ABOUT MPI
The San Diego County MPI works to reduce youth access to marijuana by increasing public awareness regarding the adverse effects resulting from youth marijuana use. We aim to decrease community acceptance and tolerance of marijuana use and access among youth living in San Diego County between the ages of 12-25. These years are crucial both academically and developmentally.
The MPI uses research-based strategies for all community interventions and ensures that efforts are SMART — Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. The Initiative additionally supports regional capacity building through the SAMSHA Prevention Technology Transfer Center (PTTC) Region-9 as a Advisory Board Member.
Live Well, San Diego!
The work of the Marijuana Prevention Initiative (MPI) supports the Countywide strategic initiative, Live Well, San Diego! which aims to improve the health and well-being of residents. Live Well Tools for Schools.
Key Leadership Team
The MPI focuses on providing resources and implementing recommendations identified by the Marijuana Initiative Key Leadership Team, a multi-sector leadership team working to advance innovative solutions to reduce youth access to marijuana throughout San Diego County.
- Roneet Lev, MD FACEP, Former Chief Medical Officer at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and current Chief of the Emergency Department at Scripps Mercy Hospital, High Truths Podcast Host
- Dr. Joanna Jacobus, Assistant Professor in the UCSD Department of Psychiatry.
- Jennifer Harmon, Crime Laboratory Director, San Diego Sheriff Department
- Jim Crittenden, San Diego County Office of Education
- Jeni Mendel, Behavioral Health Advisory Board Member, District 2
- Salvador Garcia, Youth Development Assistant, San Diego County Office of Education
Friday Night Live/Club Live Programs - Patrick Foley, CATC, Community Outreach Director, McAlister Institute
- San Diego Law Enforcement Coordinating Center, LECC
- Nathan A. Painter, Pharm.D., CDCES, FADCES, FCPhA, FCCP, Clinical Professor of Pharmacy
UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science
“Joe Eberstein has provided MHS North Inland Community Prevention staff and many of our regional stakeholders with tremendous insight on the various applications and topics in support of the Marijuana Prevention Initiative projects we are working on...Joe helped us organize to raise public awareness of the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana or other drugs. He is incredibly well-informed, and instinctively intuitive. We are fortunate and privileged to have a trusted colleague like Joe and the MPI contributing to the AOD prevention successes we are realizing in the San Diego North Inland region.”
— Mental Health Systems, North Inland Community Prevention Program