Executive Summary <\/p>\n
Purpose <\/p>\n
Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) is tracking the impact of marijuana legalization in the state of Colorado. This report will utilize, whenever possible, a comparison of three different eras in Colorado\u2019s legalization history: <\/p>\n
\u00b7 2006 \u2013 2008: Medical marijuana pre-commercialization era <\/p>\n
\u00b7 2009 \u2013 Present: Medical marijuana commercialization and expansion era <\/p>\n
\u00b7 2013 \u2013 Present: Recreational marijuana era <\/p>\n
Rocky Mountain HIDTA will collect and report comparative data in a variety of areas, including but not limited to: <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Impaired driving and fatalities <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Youth marijuana use <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Adult marijuana use <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Emergency room admissions <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Marijuana-related exposure cases <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Diversion of Colorado marijuana <\/p>\n
This is the fifth annual report on the impact of legalized marijuana in Colorado. It is divided into ten sections, each providing information on the impact of marijuana legalization. The sections are as follows: <\/p>\n
Section 1 \u2013 Impaired Driving and Fatalities: <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Marijuana-related traffic deaths when a driver was positive for marijuana more than doubled from 55 deaths in 2013 to 123 deaths in 2016. <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 66 percent in the four-year average (2013-2016) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the four-year average (2009-2012) prior to legalization. <\/p>\n
o During the same time period, all traffic deaths increased 16 percent. <\/p>\n
\u00b7 In 2009, Colorado marijuana-related traffic deaths involving drivers testing positive for marijuana represented 9 percent of all traffic deaths. By 2016, that number has more than doubled to 20 percent. <\/p>\n
Section 2 \u2013 Youth Marijuana Use: <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Youth past month marijuana use increased 12 percent in the three-year average (2013-2015) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the three-year average prior to legalization (2010-2012). <\/p>\n
\u00b7 The latest 2014\/2015 results show Colorado youth ranked #1 in the nation for past month marijuana use, up from #4 in 2011\/2012 and #14 in 2005\/2006. <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Colorado youth past month marijuana use for 2014\/2015 was 55 percent higher than the national average compared to 39 percent higher in 2011\/2012. <\/p>\n
Section 3 \u2013 Adult Marijuana Use: <\/p>\n
\u00b7 College age past month marijuana use increased 16 percent in the three-year average (2013-2015) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the three-year average prior to legalization (2010-2012). <\/p>\n
\u00b7 The latest 2014\/2015 results show Colorado college-age adults ranked #2 in the nation for past-month marijuana use, up from #3 in 2011\/2012 and #8 in 2005\/2006. <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Colorado college age past month marijuana use for 2014\/2015 was 61 percent higher than the national average compared to 42 percent higher in 2011\/2012. <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Adult past-month marijuana use increased 71 percent in the three-year average (2013-2015) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the three-year average prior to legalization (2010-2012). <\/p>\n
\u00b7 The latest 2014\/2015 results show Colorado adults ranked #1 in the nation for past month marijuana use, up from #7 in 2011\/2012 and #8 in 2005\/2006. <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Colorado adult past month marijuana use for 2014\/2015 was 124 percent higher than the national average compared to 51 percent higher in 2011\/2012. <\/p>\n
Section 4 \u2013 Emergency Department and Hospital Marijuana-Related Admissions: <\/p>\n
\u00b7 The yearly rate of emergency department visits related to marijuana increased 35 percent after the legalization of recreational marijuana (2011-2012 vs. 2013-2015). <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Number of hospitalizations related to marijuana: <\/p>\n
o 2011 \u2013 6,305 <\/p>\n
o 2012 \u2013 6,715 <\/p>\n
o 2013 \u2013 8,272 <\/p>\n
o 2014 \u2013 11,439 <\/p>\n
o Jan-Sept 2015 \u2013 10,901 <\/p>\n
\u00b7 The yearly number of marijuana-related hospitalizations increased 72 percent after the legalization of recreational marijuana (2009-2012 vs. 2013-2015). <\/p>\n
Section 5 \u2013 Marijuana-Related Exposure: <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Marijuana-related exposures increased 139 percent in the four-year average (2013-2016) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the four-year average (2009-2012) prior to legalization. <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Marijuana-Only exposures more than doubled (increased 210 percent) in the four-year average (2013-2016) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the four-year average (2009-2012) prior to legalization. <\/p>\n
Section 6 \u2013 Treatment: <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Marijuana treatment data from Colorado in years 2006 \u2013 2016 does not appear to demonstrate a definitive trend. Colorado averages 6,683 treatment admissions annually for marijuana abuse. <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Over the last ten years, the top four drugs involved in treatment admissions were alcohol (average 13,551), marijuana (average 6,712), methamphetamine (average 5,578), and heroin (average 3,024). <\/p>\n
Section 7 \u2013 Diversion of Colorado Marijuana: <\/p>\n
\u00b7 In 2016, RMHIDTA Colorado drug task forces completed 163 investigations of individuals or organizations involved in illegally selling Colorado marijuana both in and out of state. <\/p>\n
o These cases led to: <\/p>\n
\u00a7 252 felony arrests <\/p>\n
\u00a7 7,116 (3.5 tons) pounds of marijuana seized <\/p>\n
\u00a7 47,108 marijuana plants seized <\/p>\n
\u00a7 2,111 marijuana edibles seized <\/p>\n
\u00a7 232 pounds of concentrate seized <\/p>\n
\u00a7 29 different states to which marijuana was destined <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Highway interdiction seizures of Colorado marijuana increased 43 percent in the four-year average (2013-2016) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the four-year average (2009-2012) prior to legalization. <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Of the 346 highway interdiction seizures in 2016, there were 36 different states destined to receive marijuana from Colorado. <\/p>\n
o The most common destinations identified were Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Kansas and Florida. <\/p>\n
Section 8 \u2013 Diversion by Parcel: <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Seizures of Colorado marijuana in the U.S. mail has increased 844 percent from an average of 52 parcels (2009-2012) to 491 parcels (2013-2016) in the four-year average that recreational marijuana has been legal. <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Seizures of Colorado marijuana in the U.S. mail has increased 914 percent from an average of 97 pounds (2009-2012) to 984 pounds (2013-2016) in the four-year average that recreational marijuana has been legal. <\/p>\n
Section 9 \u2013 Related Data: <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Crime in Denver increased 17 percent and crime in Colorado increased 11 percent from 2013 to 2016. <\/p>\n
\u00b7 Colorado annual tax revenue from the sale of recreational and medical marijuana was 0.8 percent of Colorado\u2019s total statewide budget (FY 2016). <\/p>\n
\u00b7 As of June 2017, there were 491 retail marijuana stores in the state of Colorado compared to 392 Starbucks and 208 McDonald\u2019s. <\/p>\n
\u00b7 66 percent of local jurisdictions have banned medical and recreational marijuana businesses. <\/p>\n
Section 10 \u2013 Reference Materials: <\/p>\n
This section lists various studies and reports regarding marijuana. <\/p>\n
THERE IS MUCH MORE DATA IN EACH OF THE TEN SECTIONS. THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE FOUND ON THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIDTA WEBSITE; GO TO WWW.RMHIDTA.ORG AND SELECT REPORTS. <\/p>\n
Source: WWW.RMHIDTA.ORG October 2017<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Executive Summary Purpose Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) is tracking the impact of marijuana legalization in the state of Colorado. This report will utilize, whenever possible, a comparison of three different eras in Colorado\u2019s legalization history: \u00b7 2006 \u2013 2008: Medical marijuana pre-commercialization era \u00b7 2009 \u2013 Present: Medical marijuana commercialization and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,90,14,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-global-drug-legalisation-efforts","category-social-affairs","category-social-affairs-papers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14143","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=14143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}