Minnesota school districts are heading into summer with a new assignment: building cannabis education lessons that will be required in every middle and high school classroom beginning in the 2026 to 2027 school year.
The cannabis education requirement was first created in 2023, when Minnesota legalized recreational marijuana, and updated in the 2025 Minnesota Statutes, which now require all districts to implement the curriculum beginning in the 2026–27 school year.
To help schools prepare, the Minnesota Prevention Alliance Foundation created a state‑approved guidebook that outlines what students must learn, how districts can implement the new lessons, and which model programs meet the law’s requirements. The nonprofit group said it was formed specifically to help schools navigate cannabis prevention education and won a state contract to develop the resource.
Ken Winters, a former University of Minnesota psychiatry professor and a research advisor for the foundation, said the guidebook was created because many schools are not teaching drug prevention in a way that meets the new standards.
“We realize a lot of schools maybe did drug prevention at a general level, but they weren’t focusing enough on specific cannabis topics that the state said are going to be needed in part of any prevention education,” Winters said. “Some schools don’t do drug prevention any real specific. They might have health education, but they don’t address drug prevention in a specific way.”
The new requirement means students will receive science‑based instruction.
“With the cannabis topic, they’re going to be learning about THC, the main intoxicant in the plant, and its impact on brain development, learning, and mental health,” Winters said. “And then they’re going to also be learning how do you adjust to the new environment in Minnesota, since it’s legal for adults, and it’s also medicalized.”
The mandate applies to both middle and high school students. Winters said the guidebook identifies programs that include separate versions for different grade levels, with adjustments for reading level, comprehension, and the types of activities students can engage in. He said the guidebook also includes guidance for tailoring lessons to different communities.
“Our guidebook does provide some help on how to make sure you’re adjusting your program and implementation and discussions and activities to meet community values and to be culturally smart about delivering,” Winters said.
The guidebook also lists three model cannabis‑prevention programs that meet most of the state’s requirements. Winters said these programs were selected after reviewing more than two dozen options and narrowing the list to the ones that aligned most closely with Minnesota’s new mandate.
The three programs are:
• Smart Talk, developed by Stanford Medicine’s REACH Lab. It includes interactive lessons, quizzes and take‑home guides for families.
• Cannabis: The Facts You Need to Know, created by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. It offers a science‑based lesson plan with student articles, online exercises and activity sheets.
• Marijuana Prevention Plus Wellness, a program that focuses on healthy lifestyle behaviors, goal‑setting and personalized feedback.
Winters said districts can adopt one of these programs, supplement an existing curriculum or build their own, as long as it meets all 14 required features outlined in state law. St. Paul Public Schools told KSTP it plans to use Smart Talk.
The guidebook also includes timed classroom activities, quizzes, and discussion prompts that districts can use to supplement their curriculum. One example is the activity titled “Did You Know This About Cannabis,” and asks students to respond to statements about cannabis harms before discussing them in small groups. Other activities include general drug use lessons, video‑based assignments, and middle school versions of the same content.
Winters said some schools may be able to insert the new lessons into existing health classes, while others will need to build a curriculum from scratch.
“A lot of schools already have a very rigorous health education program in place at the middle and high school level, so it might be an easy insert,” Winters said. “Some schools we’ve learned don’t have a particular drug prevention education curriculum, and so there isn’t a teacher in place or an allocation in their school system in their school year to insert this. They might have to do some significant groundwork to get the ball rolling.”
He said parents will be able to review the curriculum and opt their child out of the cannabis lessons.
Winters said the goal is not to scare students, but to give them accurate information and help them make healthy decisions.
“It’s such a challenge these days with young people in America, particularly if you’re in a state where cannabis is legalized, to have what I’d call safe and healthy attitudes and approaches to cannabis and its use,” Winters said. “Cannabis by young people can be a lot more dangerous than cannabis use by adults. I hope that’s one big lesson.”
He said research shows cannabis can negatively affect mental health and disrupt brain development, especially because THC overstimulates endocannabinoid receptors that play a key role in learning, emotional regulation, and decision‑making.
“The youth years are a significant time where the brain is developing,” Winters said. “Cannabis, THC particularly, overactivates these endocannabinoid receptors, and the notion is that it creates chaos of these receptors, and thus it’s disrupting normal brain development.”
The urgency behind the new curriculum was underscored in May, when Moorhead police said ten middle school students became sick after eating THC edibles that were 60 times the legal limit. Investigators said each piece contained 300 milligrams of THC, far beyond Minnesota’s legal limit of 5 milligrams per serving and 50 milligrams per package. Winters said incidents like that highlight why students need to understand how potency has changed and why today’s products carry greater risks.
“I think everyone thought that would be a problem when THC became more popular in our culture,” Winters said. “Just because it’s a gummy, or just because people say it’s medicine, that doesn’t mean what you’re taking is safe. A lot of people can’t handle these high potency levels, and young people are sometimes going to be involved in those stories.”
Winters said the foundation spent about 18 months researching cannabis prevention programs and developing the guidebook. The group identified 25 programs but narrowed the list to three that met the state’s criteria.
The Minnesota Department of Education said it is also updating its broader health standards for the 2028 to 2029 school year. Winters said the foundation can help districts understand how their current curriculum fits with both sets of requirements.
At the end of next school year, Winters said success would look like students reporting healthier attitudes about cannabis and showing more awareness of the risks.
“It will be interesting to see if we see the Minnesota student survey show reduction in marijuana use, more young people saying yes, it can be harmful to an underage person, and that they are more concerned about the high potency THC,” Winters said. “If we can change attitudes and then also change some of the use behaviors, that would be a big plus.”
Winters said educators, parents, or students who have questions can reach out to the foundation at mpafound@gmail.com
View the full Guidebook below:
