Pubdate: Wed, 26 Feb 2014
Source: U.S. News & World Report (US)
Copyright: 2014 U.S. News & World Report
Contact: (202) 955-2685
Website: http://www.usnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/464
Author: Steve Nelson

MARYLAND POLICE CHIEF CITES SATIRICAL ARTICLE DURING ANTI-POT
TESTIMONY

Annapolis police chief told lawmakers marijuana killed many
in Colorado. Maryland state Sen. Jamie Raskin speaks during a debate
Feb. 23, 2012, in Annapolis, Md.

Maryland state Sen. Jamie Raskin is pictured speaking Feb. 23, 2012,
in Annapolis, Md. Raskin, a Democrat who favors marijuana
legalization, on Tuesday informed the police chief of the state
capital that his testimony contained a serious flaw. By Steven
NelsonFeb. 26, 2014

The police chief of Annapolis, Md., warned state senators mulling
marijuana legalization Tuesday that dozens died after getting high in
Colorado Jan. 1, when the nation's first recreational pot stores opened.

"The first day of legalization, that's when Colorado experienced 37
deaths that day from overdose on marijuana," Chief Michael Pristoop
testified during a Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee
hearing, the Capital Gazette reports. "I remember the first day it was
decriminalized there were 37 deaths."

Pristoop's claim was immediately corrected by state Sen. Jamie Raskin,
a Democrat sponsoring legislation to legalize possession of 1 ounce of
marijuana by adults over age 21. Raskin's bill proposes regulating and
taxing marijuana like alcohol, but is opposed by Pristoop and other
police officials who testified Tuesday.

"I'm afraid I've got to spoil the party here," Raskin said, according
to the Gazette. "Your assertion that 37 people died of a marijuana
overdose in Colorado was a hoax on The Daily Currant and the Comedy
Central website."

[CHARTS: ACLU Breaks Down Demographics of Pot Busts]

The Daily Currant ran an article Jan. 2 with the claim of 37
pot-induced deaths. The satirical news website quoted a fictitious
Denver doctor as saying: "We are seeing cardiac arrests, hypospadias,
acquired trimethylaminuria and multiple organ failures. By next week
the death toll could go as high as 200, maybe 300."

The Annapolis Police Department posted an apology on its Facebook page
after the hearing, but did not fess up to using the Currant as a source.

"Chief Pristoop, after conducting additional research, discovered that
the numbers presented were not accurate but an urban myth," the
department said.

In an accompanying statement, Pristoop said: "I believed the
information I obtained was accurate but I now know the story is
nothing more than an urban legend. This does not take away from the
other facts presented in opposition to legalization."

Deaths attributed directly to marijuana use are, in reality, extremely
rare.

[READ: Pot Opponents Predict 'Hogwild' Colorado Trainwreck]

"The only person I've ever seen overdose on marijuana had a big snack
and fell asleep," observed state Sen. Nancy Jacobs, a Republican, the
Gazette reports.

Pristoop isn't the first legalization foe accused of falling for the
Currant's fake story. In January, Sweden's justice minister, Beatrice
Ask, posted the article on Facebook, commenting: "Stupid and sad. My
first bill in the youth wing was called Outfight the Drugs! In this
matter I haven't changed opinion at all." A spokesman for Ask denied
she was duped, telling the Guardian she knew the article was phony.

Members of the pro-legalization group Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition said Pristoop's remarks harm the credibility of police and
undermine the case for status quo drug policies.

"If police don't bother to educate themselves before testifying before
the state senate on the issue, how is anyone supposed to take
seriously their commitment to establishing the best marijuana policy -
not for the funding it brings their departments in asset forfeiture
and federal grant revenue - but for the people of Maryland?" LEAP
Executive Director Neill Franklin, a Maryland State Police and
Baltimore Police Department veteran, said in a statement.

[POLL: 58 Percent of Americans Say Legalize Pot]

"[M]any police gave testimony that was so clearly flawed it no doubt
caused a lot of people to lose respect for a profession of which I am
proud to have been a part," said LEAP board member Leigh Maddox, a
retired Maryland State Police captain.

Colorado and Washington are currently the only states that allow
possession of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use, but
many more have reduced marijuana penalties or allow medical marijuana.

Support for legalization has soared in national polls, and the New
Hampshire House of Representatives voted to legalize the drug Jan. 15.
Although the Granite State bill isn't expected to become law this
year, voters in Alaska are likely to cast ballots on legalization Aug.
19, possibly followed by November votes in Arizona, California, Oregon
and Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Matt