large enough sample to conduct multi -variable, multi -level statistical testing; and this follow-on study will
focus on answering the most compelling questions that emerged from our pilot analyses.
To reach these outcomes, we propose to take six steps to complete a cross-sectional pilot study of marijuana use
among a purposive sampling of approximately 240 Coloradans who are over the age of 65. The first 2 steps involve
selecting a final set of survey and focus group discussion questions, and then conducting up to 32 focus groups hosted by
senior centers, wellness clinics, health clinics and marijuana dispensaries located in each of Colorado's geographically
defined 16 area agencies on aging. The next two steps consist of compiling and cleaning the primary data collected from
the survey questions and focus group discussions, and then analyzing the data using both quantitative and qualitative
approaches. Individual survey answers will generate descriptive data (e.g., mean, median, range) about the older adult
participants, including the frequency and methods of using marijuana, and the quantitative analyses also will include
multi -variable approaches in which relationships between outcomes and antecedents are tested using correlational and
multivariable regression analyses, depending on the final sample size. The focus
group narratives will be most useful in helping us improve the reliability and This study is funded by the
validity of the survey questions, and devising an efficient strategy to field a large PHA COLORADO
population survey. Finally, we will move to disseminate the findings from our pilot CO Department of Public
Health Er Environment
analysis and prepare the proposal to field a large, representative population survey
among older Coloradans.
Marijuana Public Health Research Grants
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