Homeless in Arizona

I like to think of the "War on Drugs" as a full employment jobs program for cops, and a government welfare program for police departments, prosecutors, judges, probation officers, drugs testing companies and a whole slew of other industries that make million from the "War on Drugs".

In an article about 3 years ago in the Village Voice, the ACLU said 50% of all the arrests in America were for victimless marijuana crimes. that's why Terry Young loves the "War on Marijuana". It's a full time jobs program for cops. And he doesn't want it to end because it pays him big bucks.

This editorial or My Turn letter seems to be full of "Refer Madness" propaganda, along with many misleading statistics and a few out right lies.

From what I have read in most place that have legalized either medical marijuana or recreational marijuana crime rates have dropped and marijuana related problems have decreased. Not increased.

Source

My Turn: Be glad Arizona turned down recreational marijuana

Terry Young, AZ I See It Published 5:24 p.m. MT July 28, 2017

My Turn: Data from other states shows how wise Arizona was to turn down recreational marijuana last year.

Arizona voters last year rejected a bloated proposal to legalize recreational marijuana, choosing instead to let other states experiment with this drug. Early results confirm Arizonans’ wisdom.

Every state that has legalized recreational marijuana has seen an increase in traffic deaths involving stoned drivers. In Washington, pot-related traffic deaths doubled. Colorado saw a 48 percent increase over three years.

The same thing appears to be happening in California, where the first retail marijuana store won’t open until next year. The Orange County crime lab reports a 40 percent increase in submissions of blood samples in DUI-marijuana cases since November.

In May, a father of four changing a flat tire near Sacramento was hit and killed by a motorist who police say was high on marijuana.

There has been no drop in crime

The one silver lining: California police are testing a mouth swab that measures the element in marijuana that gives a user a high. It’s a tool police everywhere need, though if Arizona’s Proposition 205 had passed, such a test would have done little to make our roads safe. The ballot language banned penalizing anyone “solely because of the presence of metabolite or components of marijuana in the person’s body.”

Legalizing marijuana brought no corresponding drop in crime, contrary to the promises of advocates. In Colorado, cartels nestle commercial drug-growing operations in the cloak of a legal industry. DEA agent Tim Scott told a city council that Colorado is now known as the source for illegal marijuana in the same way Afghanistan is associated with heroin.

In Washington and Oregon, marijuana production is rocking residential areas with butane explosions as hash oil extraction operations become the new meth labs.

ER visits and teen use are increasing

Remember how Prop. 205’s supporters argued that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol, implying that drinkers would turn to pot instead? A new study in the journal Addiction found that students who reported binge drinking accounted for most of the increased use of marijuana among Oregon State University students after legalization.

They aren’t substituting; they’re adding.

Marijuana-related emergency room cases and poison-control calls continue to rise.

Echoing reports from Colorado, central Oregon’s St. Charles Health System recorded more than 6,000 visits to the emergency room attributable to marijuana last year, up from an average of about 200 just four to six years earlier. Retail sales began at the end of 2015. In the first half of 2016, poison control calls doubled statewide.

Teen use rises. Some regions of Colorado registered a nearly doubling in marijuana use among high school seniors, and in Denver one in three juniors reported regular marijuana use.

Twenty-two of the 25 states with the highest teen-use rates in 2014 had legalized medical marijuana, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Among the three states with the most advanced experiments in legalizing recreational marijuana, Colorado ranked first, Oregon fourth and Washington fifth for teen use.

Legal pot has basically no upside

Unintended consequences continue to surface. Reacting to an increase in the number of people with cannabis use disorder, Colorado State University is launching bachelor’s and masters’ programs in addiction counseling, with an emphasis on marijuana.

“Even taking Colorado out of the equation, we'll still need an increase in addiction specialists as more states legalize," program director Bradley Conner told Westword magazine.

And if none of that moves you, there’s this:

Veterinarians in Colorado and Oregon report substantial increases in pets, mostly dogs, that accidentally eat marijuana-laced foods. They don’t get high. “The symptoms (staggering, agitation, stupor, etc.) that develop in pets do not appear enjoyable for them,” according to a Humane Society report.

There is much about marijuana that is not enjoyable. Arizona voters made the right choice.

Terry Young is an executive board member of the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police. Email him at ty2189@icloud.com.