Homeless in Arizona

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different result.

The "War on Drugs" has been going on over 100 years and every year the results are the same - we continue to lose the "War on Drugs". The same thing is true for the "War on Marijuana", which has been going on for 75 years.

Seth Leibsohn and Sheila Polk try using that logic to claim that legalize marijuana is a failure, which is incorrect.

While I am for re-legalizing ALL drugs, I do agree with Seth Leibsohn and Sheila Polk that the phoney baloney MPP or Marijuana Policy Project initiative to legalize marijuana is bad for Arizona. That it is protectionism for the marijuana industry, which gives the existing medical marijuana dispensaries a monopoly on selling recreational marijuana. So they can screw marijuana users with their rip off $300 an ounce marijuana.

Source

Our Turn: Recreational marijuana? The price is too high

Seth Leibsohn and Sheila Polk, AZ We See It 5:28 p.m. MST July 17, 2016

If insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting different results, no word better describes the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in Arizona.

Colorado and Washington, the first states to do this, have seen increases in teen use of marijuana, traffic fatalities and emergency room visits (including of toddlers) — all tied to marijuana. In Denver, home of most of the pot shops, more than one in three 11th- and 12th-graders are now regular marijuana users, an increase of 20.5 percent from two years ago, according to the latest Colorado youth survey.

Big protections for pot industry

Arizona should expect similar results, especially since this 20-page initiative is chock full of protectionism for the marijuana industry. Written by out-of-state lobbyists and Arizona marijuana-business owners [yes, that is true], it creates two new government agencies, including a seven-member commission with three members mandated to come from the marijuana industry so they can “regulate” themselves [that is also true].

This initiative gives current medical-marijuana dispensaries a virtual monopoly on retail stores and cultivation [that is also true]. This is not simple legalization, but increased government protecting special interests to the detriment of everyone else [that is also true].

The initiative would legalize hashish as well, opening the door to high-potency marijuana candies. The marijuana of the 1970s had potency levels of less than 1 percent [that is a lie, a quick Google says it was "[I]n the 1970s and 80s, the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, was at 3.5 percent" - http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000336 ]. Colorado’s marijuana edibles have potency levels of 60 percent. [That sounds like a blatant lie.]

Stiffer penalties for alcohol than pot

Legal marijuana: Pros and cons

The proponents' claim that this initiative regulates marijuana like alcohol is disingenuous. The alcohol industry doesn’t dream of being treated as lightly as this initiative would treat marijuana. [That is a lie. Most of the penalties for marijuana violations are FELONIES, while most alcohol violations are misdemenders] At every opportunity to advance public safety, the initiative protects marijuana use instead:

Using marijuana under the proposed initiative becomes a legal right. Someone who shows up for work drunk can be disciplined or fired based on an alcohol test. But under this initiative, showing up for work impaired by marijuana would be shielded from discipline until after the commission of an act of negligence or malpractice. Any driver with a blood alcohol content over 0.08 percent is legally drunk. The Arizona law would prohibit a THC limit from ever being set. [They are using "Reefer Madness" propaganda here. With current technology, it is impossible to determine how impaired a person is on marijuana based on THC levels in drugs tests. So a THC level would be meaningless. To make DUI arrests cops can use the tool they have been using for a century - visual observations]

Penalties for a minor using a fake ID to buy marijuana would be far lower than for his friend who uses a fake ID to buy alcohol. Same for someone selling marijuana to a minor using a fake ID.

The experiment in Washington and Colorado shows how disastrous this proposal is.

Fatal accidents involving drivers who recently used marijuana more than doubled in Washington in the year after legalization.

The rate of people going to Colorado emergency rooms with marijuana-related symptoms rose 44 percent from 2012 to 2014.

Employers there report having to hire out of state for a sober workforce. [Sounds like more "Reefer Madness" propaganda]

No amount of cash can justify this

Just as in Arizona, marijuana’s apologists in Colorado and Washington said they wanted to keep marijuana away from children. It didn’t work out that way there and it won’t be different here.

And this is why that matters: Marijuana is “addicting, has adverse effects upon the adolescent brain, is a risk for both cardio-respiratory disease and testicular cancer, and is associated with both psychiatric illness and negative social outcomes,” according to the American College of Pediatricians. [marijuana is addictive like heroin??? Rubbish!!! More "Reefer Madness" propaganda]

At what cost? According to the Arizona legislative budget staff, expected revenue from legalizing marijuana could put $30 million into our education system, barely 0.33 percent of what Arizona now spends.

Now balance that minimal amount against the costs of treatment, tragic loss of life from traffic fatalities, workplace accidents, or the lost potential of young brains harmed by marijuana. No amount of money can justify that.

This law would contribute nothing positive to Arizona. Instead it exacts a tremendous cost, all to benefit a handful of marijuana-industry insiders. Arizonans do not need this and will not be able to afford it. The price is too high. [Nothing positive??? Rubbish. It would save the state millions of dollars we spend annually to arrest and jail people for victimless marijuana crimes.]

Seth Leibsohn chairs Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy. Sheila Polk is the Yavapai County Attorney and vice chair of ARDP. Email them at info@ardp.org.