“There’s no question that marijuana and other drugs – in combination with mental illness or other disabling conditions – are essential contributors to chronic homelessness.” Senator John Hickenlooper made that statement when he was governor of Colorado in 2017.
Photos of unhoused people living in squalid camps of Los Angeles (shown above), Portland and Seattle show up in our social media feeds. They’re taking over the streets in San Francisco, Vancouver and Denver. New York City, with its 1400 illegal pot shops, has a growing homeless population, too.
And although homelessness is a national problem, and substance abuse is not the only cause, the common factor of the worst-hit cities and states is legalizedmarijuana. In some areas, it has reached crisis levels. Even local leaders have declared a state of emergency to address the urgency of the situation. Continue reading Marijuana Legalization is Closely Linked to the Homelessness Crisis→
Photo of Richard Tom by John Matrix. It originally appeared on another website, Bike List
The number of bicyclists hit and killed by stoned drivers, or critically injured, is growing. Of course it happens most frequently where marijuana is legalized or where there is medical marijuana. Congressman Earl Blumenauer is a big advocate for bicycling, a healthy activity at odds with the marijuana businesses he supports.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Portland, is a great supporter of bicycling. However, advocating for marijuana puts bicyclists in grave danger.
There were at least two fatal bicycling accidents in the Portland area involving impaired drivers this spring. Articles mention that the drivers were under influence but don’t reveal what substances caused the impairment. Stoned drivers are more common in the day while drunk drivers are usually out in the dark.
Kalamazoo, Michigan, June 7
The driver who killed five bicyclists near near Kalamazoo, Michigan on June 6, was high on drugs, legal drugs according to the prosecutors. It may have been “medical” marijuana which is legal in Michigan. Four more bicyclists were injured. MADD warns that “drugged” driving will overtake drunk driving as a cause of accidents by 2020. Marijuana is the most common drug found with drugged drivers.
Stacy Reynolds and Joe Ramos were much beloved in the community and mourned after their death. A stoned 17-year-old without a criminal record was driving home from smoking pot with friends.
In Berkeley, California, a terrible crash happened when a driver had just come from a medical marijuana dispensary. The woman was dragged and badly injured but she survived. It should be mentioned that Berkeley gives out marijuana to homeless residents, a program which makes it more difficult for them to get back on their feet.
California’s Proposition 64 is called the Adult Use of Marijuana Act. Anyone who believes that legalizing marijuana will keep it out of the hands of teenagers is nuts. At least three of these fatal crashes were caused by 17-year-old drivers. Sanctioning adult use of the substance means the children will use it more often and think it’s harmless.
The Colorado Board of Education may discontinue the Colorado Healthy Kids survey, because of privacy concerns. The survey, a means to track substance abuse, is scheduled to come out this year. Since 2009, it has been coming out in odd-numbered years. Losing this survey would mean the state would no way of measuring youth trends from a statewide/regional perspective.
The next Colorado Healthy Kids survey might show how strongly the marijuana industry is having an influence on Colorado’s children. If the state doesn’t keep the survey, how can it judge what the legal recreational marijuana program is doing to its school children? The national survey showed that youth usage in Colorado went up sharply 5-10 years ago, during the period of medical marijuana expansion, while it remained rather flat nationwide. (see chart below) Continue reading Is the Marijuana Industry Trying to Grow, Stifle the Facts?→
