anti-science-marijuana-policy

Marijuana Legalization is an Anti-Science Policy

Politicians who claim to respect science and believe science WILL NOT support the legalization of marijuana.  Our new initiative, #EveryBrainMatters, educates on the science of marijuana.  For documentation of advertisements running in national newspapers on the anti-science aspects of marijuana legalization, please check out these sources:

1.Marijuana Legalization is an anti-science Public Health disaster.

It increases hospitalizations from psychosis, vomiting and vaping lung disease traced to vapes from state-regulated stores!

https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/marijuana/article54985485.html (Washington legalized in mid-2014)

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/1578818483529/cases-of-cannabis-induced-psychosis-increase-during-covid-19-pandemic   (Illinois legalized marijuana 1/1/20)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6625695/?fbclid=IwAR00OTBKqrL-IZvhKRs_zbcTo2w1YvbMCeFEcRlTZwg5WNs_iJda6DWYaIE

https://www.9news.com/article/news/health/local-teen-wants-more-people-to-know-about-a-rare-medical-condition-linked-to-marijuana-use/73-45dca14a-bf8d-4f9e-8f42-0cf3623b193d

Cyclic Vomiting Presentations Following Marijuana Liberalization in Colorado https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4469074/

https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/494992

The CDC says that 82% of vaping illnesses linked to THC, one sixth of them were bought at state-regulated marijuana stores.

Marijuana is the #1 substance involved in deaths from child abuse and neglect in the states that track the substances linked to child abuse. https://www.dfps.state.tx.us/About_DFPS/Reports_and_Presentations/PEI/documents/2019/2019-03-01_FY2018_Child_Fatality_and_Near_Fatality_Annual_Report.pdf

https://www.azdhs.gov/documents/prevention/womens-childrens-health/reports-fact-sheets/child-fatality-review-annual-reports/cfr-annual-report-2018.pdf

For a comprehensive view of marijuana and public health, check out the Missouri Medical Association’s website:  https://www.msma.org/marijuana-education-resources.html

For a comprehensive view of the mental health impacts of marijuana, including the links to schizophrenia, listen to this video by Dr. Mary Cannon:

 

2. Data shows that Marijuana Legalization is an Anti-Science assault on public safety.

In the first two states to legalize, crime rose significantly, and traffic fatalities involving THC-impaired drivers increased 50-100%.

Increase in fatal crashes involving drivers who had used marijuana, before and after Initiative 502, a Washington ballot to legalize marijuana. Source: AAA

19-0637_AAAFTS-WA-State-Cannabis-Use-Among-Drivers-in-Fatal-Crashes R4.pdf

See pp. 88-96 about crime in the state ofWashington: http://www.mfiles.org/docs/marijuanaimpact2017.pdf

Crime rate in Colorado increases much faster than rest of country: https://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/11/colorado-sees-big-increase-crime-10-percent-higher-murder-rate/

And there was an 18.6% increase in violent crime for 2017,  https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cbi/colorado-crime-stats

3. Marijuana Legalization is an anti-science environmental policy which increases fires, pesticides use, water shortages, and climate change harms. The logging industry was shut down in Northern California to save the sequoia trees which are necessary to sequester carbon and prevent global warming. Unfortunately, the marijuana industry moved in and cuts down sequoia trees indiscriminately. The result, as we have seen this year, is massive fires in the west and more destruction. Marijuana growers use 5 gallons of water per plant, per day and contribute to California’s water shortages and droughts.

http://www.takepart.com/feature/2016/04/18/greenrush                     https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/03/marijuana-weed-pot-farming-environmental-impacts/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/backcountry-drug-war/521352/                    https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/03/marijuana-pot-weed-statistics-climate-change/

Other articles have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and other newspapers.   Listen to Mourad Gabriel’s TED Talk:

 

4. Marijuana Legalization increases the black market for all drugs, and overdose deaths. https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-gavin-newsom-crackdown-pot-black-market-20190219-story.html

https://mjbizdaily.com/californias-legal-marijuana-market-struggles-with-financial-woes-as-it-battles-illicit-market/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-colorados-marijuana-legalization-strengthened-the-drugs-black-market

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marijuana-in-california-black-market-weed-buzzkills-for-california-legal-weed-industry-60-minutes-2020-08-02/?fbclid=IwAR3GiH1JzNv5eVnctAq25405wWy-S1zZZbRKJzj31zQPU30J75rHyd0I_TY

Overdose deaths rise after legalization in Colorado. See p. 38. https://rmhidta.org/files/D2DF/RMHIDTA%20Marijuana%20Report%202020.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/15/upshot/drug-overdose-deaths.html

5. Youth and Marijuana, the problems with legalization

Problematic youth use rises after legalization, according to research from Columbia University. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191113153049.htm

In states that have legal pot, teens are using mainly the most potent varieties available in marijuana stores, such as “vapes.” “dabs,” “wax”  or “shatter.”

Sources: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/healthy-kids-colorado-survey-data-tables-and-reports                      https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-01/2019-NDTA-final-01-14-2020_Low_Web-DIR-007-20_2019.pdf

In 2019, the daily use of marijuana among 10th graders rose more than 41% from 2018 and rose almost 86% for 8th graders—to the highest rates in many years.

In 2019, 6.4% of 12th graders used marijuana every day. By comparison, only 2.4% used cigarettes every day and 1.7% of 12th graders drank alcohol every day in 2019.

In 2019, 3.6% of 12th graders vaped marijuana daily.

Colorado, first state with commercial pot sales, had the highest rate of teen vaping in 2019.

Source: https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/monitoring-future-survey  

Once you allow marijuana in a state, the industry fights all sensible regulation such as caps on THC potency.

https://www.ganjapreneur.com/proposed-concentrates-ban-goes-down-in-flames-in-washington/

6. Tax revenue disappoints. Legalization doesn’t get rid of black markets. In states with recreational pot, tax income from pot sales stays significantly below one percent of state revenue  https://mjbizdaily.com/california-recreational-marijuana-in-crisis-after-two-years/

https://learnaboutsam.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Revenues-vs-Reality-0520-4.

California, especially, falls far behind the revenue promised by Proposition 64:  https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-10-17/california-cannabis-taxes

Where there’s “medical” pot, too, big loopholes prevent states from getting the promised tax revenue on “recreational.” https://420intel.com/articles/2020/01/28/illinois-more-people-apply-medical-marijuana-avoid-paying-high-taxes          https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/01/marijuana/getting-medical-marijuana-card-is-easier-than-you-think/

7. Legalization has not fulfilled the social and racial justice outcomes that were promised, in any states that legalized pot. Legalization unfairly causes more harm in low income neighborhoods; discrepancies in arrest rates don’t go down after legalization. https://learnaboutsam.org/marijuana-and-social-justice/

One article calls it the Marijuana Industry’s War on the Poor:

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/what-works-colorado-denver-marijuana-pot-industry-legalization-neighborhoods-dispensaries-negative-213906

Only a few players, mainly large corporations, some owned by Big Tobacco, are benefiting from the legalization of pot.

The time of COVID-19 is the worst time to add marijuana in the communities: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/health/covid-vaping-smoking.html

On EVERY measure, marijuana legalization is failed policy.  No state has been successful at regulating marijuana.  

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Bursting the Bubble of Marijuana Hype