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Parents Warn Legal Marijuana Increases Traffic Deaths

For Immediate Release

Parents Opposed to Pot Warns Retail Marijuana Sales Increases Traffic Deaths

Merrifield, VA –March 31, 2022–As New Mexico, New Jersey, New York and Virginia move to legalize commercial sales of marijuana, Parents Opposed to Pot warns people in those states to expect a rise in traffic deaths. In Illinois, the first state to commercialize marijuana through the state legislature (June 2019), traffic deaths rose 33 percent in the first two years after cannabis shops opened on January 1, 2020.

Traffic deaths in Illinois were 1,010 in 2019.In 2020, which included the COVID lockdowns, traffic deaths rose 18.2 percent to 1,196. Then in 2021, traffic deaths rose to 1,342, according the state website.

A study published in the June 2020 Journal of American Medical Association Internal Medicine estimated nationwide marijuana legalization would result in 6,800 more traffic deaths each year.  The researchers looked at the first four states to legalize marijuana, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, and compared them before and after with states that had neither recreational nor medical marijuana. 

Congress is expected to vote on the MORE Act this week, a move to legalize marijuana nationally that the House is expected to vote on this week. 

Two years ago, an American Automobile Association post-legalization study of Washington state, found drivers involved in fatal crashes who test positive for marijuana, doubled.[1] A study in 2019, five years after Washington and Colorado opened retail cannabis shops found a statistically significant increase in marijuana related traffic fatalities of 2% in these states.[2]

Before the Illinois state legislature passed a bill to legalize pot in May 2019, the Illinois Sheriff’s Association, warned of the need for a roadside test comparable to the breathalyzer for alcohol.[3] States legalized marijuana without an adequate test to find out if a driver is marijuana impaired.

As of 2021, Illinois had trained only 122 law enforcement officials trained as Drug Recognition Experts in the entire state.  According to Chicago- HIDTA,Illinois does not distinguish DUI arrests made for alcohol, marijuana, or other substances.

Marijuana poses numerous risks to safe driving. “The drug causes alterations in mental status, vigilance, judgment, and other neurologic functions. Studies have shown that impairment persists even when the driver no longer feels high. Because THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) is fat soluble it leaves the blood quickly and builds up in the brain. Daily users have been shown to have cognitive impairment that lasts weeks after stopping marijuana,” explains Russell Kamer, MD, a board member of Parents Opposed to Pot, a nonprofit with a mission to educate parents.

Parents Opposed to Pot is tracking news reports of child deaths related to adults under the influence of marijuana. Since 2012, when Colorado first legalized recreational marijuana, at least 39 children died in DUID marijuana car crashes related to parent or caregiver drug usage.[4]  

Parents Opposed to Pot is a 501C3 nonprofit based in Merrifield, Virginia. Follow PopPot in social media: Twitter @poppotgroup, Facebook @poppotorg. For more information, visit the website, PopPot.org or call phone 773-322-7523.

[1] https://newsroom.aaa.com/2020/01/fatal-crashes-involving-drivers-who-test-positive-for-marijuana-increase-after-state-legalizes-drug/

[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0001457519310267

[3] https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/drivers-influence-marijuana-crash-illinois-legalization/

[4] https://poppot.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/122921-Child-dangers-fact-sheet-FINAL.pdf

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

 

 

Washington

Rick Steves Misrepresents Legalization Violations in Washington State

Yesterday Rick Steves was on C-SPAN and he misrepresented marijuana legalization. For a more truthful representation of legalization, we advise our followers to listen to Luke Niforatos of Smart Approaches to Marijuana who was also on C-SPAN recently. In Steves’s home state of Washington, there’s a terrible track record of legalization violations. 

According to the FBI, the murder rate in Washington rose 44% between 2013 and 2017.  Steves claimed crime did not go up.  Continue reading Rick Steves Misrepresents Legalization Violations in Washington State →

Driving, Politics, Uncategorized

DUID Deaths are Reason to Vote No on Marijuana

Last year in Michigan, Henry MacDougall, 16, of Ludington had been “dabbing” marijuana and then crashed the car he was driving.  He died instantly.  Henry’s dad Gordon Mac Dougall, as well as Detroit city leaders, urge voters to vote no on marijuana legalization in Michigan, where DUID traffic deaths related to marijuana are a problem.

In July, 21- year-old Jacob Scot Damron  drove high, killing newlyweds Hannah and Jacob Allbaugh. He a was arraigned Oct. 23 in Allegan County District Court on multiple felonies, including operating while intoxicated causing death and reckless driving causing death.

One quarter of the traffic fatalities in Colorado and Washington, the first states to legalize marijuana, involve a driver under the the influence of THC.  Continue reading DUID Deaths are Reason to Vote No on Marijuana →