Tag Archives: Ashton Sacks

Violence

Is Marijuana a Risk Factor for Domestic Violence?

*Reader discretion is advised, content describes details of violent crimes.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month.  Despite the public perception of pot users being laid back and too lazy for anger, the evidence suggests otherwise.  Most people perceive alcohol as the substance most often connected to domestic violence. But other drugs, like marijuana, contribute handily to the mix. 

We’ve failed to stem domestic violence in the US, despite strong efforts to provide services and numerous shelters for women. Many advocates against domestic violence assert that unequal power and control are the only driving forces involved in violence.  Actually, substance abusers perpetrate more than 80 percent of domestic violence, according to estimates. Some studies put the rate at 94% of domestic violence.

https://youtu.be/g_m3yV_aXXU
A Thought Provoking Video by PopPot.org

Continue reading Is Marijuana a Risk Factor for Domestic Violence? →

Violence

Another Horror Story of cannabis user who killed his family

 

Last week another violent horror story made national news, and once again, there’s a marijuana connection. Dakota Theriot, a 21-year-old from Louisiana, allegedly killed his parents, his girlfriend and her father and brother. A sheriff called the Dakota Theriot case an “extremely horrific example of failed mental health system.” Five people died, but the violent outbreak follows a pattern of family murders linked to pot use and mental illness.

Authorities tracked Theriot to his grandmother’s home in Virginia. It didn’t take one journalist long to find out that Theriot had used cannabis for many years. Continue reading Another Horror Story of cannabis user who killed his family →

Drug Policy, Featured

Get Real — Marijuana Use Fuels Crime and Domestic Violence

A man who brutally chased a woman with fire tongs and broke her jaw in Prescott, AZ, was a medical marijuana cardholder.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that marijuana legalization will increase domestic violence and violence against women and children.  We have written on this subject previously.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  While we acknowledge the problem, let’s also acknowledge that  substance abuse is connected to nearly all domestic violence.*  Heavy marijuana users were the perpetrators in three domestic violence stories in the news over the past two weeks.

Near Portland, Oregon, a mother shot her 17-year-old son on Sept. 24.  Diane Davidoff’s paranoia and other mental illness, certainly made worse by frequent marijuana usage, probably led to the killing of her son.  She worried that others were out to get her. Continue reading Get Real — Marijuana Use Fuels Crime and Domestic Violence →