Nearly four decades after overcoming her own struggles with addiction, Bucknell University Professor Judy Grisel, psychology and neuroscience, is trying to help others avoid the same pain. Through her education, decades of research, and her New York Times bestselling book Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction, Grisel has worked to illuminate the biological roots of addiction and the human stories behind it.

Now, with the launch of TrueWeed.org, she is taking that work one step further — creating a direct way to share clear, research-based information about cannabis use and addiction with young people around the world. The site is part of the broader TrueDrugs project, a nonprofit research and education initiative founded by Grisel earlier this year to empower healthy choices about addictive substances and behaviors.

Supported by Bucknell and private donations, TrueDrugs aims to close the gap between scientific knowledge and public understanding of addiction research, particularly among adolescents and young adults. The project translates complex scientific findings found in top-tier research journals into clear, accessible resources designed to help people make evidence-based decisions about substance use.

"We believe this is important work because people need accurate information to make healthy choices," says Grisel. "More than one in three people in the U.S. will develop a substance use disorder in their lifetime, and most begin using during adolescence — a period of brain development that is ripe for the use and abuse of mind-altering drugs. Lack of knowledge, or misinformation, among teens therefore leads directly to more suffering."

At the core of TrueWeed.org is a global network of student volunteers led by Grisel. The project began with 10 Bucknell students and has expanded to include volunteers from Switzerland, Turkey, Pakistan and Canada. Currently, 15 Bucknell students are working on the project. Students collaborate in small, interdisciplinary teams — including psychology, neuroscience, engineering, economics, and management majors — to analyze scientific papers, interpret findings and present them in language young audiences can understand.

"Small groups of students carefully read a recent scientific paper and work together and with me to understand the hypotheses, methods, results and broader implications of the study, as well as to brainstorm ways to make this information accessible for other young people," Grisel says.

The resulting content appears on digital platforms popular with teens and young adults, including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Bluesky. All written and digital materials are created and refined by students with faculty support to be easily understood.

TrueWeed.org is the first in a series of planned sites under the TrueDrugs umbrella, each addressing a different substance or addictive behavior. Future websites will include TrueDope.org for opiate research, TrueDrink.org for alcohol studies and others dedicated to the science of specific addictions.

The website features summaries of peer-reviewed research, educational videos, podcasts, interviews with scientists and individuals in recovery, and links to related Bucknell research. The project's first phase focuses on cannabis education, with new content released twice weekly on social media and archived on the website. Among the first short videos is "How Is Cannabis Affecting My Memory?" — a social media reel that is less than a minute in length.

"The main focus of the project is social media because that's where most young people get their information," Grisel says. "It's really designed to be educational and outreach-oriented — not persuasive, just informative."

The TrueDrugs initiative has drawn support from several national leaders in addiction research and prevention.

The project's visual identity was developed by Bucknell alumna Lena Miskulin '18, who illustrated Grisel's book. The team also includes part-time content manager Ash Little, a former professional journalist, who helps oversee communications and student coordination. The group also collaborates with Bucknell's Dominguez Center for Data Science to apply data tools that analyze engagement and refine outreach strategies.

A behavioral neuroscientist whose research focuses on the biological bases of addiction, Grisel says TrueWeed.org reflects her ongoing mission to make scientific findings relevant and understandable for those who need them most.

"There are plenty of websites aimed at parents. I want to reach young people in order to help them understand and appreciate scientific evidence and to share it with others," Grisel says.

By combining scientific rigor with clear communication, this initiative will narrow the growing gap between research and real-world understanding of addiction.