Take Colorado, Please: Legalizing Pot is Bad Policy

By Elizabeth Nelson

Only potheads thought legalizing pot was a good idea, "people are gonna smoke it, we might

as well make money on it," said no clear minded person ever. Well, now the traffic fatalities of Marijuana-Positive Drivers are on the rise, while alcohol fatalities remain the same,  in Colorado, among other statistics. [insert shocked face here].  

The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado Impact report was released this month and Jacksonville, FL needs to pay attention, because we're voting on legalizing this "medicinal" ragweed, and wisdom comes from learning from other's mistakes.

This new report paints a nasty picture of what really happens when one tries to "make a taxation buck" from the legalized possession, sale, and consumption of marijuana, as states like Colorado has.

 According to the report, by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area entitled “The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact,” the impact of legalized marijuana in Colorado has resulted in:

1. The majority of DUI drug arrests involve marijuana and 25 to 40 percent were marijuana alone.

2. In 2012, 10.47 percent of Colorado youth ages 12 to 17 were considered current marijuana users compared to 7.55 percent nationally. Colorado ranked fourth in the nation, and was 39 percent higher than the national average.

3. Drug-related student suspensions/expulsions increased 32 percent from school years 2008-09 through 2012-13, the vast majority were for marijuana violations.

4. In 2012, 26.81 percent of college age students were considered current marijuana users compared to 18.89 percent nationally, which ranks Colorado third in the nation and 42 percent above the national average.

5. In 2013, 48.4 percent of Denver adult arrestees tested positive for marijuana, which is a 16 percent increase from 2008.

6. From 2011 through 2013 there was a 57 percent increase in marijuana-related emergency room visits.

7. Hospitalizations related to marijuana has increased 82 percent since 2008.

The report includes a plethora of other data about the negative effects of legalizing marijuana in Colorado, including marijuana-related exposure to children, treatment, the flood of marijuana in and out of Colorado, the dangers of pot extraction labs and other disturbing factual trends, but it's depressing, and you can read it here.  In a nutshell, it goes along the lines of my favorite quote:

"Your friends already know and your enemies don't care."  In this case, Conservatives already understand and pot heads and liberals don't give a shi*, they want this legalized so they can further destroy our country and our children.

So, I don’t expect this data to impact the push to legalize pot in Colorado, or elsewhere, like here in Jacksonville, FL, for that matter. Big pot is big business, and the push to legalize is really all about profit, despite inconvenient facts.

Drug policy should be based on hard science and reliable data, not how much money can be made on warping the brains of our youth and hippy's trying to relive their flower-free love days, and the data coming out of Colorado points to one and only one conclusion:  the legalization of marijuana in the state is terrible public policy.

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