Pubdate: Sun, 27 Sep 2015
Source: Oklahoman, The (OK)
Copyright: 2015 The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
Contact: http://www.newsok.com/voices/guidelines
Website: http://newsok.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/318

LEGALIZED MARIJUANA CERTAINLY NO PANACEA

ADVOCATES for legalizing recreational marijuana argue that shift 
shouldn't upset people, claiming the drug's use differs little from 
alcohol consumption. A new report from Colorado suggests that's only 
true if people are fine with drunk driving and public intoxication of 
school children.

That report, by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking 
Area, demonstrates that legalized marijuana's impact in Colorado is 
not benign. The report examines a wide range of statistics over 
several years that marijuana became less regulated. In 2006, Colorado 
legalized "medical" marijuana use. Greater commercialization was 
unleashed in 2009. And since 2013, full-blown recreational use has been legal.

The impact of those changes can be seen not just in marijuana sales, 
but also in lives lost and harmed. In 2014, the report notes, there 
was a 32 percent increase in marijuana-related traffic deaths in 
Colorado compared with 2013. Marijuana-related traffic deaths 
increased 92 percent from 2010 to 2014.

In contrast, the increase in all traffic deaths during that time 
period was just 8 percent. Had it not been for marijuana-related 
traffic deaths, the state would have experienced a decline in traffic 
fatalities.

Approximately 20 percent of traffic deaths were marijuana-related in 
2014, a figure that has doubled in five years. And that may 
understate the impact of marijuana in traffic accidents, since 
drivers who are intoxicated on both alcohol and marijuana are 
normally tested only for alcohol.

In 2010, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated 
the total economic costs for a vehicle fatality was more than $1.3 
million, once you include property damage, medical, insurance, 
productivity and other considerations. The cost of driving under the 
influence was estimated at $10,270 per instance.

In other words, driving under the influence of marijuana has major 
impacts - both moral and economic.

There's reason to think this problem won't go away soon. According to 
the report, an estimated 485,000 Colorado adults regularly use 
marijuana. Adults who consume marijuana almost daily make up the top 
21.8 percent of that population - but they account for 66.9 percent 
of the demand for marijuana.

A law that allows more than 100,000 people to consume marijuana daily 
is going to inevitably lead to many people driving under the 
influence and increasing the risk to all other citizens on the road.

In 2014, when retail marijuana was unleashed, there was a 38 percent 
increase in the number of marijuanarelated hospitalizations in 
Colorado. Since 2010, marijuana-related hospitalizations have 
increased 90 percent.

The report also notes disturbing trends among youth, who are 
supposedly barred from buying the drug under Colorado law. The report 
found 11.16 percent of Colorado kids ages 12 to 17 were considered 
current marijuana users in 2013. That was 56 percent higher than the 
national average.

In public schools, drug-related suspensions/expulsions increased 40 
percent in Colorado between the 2008-09 school year and the 2013-14 
school year with the vast majority being marijuana violations.

Colorado was in the top three states ranked by the share of teenagers 
reporting drug use in the past month in a 2013 survey. By comparison, 
Oklahoma ranked in the bottom seven states, despite this state's 
reputation for drug problems.

Proponents claim marijuana legalization merely shifts existing drug 
use into the open. But Colorado's experience shows that legalization 
facilitates increased drug consumption in ways that place others' 
lives at risk and reduce everyone's quality of life. Youth crossed 
with tragedy are certain outcomes of Colorado's poor decision, and 
"individual freedoms" will provide little solace to those who suffer 
the consequences.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom