The Washington State Department of Health announced Thursday the start of a new statewide prevention campaign to educate 12 – 17-year-olds about the risks and consequences of marijuana use.

The Listen2YourSelfie campaign taps into the popular activity of taking “selfies” to demonstrate the health risks posed by using marijuana while brains are still developing, as well as how using marijuana can derail personal goals and opportunities.

“We’re committed to keeping all of our young people safe and healthy,” said Secretary of Health John Wiesman. “One way to help create the healthiest next generation is to educate about the risks of marijuana and empower our youth to make healthy choices.”

Guided by research conducted with a diverse group of youth across the state, the campaign features youth putting school, sports, extracurricular activities, friends and family ahead of marijuana and empowers them to “Remember what’s important. Forget marijuana.”

The Listen2YourSelfie campaign was created with funding from Initiative 502, which requires the department to implement a statewide media-based campaign to prevent youth marijuana use. It will deliver videos and advertisements to youth as they surf their favorite websites, interact with friends on social media, play online games, use search engines, and listen to streaming radio.

Listen2YourSelfie.org will serve as the campaign’s website and resource for youth to learn more about the health risks posed by using marijuana. According to the 2014 Healthy Youth Survey, 18 percent of 10th graders report having used marijuana within the past 30 days.

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