Tag Archives: Colorado

Drug Policy

Home Grows Pose a Danger to Neighborhoods, Families

Parents Opposed to Pot asks Virginia and New York to amend their bills to ban homegrown marijuana.

Parents Opposed to Pot asks the states of New York and Virginia to amend their marijuana legalization bills to exclude home grows. Although both states are poised to legalize marijuana, there are two possible changes that could lessen the harms of marijuana legalization:  potency caps and eliminating home grows. Home grows are a major reason the black market does not go away but in fact grows stronger after legalization.

The New York bill, as it stands, allows six plants to be grown at home, and the Virginia bill allows for four. In Denver, a man tried to stop two teens from stealing the marijuana plants in his yard, killing one 14-year-old and paralyzing the other. 

Just last Saturday, March 27, six thieves broke into a home grow in Long Beach, California and two of them were shot by a man who lived at the home. When police executed a searched on the home, they seized “large quantities” of marijuana, firearms and cash.  Thieves consistently target home grows. 

However, law enforcement is generally restrained from doing a home search until after crimes are committed.  As people living in “legal marijuana” states have found, the appearance of drug sales in a home, a neighbor’s complaint of the stench of marijuana or careless overflow into the yards of others is not enough to mandate a search. Police ignore such complaints.

“After legalization, A home grower in my Pueblo, Colorado neighborhood was murdered by two men from out-of-state. They came to purchase marijuana and decided they would rather kill and steal the drugs. We also heard gunfire on our street after legalization,” says Aubree Adams, Assistant Director for Parents Opposed to Pot.

Eliminating home grows can lessen the crime associated with marijuana legalization states. 

New Yorkers should be especially concerned about the harms that will come in high-density living situations.  In the Bronx in 2015, Fire Captain Michael J. Fahy perished at a marijuana home grow. The fire appears to have started in a marijuana lab, a frequent occurrence in the first states to legalize. In Washington state and California, apartment residents lost their homes when their neighbors’ butane hash oil laboratories exploded, and in a few instances lost their lives. A Rancho Cordova explosion displaced 146 residents at once because of a butane hash oil explosion. Usually, the amateurs who make highly concentrated THC at home are trying to undercut the regulated marijuana market.

Home grows lead to more crime and there is no way to get around it.

Summary of Home Grow Dangers:

–Child access increases and it is impossible to keep away from children under age 21.

–Child & dog poisonings are occurring in the home, or at school when youth take the drug or edibles to school.

–Property crimes such as breaking and entering and personal injury/homicide crimes increase.

–Nuisance to neighbors is a problem (odor, people coming and going at all nights, drive by shootings).

–Squatter grows in rented units may make it harder to sell home after the growers leave.

–Landlords will be stuck with huge utility bills and drywall damage due to odor permeating drywall, requires expensive remediation.

–Hash oil manufacturing can cause explosions. At least two children died in hash oil explosions, one in Colorado and one in California.

–Every home grower is a potential drug dealer as they can turn into an illegal black market home-based seller.

— –Energy use is many times the normal household electricity consumption when growing indoors because of the extra lighting required.

Changing this aspect of the laws represents a chance to learn from other states. Colorado and Washington are now trying to put in THC potency caps on what is sold in cannabis shops. 

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.

 

 

Politics, Testimonies

Opinion: Let’s face up to marijuana’s toll on kids before it’s too late

An opinion from Colorado

By Robin Noble

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.

My son was suffering from cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS). Once rare, the condition is being seen increasingly in Colorado and other states that have legalized marijuana. It includes intractable vomiting and, strangely, compulsive hot water bathing. Continue reading Opinion: Let’s face up to marijuana’s toll on kids before it’s too late →

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