Pubdate: Wed, 07 Jan 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Ingold

NEW REPORTS OFFER CONFLICTING VIEWS

The number of people being charged for marijuana possession in 
Colorado has cratered, while the number of people cited for using 
marijuana in public has skyrocketed.

Those are two of the conflicting takeaways from dueling reports out 
this week by groups on opposing sides on marijuana. And it shows how 
the legalization of marijuana use and sales in states such as 
Colorado, far from settling the nationwide debate over pot, has 
instead given both sides more to fight about.

The reports come from two groups: the pro-legalization Drug Policy 
Alliance and the anti-legalization Smart Approaches to Marijuana. 
Both reports look at the impact of legalization in Colorado, one year 
into recreational marijuana sales.

The Drug Policy Alliance paper reports that citations for marijuana 
possession in Colorado have dropped from 9,011 in 2010 to a projected 
1,464 in 2014, per Colorado judicial data. The Smart Approaches to 
Marijuana report, meanwhile, notes that citations for public 
marijuana use in Denver jumped from 184 in 2013 to 668 in 2014. 
Despite legalization, possession of more than an ounce of marijuana 
by nonmedical marijuana patients and public use of marijuana remain illegal.

Most of the data in the reports are familiar in the debate over 
legalization's impacts. The Drug Policy Alliance report notes the 
tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue that Colorado has 
collected and points to a statewide decrease in traffic fatalities. 
The Smart Approaches to Marijuana report cites an increase in 
accidental marijuana ingestions by kids and a reported increase in 
marijuana use by Coloradans in 2012 and 2013.

Art Way, with the Drug Policy Alliance, said Colorado showed in 2014 
that marijuana legalization can be managed successfully.

"The doomsday vision of those who look to maintain prohibition has 
not come to fruition," he said.

Kevin Sabet, with Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said Colorado needs 
to do a better job of tracking legalization's consequences.

"We have 100 kinds of marijuana gummy bears out there but noway to 
find out what the costs of such a policy are," he said in a statement.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom