Pubdate: Fri, 20 May 2016
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2016 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122

STATE NEEDS MORE DATA ON POT EFFECTS

The Littleton City Council's crushing 5-1 vote this week against 
allowing recreational marijuana sales is the latest evidence that 
Coloradans remain deeply divided over this state's ongoing experiment 
with legal pot.

Even after more than two years of extensive retail sales next door in 
Denver, Littleton leaders believe such commerce could do more harm to 
their community than it is worth.

Which is their prerogative, of course. Amendment 64 provides for a 
local option and that's what the city just exercised.

Still, some of the comments in opposition appeared remarkably 
overwrought. A former high school principal asked, for example, "Are 
we going to be the place where Nero fiddled and Rome burned, or are 
we going to have the integrity to say enough?"

The Denver we know remains a good place to work and raise families, 
and far from indifferent to the societal effects of drug use.

Yet divided opinion on legalization is inevitable given the 
inconclusive nature of so many indicators related to pot. Trends in 
consumption and their effects since the passage of Amendment 64 in 
2012 are murky, given the short period of time and the lack of a good 
baseline in some instances.

That's why it's important for the Colorado Department of Public 
Health and Environment (CDPHE) to continue monitoring usage trends, 
particularly among youth, as well as health impacts of marijuana 
sales by collecting data from schools, emergency rooms, treatment 
centers, traffic stops, and elsewhere. The department has been 
collecting a lot of data already, and recently advertised for a 
"marijuana health effects and research manager" to coordinate the effort.

Although we are more optimistic than some critics regarding 
Colorado's ability to manage this social experiment, we've never 
doubted there would be downsides requiring attention. A recent story 
out of Pueblo offers the latest example.

"What I'm seeing in our nursery is a dramatic increase in babies who 
test positive for marijuana," Dr. Steven Simerville of St. MaryCorwin 
Medical Center told Denver Post reporters. "The interesting thing for 
me is the number of mothers who use marijuana and want to breast 
feed. They don't believe marijuana is harmful."

It's beyond us how any young mother could reach such an irresponsible 
conclusion, but there is no reason to doubt Simerville's account. 
Whether his larger point about a "dramatic increase in babies who 
test positive for marijuana" is a general phenomenon or isolated to 
his locale is a more difficult question. That's why Colorado will 
benefit from a broad effort at data collection and analysis.

And that's also why, as we said last fall, the jury remains out on 
whether legal marijuana has been a net success or detriment for Colorado.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom