It was prom night 2018, but my teenager wouldn’t be putting on a tuxedo. He had been throwing up since dawn.
His low back was aching, a sign of kidney distress. He needed to go to the ER. It would be our 11th trip in just over nine months. I found myself hesitating because, at about $8,000 a visit, even with insurance the costs were severe.
By Ed Wood, for DUID Victims Voices Lukas Myers knows this. The photo shows him being extracted from a car when he was 12 years old after a crash caused by a marijuana-impaired driver. Most bones in both of Lukas’s legs were broken as well as both wrists.
For some, stories like this are convincing.
Others need data.
So here is a summary of relevant data from 10 sources.
Percent of drivers who admit driving after marijuana use:
Note: CBI data from Jul 2019 to Jun 2020 when all DUI blood samples were tested for both alcohol and a full drug panel.
DUI charges– percent caused by alcohol, THC and polydrug use – 3 year trend [4]
2016
2018
Percentage change
Alcohol
78.8%
75.3%
-4.4%
THC
5.4%
6.4%
+18.5%
Polydrug
12.7%
14.5%
+14.2%
Traffic deaths per Billion Vehicle Miles Traveled (BVMT):
Increased from 9.91 in the five years before marijuana commercialization to 11.26 in the five years after marijuana commercialization[5].
Increase of 1.46 deaths/BVMT per year adjusted after marijuana commercialization, compared with a synthetic control[6].
Increase of 1.9 deaths/BVMT per year adjusted after marijuana commercialization, compared with states with stable legalization policies[7].
Increase of 1.7 deaths/BVMT per year non-adjusted after marijuana commercialization compared with states without legal recreational or medical marijuana[8].
Note: the above reports measured the effect of marijuana commercialization in 2014, not marijuana legalization in 2012.
Traffic fatalities implicating THC:
There were 632 traffic fatalities in 2018. 87% of the drivers in those fatal crashes were tested for drugs. 83 tested positive for THC including 36 at or above 5 ng/ml[9].
Vehicular homicide convictions by drug group in 2016[10]:
Drugs detected
Number
Alcohol only
10
THC only
2
Single other drug only
1
Alcohol + THC
2
Alcohol + other drug
1
Alcohol + THC + other drug
2
So what is Colorado doing about the problem?
Deny the problem exists
In 2020 the Department of Motor Vehicles revised the Driver Handbook to say, “…it is unclear whether cannabis use increases the risk of car crashes.”
Encourage marijuana use
During the COVID pandemic shutdown, marijuana dealers were classified as an “essential business” by the Governor, permitting them to sell their product while non-essential businesses were required to close.
At the December 14, 2020 meeting of the Retail Marijuana Public Health Advisory Committee, the Colorado Department of Public Health an Environment announced that henceforth, “marijuana users” were to be referred to as “cannabis consumers” since the former label is pejorative. You just can’t make this stuff up.
[4] Rosenthal A, Reed J. Driving Under the Influence of Drugs and Alcohol. Colorado Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Justice, Office of Research and Statistics, Nov 2020
[6] Santaella-Tenorio J, Wheeler-Martin K, DiMaggio CJ et al. Association of Recreational Cannabis Laws in Colorado and Washington State With Changes in Traffic Fatalities, 2005-2017. JAMA Intern Med. Published Online June 22 (2020)
[7] Aydelotte JD, Mardock AL, Mancheski CA et al. Fatal crashes in the 5 years after recreational marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington. Accident Analysis and Prevention 132 (2019) 105284
[8] Kamer RS, Warshafsky S, Kamaer GC. Change in Traffic Fatality Rates in the First 4 States to Legalize Recreational Marijuana. JAMA Intern Med. Published Online June 22 (2020)
[9] Gorman T. The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact. Vol 6 Sept 2019. Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
[10] Bui B, Reed J. Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol and Drugs. A Report Pursuant to HB 17-1315. July 2018. Colorado Division of Criminal Justice
Belief in drug use seems to be common in those arrested
The FBI arrested Tim Gionet, also called “Baked Alaska,” for his involvement in the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6. Gionet is a far-right media personality. Gionet said he was given his nickname “because he is from Alaska and that he smoked marijuana at the time.”
Libertarian urges describe extremists on both sides, as they don’t care how drug use affects others. Looking into the background of some of the recent arrestees reveals the frequent involvement of marijuana or prior marijuana arrests. In fact, anecdotal stories of lighting joints in the Capitol appeared in the news.
One man flashed a big smile and posed for cameras while holding Nancy Pelosi’s lectern. Could that smile reflect a marijuana high? It turns out that he’s from Florida and his name is Adam Johnson. He had a prior criminal history which includes “possession of marijuana and violation of probation charges.”
Another bold insurrectionist, Cleveland Meredith, came from Colorado to Washington, armed with weapons and high potency edibles. “By his own admission, the defendant is a habitual user of marijuana and has a history of mental illness.” This statement comes from the government’s case for a pretrial hearing.
Aymann Ismail, a reporter who covered the incident for Slate said, “When I was there in the riot, I saw aggressive instigators but also young people who were getting high, celebrating, and seemed to have no idea of what they’d done.”
What common policies do protesters on the left and right have in common?
Clearly protesters on both sides have diverse reasons behind their activities. Those on the far left want to get rid of police, while those involved in the Capitol insurrection included paramilitary groups and police.
The left and right have some points in common, despite their differences. Superficially, they’re very different, but delving into the issue more deeply shows deep alienation, something relieved by drug use, only to come back with a vengeance.
Militant provocateurs with megaphones urging rally goers to “Breach the Capitol.”
the opposite end of the political spectrum, they stand for: police and prison reform, concern about the housing problem, end sex trafficking, stop the endless wars abroad, challenge the two-party system and end the drug war.
They don’t realize that the USA stopped using the term “war on drugs” more than 10 years ago. The Drug Policy Alliance turned the war on drugs into a negative, by convincing people that drug use is harmless. This ignorance causes so much damage, as drug use itself causes far more harm than government attempts to stop drug use.
Another misunderstanding of these activists and their views is that we cannot have solve housing, homelessness problems or address police and prison reform until drug use in America goes down. Drug use is going up, not down, which will lead to worse public health, and more rioting and restlessness.
Whatever initial spiritual connection comes from common drug use, it rapidly breaks down and disintegrates, as happened during the Summer of Love in 1967.
New Jersey’s state government routinely ignores its complaining citizens. But can it ignore itself?
Published in The Trentonian, December 27, 2020. A lawsuit challenging the legality of the recent state ballot question legalizing marijuana may answer that question.
The lawsuit declares that the state misled the public with the wording of the ballot question and ignored scientific evidence on the harmfulness of marijuana. It seeks to have the legalization declared “null and void.”
