About - One Chance to Grow Up

When it comes to kids, their future is ours to create

One Chance to Grow Up is Safeguarding kids from today’s dangerous and deceptive drugs through community, education, and groundbreaking policy.

For kids, everyone raising kids, and all those supporting them in the era of legalized marijuana: One Chance to Grow Up has your back.

We’re here to give you the words you need when you don’t know what to say. We’re here to teach you what you might not know. And to be the voice for kids that policymakers hear loud and clear.

It’s our mission to protect the public health and safety of kids from the unintended harms of marijuana/THC as commercialization increases and an alarming array of products continue to evolve and become readily available. No matter how anyone feels about the legalization, we should all be able to agree that marijuana is harmful to kids.

We continue to identify and analyze regulatory gaps that must be addressed. We remain nimble as products, potencies, and laws change at a rapid pace, including the emerging challenge of hemp-derived THC intoxicating products, legalized across the nation by the Federal Farm Bill of 2018. Kids don’t always know how to protect themselves, which is why we all need to step up.

We’ve been vigilant about the effects of THC on kids from the first days of legalization. We don’t take sides on the politics of legalization but instead serve as a reliable resource for parents, media, policymakers, and all those who care about kids.

"There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”

- Nelson Mandela

Our History

In 2013, our work began as a group of concerned parents who met in the Colorado Capitol after the voters of Colorado passed Amendment 64, which legalized recreational marijuana use for those 21 years and older. A state task force convened to create the “first in the world” regulatory framework to license, regulate, and tax this new industry. When this task force ranked the “public health and safety of Colorado youth” last of its priorities we realized we had to organize to be the voice for kids. This stark reality of profits over kids led to the formation of the nonpartisan, nonprofit, Smart Colorado.

In 2020, we rebranded Smart Colorado, to One Chance To Grow Up. The rebranding clearly defines that our goals and principles are focused on transparency and education of parents, trusted adults, policymakers, and regulators nationwide, to implement and orchestrate sound THC policy, and robust regulations to protect all youth.

No matter how anyone feels about legalization, we all must agree that marijuana is bad for kids. Because of our exclusive focus and firm but pragmatic stance, we cross the aisle and engage diverse stakeholders to make an impact.

We do not receive or apply for any tax revenues from the sale of marijuana or THC so we provide an independent and trusted voice for kids. We are 100% funded by citizens and foundations that value the importance of protecting kids from the harmful consequences of marijuana/THC commercialization.