Pubdate: Fri, 23 Oct 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122

FULL STORY ON POT STILL BEING WRITTEN

It would be foolish to look solely at the economic benefits generated 
from legally sold marijuana in Colorado and declare the entire 
undertaking an unqualified success.

Yes, Colorado racked up $700 million in sales of medicinal and 
recreational pot last year, as The Denver Post reported this week.

And yes, those sales generated $76 million in state revenue, 
including sales taxes and fees.

Indeed, one in 11 industrial buildings in central Denver is full of marijuana.

But economic benefits aren't everything.

The jury is still out on whether legal marijuana has been a net 
success or a detriment for Colorado. If use of the drug is climbing, 
for example, that also must factor into the picture because some of 
that use has negative personal and social consequences.

Nationally, there is little doubt that pot use is on the upswing - 
and has been for much of this century as attitudes toward it have 
relaxed. Part of that shift no doubt is attributable to the 
mainstreaming of medical marijuana in many states (Colorado in 2000) 
and, more recently, campaigns legalizing recreational pot.

Just this week the National Institutes of Health released a study 
saying the percentage of Americans who reported using marijuana over 
the previous 12 months doubled between 2001-02 and 2012-13. More 
disturbingly, "3 in 10 people who use marijuana [are] meeting the 
criteria for addiction," according to George Koob, director of the 
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The federal government's National Survey on Drug Use and Health last 
year confirmed Colorado was part of the upward trend.

In 2013, the Justice Department indicated its priorities in terms of 
the sale of marijuana included preventing distribution to minors; 
preventing revenue from going to gangs or cartels; preventing the 
diversion of marijuana to other states; and preventing drugged driving.

The data on some of these goals are murky. On the one hand, pot shops 
appear to have been mostly conscientious about not selling to minors, 
and the 2013 Healthy Kids Colorado survey showed a slight 
(statistically insignificant) drop in the percentage of high school 
students reporting they'd ever tried marijuana compared to 2011. But 
that upbeat finding is undercut by the testimony of school resource 
officers who report an increase in student use and by a rise in 
drugrelated expulsions.

Colorado Public Radio reports that marijuana-related DUIs "have 
fallen slightly across Colorado this year, according to the State 
Patrol." Alcohol continues to be responsible for five times as many DUIs.

Nevertheless, as the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking 
Area task force pointed out in a September report, the number of 
fatal accidents with drivers who tested positive for marijuana has climbed.

The task force is passionately opposed to legalization, and its 
latest report includes some sobering statistics. Nevertheless, we 
would argue that the worst scenarios predicted after legalization 
have not materialized. Meanwhile, smart regulations have been put in 
place, and are being refined as loopholes or weaknesses become apparent.

As the recent news reports make clear, the economic benefits of 
legalization seem to be real. Still, we will need several more years 
of data before it will be safe to say the social impacts are 
relatively modest and not of urgent concern.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom