Here's A Look at Marijuana's Role in Traffic Fatalities, Quality-Of-Life Issues, Crime When recreational marijuana was legalized, Washington entered the unknown, triggering questions - and predictions - about what might happen. Would drug dealers hang around the pot shops? Would it bring riffraff into the neighborhood and make shops easy crime targets? Would people abuse the drug? Or smoke and drive, putting others in harm's way? As is evident by millions of dollars in sales each month at Vancouver's retail stores, people certainly use marijuana. And it has had some consequences on the community, but there's apparently no evidence of major behavioral shifts. [continues 2090 words]
It's Relatively Stable, From County Juvenile Court's Standpoint Misdemeanor marijuana-related crimes have plummeted for adults following legalization, but for minors, marijuana is still very much illegal. Marijuana use among children is relatively flat, though children referred to court on suspicion of possessing marijuana went up slightly from 2013 to 2014. "I wouldn't put a cause and effect there," said Eric Gilman, program manager at Clark County Juvenile Court. The numbers are small to begin with - a couple hundred offenses - making it difficult to discern a trend. Over the past decade, there's been a decline in crimes such as minor in possession of marijuana or alcohol. Then again, referrals to juvenile court have been going down across the nation since 1999, Gilman said. In 2009, Clark County Juvenile Court received 3,089 referrals. Over the next five years, the number of referrals went down about 37 percent. [continues 918 words]
Police Say Change in Oxy-Contin Lead to Rise in Heroin Addiction Vancouver police say a greater percentage of drug-addicted young adults are responsible for the area's property crimes, including burglaries, commercial robberies, vehicle prowls and mail and auto thefts. Drug addicts looking to get a hit will do whatever they must to afford their habits. "I'm very often surprised at how naive people are about this connection between drug addiction and theft," said Cmdr. Mike Cooke, with the Clark-Vancouver Regional Drug Task Force. [continues 661 words]
Travel guru cites European drug policies Travel guru Rick Steves spoke to full house at the Vancouver Community Library Friday night in favor of I-502, an initiative to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana. The crowd was calmer than the one he met earlier in the day at the state's capitol building. According to the Capital Record, those opposing the initiative tried to drown out Steves and other speakers. With more than 100 people in attendance at the library, Steves, who has donated $350,000 to the campaign, outlined why he's a proponent of the initiative. [continues 409 words]
