Tag Archives: California

Addiction, Child Endangerment

Child Abuse and neglect deaths continue – highest count in Pennsylvania

Parents Opposed to Pot cites 256 marijuana-related child deaths in a plea not to legalize MJ.

MERRIFIELD, VA, US, March 30, 2021 — As New York and Virginia legislators move closer to marijuana legalization this week, they should consider the traffic deaths of children whose caregivers drove after using marijuana. In the Bronx, New York, Sincere Mitchell, 8, died in a crash when his father was drunk and high on THC. In Virginia, Brian Cameron Hughes died after his mother’s boyfriend crashed, admitting he had smoked marijuana before driving.

“Those pushing for cannabis legalization want to keep marijuana users from getting arrest records. But legislators need to consider the potential loss of life from THC-impaired drivers on our roads,” explains Corinne Gasper, who lost her daughter to a speeding driver with high levels of THC in his system.

Currently, law enforcement cannot adequately test or prove THC-impairment of motorists. Parents Opposed to Pot (PopPot.org), a Merrifield, VA, non-profit, finds news reports of at least 115 U.S. traffic deaths in which marijuana is the only impairing substance and many more deaths with marijuana and other drug mixtures.

Poppot.org also tracks child abuse and neglect deaths related to parent and caregiver pot use, finding 256 deaths in news reports since the first two states voted to legalize pot in 2012. This count includes deaths of 29 children that occurred because a parent or caregiver drove while impaired by marijuana and 23 who died from infant THC exposure, mainly in infants.

Marijuana, the most common drug found in child abuse or neglect deaths

Parents Opposed to Pot’s tracking is informal, based on how much information gets reported by the press. The federal government requires all states to report child fatalities related to abuse or neglect. In three states that report on specific drugs connected to such deaths, Texas, Arizona, and Florida – not states with the highest rate of pot use– marijuana consistently comes up as the number one drug, more than alcohol.

In Colorado, a father, Isaac Bullard was recently sentenced for the death of his 23-month son. After “dabbing” high potency pot one morning, he forgot to put his son in the car and backed out over him.

When PopPot.org first started tracking child abuse deaths linked to pot, Colorado and California led in the tally of deaths from late 2012 to 2015. Today, Pennsylvania leads Poppot’s count, with 25 deaths, most of them having occurred recently. Since medical marijuana was argued in the state legislature (the bill passed in April 2016), it seems that more children have been born to mothers who used during pregnancy or post-partum. Mothers using marijuana during pregnancy or postpartum pose many risks to their children, including low birth weight and breathing issues. Twelve of the Pennsylvania deaths involve THC exposure.

Marijuana impairs memory and executive functioning which can lead to poor judgement. Other side effects include: distortion of time, addiction, paranoia, anxiety and mood disorders. The worst outcome is psychosis which, if left untreated or not resolved by quitting drug use, can become schizophrenia. An adult who is high or in psychosis may fail to give adequate supervision, or may act violently towards a child.

Fires, drownings, hot cars

Eighteen children died in fires related to parents using pot. Three sets of twins, all toddlers, died in fires, either because their moms left home and abandoned them in order to acquire marijuana, or, in one case of a father given court-ordered visitation, the parent fell asleep after smoking it.

California has reported many instances of child endangerment when children were present at home marijuana labs, called butane hash oil labs. Two of 18 children who died by fire involved BHO explosions and at least three children had to be treated for BHO burns on more than half of their bodies.

Twenty-five children died from drowning, 8 of them in Florida. Adult marijuana use was a likely factor in at least 21 hot car deaths of infants and toddlers since 2013.

Parents Opposed to Pot is a 501c3 educational nonprofit based in northern Virginia. Contact at 773-322-7523 or visit the website, poppot.org, Facebook @poppotorg.


Editors Note: The number of child deaths as of 3/29/23 is now 302. See updated PopPot Fact Sheet on Child Abuse Deaths.

Teens

HHS Data, Monitoring the Future data show troubling trends

Youth drug use increases in legalized states

State-level data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the most authoritative study on drug use conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), found significant increases in youth marijuana use in several recently legalized marijuana states versus last year.  At the same time, mental illness indicators worsened across the country while alcohol, cocaine, and tobacco use dropped, especially among young people. Continue reading HHS Data, Monitoring the Future data show troubling trends →

Driving, Drug Policy

Passing MORE Act means 6,800 more deaths a year

The MORE Act, which may be voted on by the full House this week, would legalize marijuana nationally.  But it also could lead to upwards of 6,800 more traffic deaths a year, as well as other problems.   Please write Congress to say NO to the MORE Act, and no to MORE deaths.  (The MORE Act would go far beyond  decriminalization and lead to national legalization.)

A Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study showed how statistics from the first four states to legalize pot, could be used to estimate the increase of traffic fatalities if we adopted national legalization.  These deaths are preventable. 

Recent events show how marijuana worms its way out of regulation.   Yesterday San Francisco City Council voted to ban smoking in apartment buildings, but excluded marijuana. According to AP: “The original proposal sought to ban residents from smoking marijuana in their apartments, but supervisors voted to exclude marijuana after cannabis activists said the law would take away their only legal place to smoke. It’s illegal under state law to smoke cannabis in public places.”

California residents who voted on Proposition 64 believed that children would not see billboard advertising. However, the industry pushed for it and the industry got it.  Fortunately, a judge ruled that the billboards violate the proposition.  

Colorado allows billboard advertising for marijuana, but the city of Denver does not.  State regulatory bodies give extraordinary privilege to the sellers of this dangerous drug, even though tobacco advertising on billboards is not allowed and even though selling the drug goes against federal law.   

Yesterday a marijuana delivery driver was robbed and beaten in Maine. Despite Maine’s small, carefully designed marijuana program, assaults on marijuana deliveries occurred three times. A drug that makes users violent and promises the industry huge profits cannot be “regulated.”

Featured

Marijuana Legalization is an Anti-Science Policy

Support for legalization is an anti-science position, because the policy works against what the science says.  The science clearly shows that the cannabinoids in marijuana are destructive to brain health, and that massive marijuana grows are terrible for the health of the planet.  Honest politicians who believe in science, or care about science, will not support the marijuana industry by getting behind the banner of marijuana legalization.

Not only is the science against legalization, but it’s also failed economic policy and fails in promises related to social justice

We’re running newspaper advertisements across the country to educate the public and support our new initiative, Every Brain Matters.  Please use the hashtag, #EveryBrainMatters and #MarijuanaLegalizationisAntiScience.   Here’s some documentation and resources for the public to read.      

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

https://www.theolympian.com/news/local/marijuana/article54985485.html (Washington legalized in mid-20140

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.

https://learnaboutsam.org/marijuana-vaping-outbreak-not-just-a-black-market-issue/  

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

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 the mental health impacts of marijuana, including the links to schizophrenia, Dr. Mary Cannon: https://youtu.be/6vcv-FjzMp8

  1. 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/

  1. 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%.

file:///C:/Users/Owner/AppData/Local/Temp/19-0637_AAAFTS-WA-State-Cannabis-Use-Among-Drivers-in-Fatal-Crashes_r4.pdf

See pp. 88-96 about crime in the state of Washington: 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, retrieved 2019 https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cbi/colorado-crime-stats

  1. 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

  1. 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 teens vaped marijuana daily.

Colorado had the highest rate of teen vaping. (first state with legal pot sales)

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/

  1. 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.

https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2019/10/14/marijuana-tax-revenue-001062/  

A Los Angeles Times article tries to explain why tax revenue comes in way lower than expected. 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/

  1. 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 benefitting from the legalization of pot. By all other measures, it’s failed policy.

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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAxotrdvWzI

Please consider a donation to combat our nation’s addiction epidemic:

https://poppot.org/stop-pot-join-pop/

Parents Opposed to Pot , PO Box 2462, Merrifield, VA  22116

 

Join our campaign, Every Brain Matters, an initiative of

Parents Opposed to Pot