{"id":10867,"date":"2015-04-12T19:48:43","date_gmt":"2015-04-12T19:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=10867"},"modified":"2017-10-11T12:24:15","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T12:24:15","slug":"colorado-one-year-on-legalisers-theories-have-gone-to-pot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2015\/04\/colorado-one-year-on-legalisers-theories-have-gone-to-pot\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado one year on. Legalisers\u2019 theories have gone to pot"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most obvious characteristic of marijuana-legalisation campaigners \u2013 apart from billionaire interests on the scale of Big Tobacco \u2013 is that their lobbying and promises are based on theories not facts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Legalisers regularly use the words \u201cscience\u201d and \u201cevidence base\u201d but rarely cite research references. Never has this chasm between theory and fact been so powerfully and conspicuously exposed as in the March analysis by local media in\u00a0Clearing the Haze<\/a>\u00a0<\/i>of events a year after marijuana was legalised for recreational use in Colorado.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here in the UK, a decade-long follow up by researchers into Britain’s disastrous 2004 \u2018Lambeth experiment\u2019 of depenalisation proved that it led to more crime and hospitalisations\u00a0not less<\/span><\/a>. The Colorado aftermath of legalisation is on a vaster scale.<\/span><\/p>\n

CLAIM:<\/b>\u201cWe view our top priority as creating an environment where negative impacts on children from marijuana legalisation are avoided completely,\u201d Colorado\u2019s governor promised.<\/span><\/p>\n

FACT:<\/b><\/i>There are growing concerns over exposure, potency and availability of marijuana to children. Even before legalisation, Governor John Hickenlooper predicted the need for \u201ca project to analyse the correlation between marijuana use during pregnancy and birth defects\u201d (FYI, here\u2019sa list<\/span><\/a>and one on perils tochildren<\/span><\/a>). Colorado hospitals have admitted more children for marijuana harms. A June 2014 survey of 100 Colorado school officers found that 89 per cent witnessed a rise in marijuana-related incidents since legalisation.<\/span><\/p>\n

CLAIM:<\/b>Legalisation will fund prevention, education.<\/span><\/p>\n

FACT:<\/b><\/i>Colorado budgeted only about $34,000 for its Office of Behavioral Health\u2019s prevention work in the 2014-2105 fiscal year; nothingwas received<\/span><\/a>. Its Department of Public Health and EnvironmentGood to Know<\/i>campaign, crafted with marijuana business owners, tells children how to use pot. \u201cIt\u2019s like inviting a tobacco company to help us learn how to use tobacco and develop our next anti-smoking campaign.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

CLAIM:<\/b>Regulation works.<\/span><\/p>\n

FACT:<\/b><\/i>How regulation would work was described only in soundbites before voting. Hickenlooper later admitted it was \u201creckless\u201d and \u201ca bad idea\u201d. This February, Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman declared it \u201cnot worth it\u201d. Ben Cort at the University of Colorado Hospital disclosed that \u201cColorado has been met by an industry that fights tooth and nail any restrictions that limit profitability. Like Big Tobacco, the marijuana industry derives profits from addiction and its survival depends on turning a percentage of kids into lifelong customers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

CLAIM:<\/b>Legalisation of marijuana will unclog prisons.<\/span><\/p>\n

FACT:<\/b><\/i>There aren\u2019t enough offenders in prison for simple possession of pot to unclog the system if they were freed: only 103. In 2011, the federal government convicted only 48 marijuana offenders with under 5,000 grams of marijuana: almost 12,000 joints.<\/span><\/p>\n

CLAIM:<\/b>Legalisation will produce new revenue for the general fund.<\/span><\/p>\n

FACT:<\/b><\/i>Tax revenues failed to meet projections – taxpayers could even get two refunds. The Governor\u2019s Office of Marijuana Coordination director said the first priority for tax revenue is to cover regulatory costs. Moreover, Colorado isn\u2019t equipped to gather cost-benefit analysis to quantify costs linked with cannabis abuse. This is alongside lawsuits against the state, manufacturing hazards, pressured resources for the homeless, concerns over children\u2019s welfare and more: \u201cVoters didn\u2019t understand how difficult, resource-intensive and costly the enforcement of even just marijuana driving laws would be\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

CLAIM:<\/b>Legalisation of marijuana will hobble drug cartels.<\/span><\/p>\n

FACT:<\/b>Cheaper marijuana prices mean cartels turn to \u2018harder\u2019 drugs including \u2018black tar\u2019 heroin and methamphetamine, as well as cybercrime and continued people-trafficking.<\/span><\/p>\n

CLAIM:<\/b>By regulating sales of marijuana, Colorado will make money otherwise locked into the black market.<\/span><\/p>\n

FACT:<\/b>Black-market sales are booming so much that they are blamed for cannabis tax revenues falling short of claims. \u201cDon\u2019t buy the argument that regulating sales will eliminate the black market, reduce associated criminal activity and free up law enforcement agencies\u2019 resources,\u201d Coffman urged in February. Worse is that \u201cColorado is the black market for the rest of the US\u201d: neighbouring Denver suffered an almost 1,000 per cent spike in marijuana seizures.<\/span><\/p>\n

CLAIM:<\/b>Legalisation and regulation will see people using lower strengths of drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n

FACT:<\/b><\/i>Colorado permits one ounce of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient giving a euphoric high. Many people envision an ounce of dried marijuana plant, about 40 standard cigarettes. But one ounce of concentrated THC equals over 2,800 average-size brownies or candy; an ounce of hash oil is roughly 560 standard \u2018vaping\u2019 hits.<\/span><\/p>\n

CLAIM:<\/b>Medical marijuana works, only legalisation allows research.<\/span><\/p>\n

FACT:<\/b><\/i>Treating marijuana \u2013 sold in dispensaries without FDA approval and shown to be more carcinogenic than tobacco when combusted \u2013 as if exempt from the approval process others drugs must undergo for public safety, is seen as derailing legitimate research on specific parts of the marijuana plant for new clinically-proven medicines without addiction risks. As the prevention charity, Cannabis Skunk Sense, puts it: \u201cit\u2019s like getting penicillin by eating mouldy bread\u201d. Non-legalisation has not stopped 70+ scientific studies on cannabinoids elsewhere, and the National Institutes of Health awarded over $14million for such research.<\/span><\/p>\n

CLAIM:<\/b>Marijuana is safer than alcohol.<\/span><\/p>\n

FACT:<\/b>\u201cNot when it comes to driving \u2013 and officers are seeing people using both substances, which is worse,\u201d revealed one police chief.In the first six months of 2014, 77 per cent<\/b>DUIDs (driving under influence of drugs) involved marijuana. Accident risk doubles with\u00a0any\u00a0<\/i>measurable amount of THC in the bloodstream, rising when alcohol is added.<\/span><\/p>\n

The tragic fact\u00a0<\/b>above all else is that these downsides were predicted by authoritative individuals and organisations \u2013 and ignored. The good of many people was sacrificed for the greed of a few: be it for money, power or a drugged delusion. Deirdre Boyd<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Source: www.conservativewoman.co.uk<\/a> 1st<\/sup> April 2015<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most obvious characteristic of marijuana-legalisation campaigners \u2013 apart from billionaire interests on the scale of Big Tobacco \u2013 is that their lobbying and promises are based on theories not facts. Legalisers regularly use the words \u201cscience\u201d and \u201cevidence base\u201d but rarely cite research references. Never has this chasm between theory and fact been so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,9,68,82,11,89,64,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cannabis-marijuana","category-drug-specifics","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-economic","category-effects-of-drugs","category-environment-drug-politics","category-health","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}