Perhaps you are a veteran cannabis user. Or maybe you don鈥檛 know the difference between a bong and a blunt. Either way, it鈥檚 time to start talking to your kids about marijuana.

Whether you like it or not, cannabis is legal now across Canada and experts say parents must make sure their kids understand what鈥檚 happening and how it affects them.

Parenting expert Doone Estey says parents shouldn鈥檛 wait for questions from their kids to start the conversation.

鈥淚 think parents should bring it up first. It鈥檚 in the news and the way you bring up anything that鈥檚 in the news, it鈥檚 important to initiate the discussion with the children,鈥� she told 麻豆影视 Channel Wednesday.

But be sure not to entirely focus on the negatives or the risk of cannabis, she says.

鈥淚f they just talk about how bad it is, the kids will stop listening to them. So it鈥檚 important to explain why kids are taking marijuana and they鈥檙e self-medicating, basically, the same way you talk to your kids about taking alcohol. So talk about the good and the bad and encourage the children to find out as much as they can.鈥�

has prepared a , a guide for parents to talk to their teens.

And don鈥檛 kid yourself, Canadian youth ages 15 to 24 already rank second in cannabis consumption rates in the developed world, according to a World Health Organization study.

According to the National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 90 per cent of addiction begins in adolescence.

鈥淪tudies show that a parent may be able to reduce their child鈥檚 risk of drug use by up to 50 per cent, just by talking to them,鈥� says the DFK Canada website. 鈥淚n fact, one of the main reasons kids will avoid taking drugs is because they don鈥檛 want to disappoint their parents.鈥�

DFK Canada鈥檚 aim is to raise public awareness and to educate families 鈥渦sing evidence-based information so parents and caregivers can engage their kids in a trusting, respectful dialogue about drugs. We want families to talk openly about delaying early experimentation with cannabis and support their kids to make healthy choices,鈥� said Marc Paris, executive director of Drug Free Kids Canada, in a recent press release about an education partnership with Aphria Inc., one of Canada鈥檚 largest cannabis companies.

Estey says it鈥檚 important to stress that just like alcohol, cannabis use is illegal for children (the legal age is 19 in much of Canada, except for Quebec and Alberta where it鈥檚 18) and has a negative effect on a developing brain, an effect made worse the earlier consumption begins. A link has also been made between cannabis use and the appearance of psychosis in youth.

Parents need to discuss with their kids the dangers of driving while high, or consuming edibles when they don鈥檛 know how much cannabis they contain or what the strain is, or how harmful smoking of any kind is to their lungs, says Estey.

Teachers should also be open to addressing questions as best they can and to seeking out information when they don鈥檛 have an answer, so that students can make informed decisions, she says.

鈥淚 think that the teachers also should say, 鈥業f you are going to try it, these are the ways to make sure that you keep yourself safe: by staying with a group; looking out for your buddies; making sure you鈥檙e not driving; don鈥檛 get in a car; all the harm reduction measures you take if you鈥檙e drinking alcohol or using any other drug.鈥�

Parents may find their kids think marijuana is harmless, but it poses serious risks to developing bodies and brains, says the . Regular use can actually damage the brain and it impairs judgement and coordination, distorts perception and can induce paranoia or anxiety.

Some doctors are expressing concern about legalization of recreational cannabis. Toronto emergency doctor Jennifer Boyd tweeted Wednesday: 鈥淚鈥檓 worried about children and accidental ingestions. They Colorado experience suggests I have reason to be鈥︹�� She posted a 麻豆影视 story in which highlights an increase in cannabis-related ER visits since the state legalized recreational marijuana in 2014.

Those visits include children, many of whom have consumed cannabis edibles, such as cookies and candies. The federal government has indicated it intends to legalize edibles but has not set a date yet.

A social media awareness campaign began Wednesday aimed at preventing inadvertent cannabis exposure for children. , a partnership of injury prevention non-profit Parachute and poison centres across Canada, uses hashtag #PotCanPoisonKids.

Among other measures, it urges adults to store all cannabis products like medications and toxic products, by locking them up in child-resistant containers and out of reach of kids.

A study by poison centres in Ontario, Manitoba and Nunavut found that from 2013 to 2017 there was a 50 per cent increase in calls concerning cannabis exposure for those under 18.

The onus is on adults to protect children in their homes if adults choose to use cannabis, says Steve Podborski, president and CEO of Parachute. 鈥淩ight now, there are no regulations for safe storage of cannabis products, such as child-resistant packages or warning labels. That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 crucial to store all cannabis products in a locked space out of the reach of kids.鈥�