Pubdate: Mon, 09 Nov 2015
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2015 The Arizona Republic
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Authors: Seth Leibsohn and Sheila Polk
Note: Online title different from print edition

COLORADO'S PROBLEMS REVEAL DANGER OF LEGAL POT

Our Turn: Pot failed in Colorado. Why bring it here?

Our Turn: Promises about legalized marijuana have not come to pass in
Colorado. Why would Arizona follow suit?

As Arizonans prepare for a public debate on legalizing marijuana, we 
encourage a close look at Colorado - the first state to fully legalize 
recreational use and sale of marijuana - and Ohio, the most recent state 
to defeat it.

Ohio - a key bellwether state - defeated legalized marijuana this week 
by a margin of 28 points. What Ohio made clear is that when the facts 
about today's more potent and dangerous marijuana are aptly communicated 
and exposed, there are no good reasons left to make it both legal and 
more widely available - and it loses.

Perhaps recent news in Colorado is what informed Ohioans. For example: 
legalization advocates claimed it would help put an end to the black 
market and illegal sales. In just the last month in Colorado, however, 
we witnessed the contrary.

To wit:

* October 28: Officers find 6,400 illegal marijuana plants in southern 
Colorado forest.

* October 9: 32 busted in big Colorado illegal marijuana cultivation 
crackdown.

* October 6: DHS suspends 7 cross country runners.

* October 8: Manitou Springs police: Mustangs boys' soccer marijuana 
issue handled by school.

As Chief John Jackson of the Colorado Association of Police Chiefs said 
on 60 Minutes earlier this year, "I can resoundly say that the black 
market is alive and doing well."

The largest of these raids, also last month, found 20,000 marijuana 
plants, 700 pounds of dried weed, and more than 30 guns. Among those 
arrested were Honduran, Mexican and Cuban nationals. Clearly, instead of 
putting an end to the black market, legalization in Colorado has created 
a magnet for it as legality and availability drive sales and consumption.

As just this one month in Colorado also reveals, the notion that we can 
solve an international drug cartel program by legalizing a dangerous 
product that harms our youth is, quite simply, a fraud.

As noted above, high-school marijuana use - including by those on 
athletic teams - is also a major problem and growing concern. Why? As 
explained in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors just last 
month: "[A]s marijuana has become more accessible and adults have become 
more tolerant regarding marijuana use, adolescents perceive marijuana as 
more beneficial and are more likely to use if they are living in an 
environment that is more tolerant of marijuana use."

Legalizing an intoxicating substance for adults will not keep it out of 
the hands of our youth, which is why 77 percent more of Arizona's youth 
use alcohol than marijuana today. Making marijuana like alcohol means 
more adolescents will use more marijuana -- just like they do alcohol. 
And it's critical to note that today's marijuana is not the same as it 
was in decades past. It's at least five times more potent, practically 
an entirely different drug.

One month in Colorado is, of course, not the whole story; we recommend 
reading September's Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 
Report. This report documents that, since legalization in Colorado, 
marijuana has been associated with such social fallout as increased 
homelessness, school suspensions and expulsions, and traffic deaths.

It couldn't be clearer: Arizonans should not want this for its families 
and communities, and we certainly do not need it.

Seth Leibsohn is the host of The Seth Leibsohn Show on 960am/KKNT. 
Sheila Polk is the Yavapai County Attorney. Respectively, they are the 
Chair and Vice-Chair of Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy.
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MAP posted-by: Matt