OT. Let me get this straight......

[The Spin Meister]

What you're missing in that argument because you're too busy mocking it is that all the "other causes of bad things happenin' to folks" are not dealt with as a criminal issue requiring fines and imprisonment while recreational marijuana currently is. Recreational consumption of alcohol and recreational consumption of tobacco are legal, while the list of horribles that flow from those two things--including hundreds of thousands of deaths every year--is much longer than the list of horribles associated with marijuana. Pointing out that some behaviors with documented fatal consequences are addressed first and foremost as public health issues while other behaviors far less injurious to the public in the aggregate are treated solely as criminal issues and advocating for more consistent approaches is a perfectly valid argument.

---
What you are missing is that little segment at the end of my post was TIC since so many just insulted me instead of trying to answer legitimate questions. One answer was a sophomoric "Lots of ways to die and you are still alive so don't be such a worry wort' type of answer....uh...reply.

What you post is true that other vices such as tobacco and alcohol are legal but abuse is still illegal. I haven't seen any data showing me what the legal limits to MJ use are, what safe, what protections there will be for the general public and employers. And that's what I need to see before I can back such legalization.

In your reply, you note that a lot more people die from other things like tobacco and alcohol so I guess the implication is that we might as well make MJ legal. Yet liberals/progressives are trying to ban semi auto rifles with scary looking accessories because there are one or two mass shootings every year that kill maybe 50-100 people.

The stats from Co show an increase of fatal auto crashes of between 30% to 40% since legalization there. Studies are incomplete with many unknown factors influencing the total but there is no doubt that MJ is a contributing factor. If we increase the national fatality total by a reasonable 20% that would be an increase of 7000-8000 deaths per yer. If only 10%, that still a lot of dead people. But that appears to be ok by most.

 

[81b&w]

---
What you are missing is that little segment at the end of my post was TIC since so many just insulted me instead of trying to answer legitimate questions. One answer was a sophomoric "Lots of ways to die and you are still alive so don't be such a worry wort' type of answer....uh...reply.

What you post is true that other vices such as tobacco and alcohol are legal but abuse is still illegal. I haven't seen any data showing me what the legal limits to MJ use are, what safe, what protections there will be for the general public and employers. And that's what I need to see before I can back such legalization.

In your reply, you note that a lot more people die from other things like tobacco and alcohol so I guess the implication is that we might as well make MJ legal. Yet liberals/progressives are trying to ban semi auto rifles with scary looking accessories because there are one or two mass shootings every year that kill maybe 50-100 people.

The stats from Co show an increase of fatal auto crashes of between 30% to 40% since legalization there. Studies are incomplete with many unknown factors influencing the total but there is no doubt that MJ is a contributing factor. If we increase the national fatality total by a reasonable 20% that would be an increase of 7000-8000 deaths per yer. If only 10%, that still a lot of dead people. But that appears to be ok by most.

Maybe you should just smoke a little and see for yourself. It's hard to explain the difference but aggressive driving is not a byproduct, far from it and totally the opposite of alcohol. It's a very different mindset, alcohol makes you crave more as it loosens your inhibitions. MJ makes you think more introspectively and generally makes you a more tolerant and patient person. I don't condone driving on either but if given the choice of the two, I would much, much prefer a driver on mj vs. alcohol, it's not even a close comparison

 

[YogiMan71]

Above the legal blood limit in Alcohol or Weed?

>>
During a town hall meeting, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson said “marijuana-related” traffic deaths, hospital visits and school suspensions in Colorado have “not significantly” increased since the state legalized the drug. That’s inaccurate. Statistics from various official sources show substantial increases.

But the limitations of the data make it impossible to know for sure how many of the documented incidents were directly caused by marijuana use. Unlike alcohol, for example, testing positive for marijuana doesn’t necessarily mean a person is under the influence of the drug at the time of the traffic accident.<<

>>
‘Marijuana-Related’ Traffic Deaths
The definition of “marijuana-related” in the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Traffic Area report makes it difficult to draw conclusions from the traffic fatality data, which were drawn from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In the introduction of its report, the Rocky Mountain HIDTA states that terms such as “marijuana-related” or “tested positive for marijuana” do “not necessarily prove that marijuana was the cause of the incident.” The section on “Impaired Driving” also states that, when it comes to traffic fatalities, “marijuana-related” entails “any time marijuana shows up in the toxicology report [of drivers]. It could be marijuana only or marijuana with other drugs and/or alcohol.”

From 2009 to 2012, the “medical marijuana commercialization years,” the average yearly marijuana-related traffic deaths increased by 48 percent compared with the “early medical marijuana era” between 2006 and 2008. In the first two years after the recreational use of marijuana became legal (2013 to 2014), the average yearly marijuana-related traffic deaths increased by another 41 percent.

From 2006 to 2014 overall, marijuana-related traffic deaths increased by 154 percent, from 37 fatalities with drivers testing positive for marijuana in 2006 to 94 in 2014 — hardly an insignificant increase, as Johnson claimed. For comparison, there were 170 alcohol-related fatalities per year in Colorado between 2003 and 2012, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Rocky Mountain HIDTA report emphasizes that the proportion of marijuana-related traffic fatalities to traffic fatalities as a whole increased as well: In 2014, marijuana-related traffic fatalities made up 19.26 percent of all traffic deaths, up from 6.92 percent in 2006.

But the increase in the proportion of marijuana-related traffic deaths could merely mean that more people are using the drug — not necessarily that more people are under the influence of marijuana when involved in fatal traffic accidents.

In fact, a January 2016 Rocky Mountain HIDTA update report, which only looked at youth and adult marijuana use, did note that 31.24 percent of college-aged adults (18 to 25) had reported using marijuana in the past month in 2013/2014, compared with 21.43 percent in 2005/2006. Likewise, 12.45 percent of adults 26-years-old and older used marijuana in the past month in 2013/2014, compared with 5.32 percent in 2005/2006.

It’s also worth noting that, according to the report, 37 percent of all drivers in 2014 who tested positive for marijuana, not just those involved in traffic fatalities, also had alcohol in their system. An additional 15 percent of all marijuana-positive drivers had other drugs in their system. And a further 15 percent of drivers had both alcohol and other drugs in their system, along with marijuana. Only 33 percent of tested drivers had only marijuana in their system.

Blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or greater is the legal threshold for driving while impaired in all 50 states. Blood alcohol concentration levels do correspond to a person’s intoxication level. However, marijuana and other drugs, such as cocaine and prescription pain killers, can stay in a person’s system for a few days, so the presence of the drug alone is not necessarily an indicator of intoxication.

Other states with legalized recreational marijuana also have seen similar trends in marijuana-related traffic fatalities. In May 2016, the American Automobile Association conducted an analysis of Washington’s marijuana-related fatalities and found that around twice as many “fatal-crash-involved drivers” had THC in their system in 2014 compared with previous years. Recreational marijuana became legal in Washington in November 2012.

Like the Rocky Mountain HIDTA’s 2015 report, the AAA report cautions that testing positive for THC doesn’t mean the driver was impaired or at fault for the crash. The AAA report added that many marijuana-positive drivers also had alcohol and other drugs in their system, “which in some cases likely contributed more significantly to the crash than did the THC.”

The National Institute on Drug Abuse also states that “the role played by marijuana in [traffic] accidents is often unclear, because it can remain detectable in body fluids for days or even weeks after intoxication and because users frequently combine it with alcohol.” Though the NIDA adds, “The risk associated with marijuana in combination with alcohol appears to be greater than that for either drug by itself.”

A February 2015 “Drug and Alcohol Crash Risk” study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did find “a statistically significant increase” in crash risk (1.25 times) for drivers who tested positive for THC. But after the researchers controlled for age, gender, ethnicity and alcohol concentration level, increased crash risk associated with marijuana was no longer significant. This suggests these other variables “account for much of the increased risk associated … with THC,” write the study authors.

There’s also some evidence that medical marijuana laws may contribute to decreasing traffic fatalities. One study published in The Journal of Law & Economics in 2013 reviewed traffic fatalities in the 19 states that had passed medical marijuana laws by 2010 and found that “legalization is associated with an 8–11 percent decrease in traffic fatalities” for the year after the laws took effect. The researchers from the University of Colorado, Denver and elsewhere also found that the decrease is more significant for alcohol-related fatalities at 13.2 percent.

To be clear, there is evidence that “marijuana significantly impairs judgment, motor coordination, and reaction time,” according to the NIDA.

There is also no doubt that marijuana intoxication alone has played a direct role in some fatal crashes. The Rocky Mountain HIDTA 2015 report, for example, cites a November 2014 case in which a teenager driving under the influence of only marijuana hit and killed a 16-year-old high school student. In addition to testing positive for marijuana, the teenager also showed visible signs of intoxication, such as having trouble walking in a straight line and smelling like the drug. Passengers in the car also said the driver had smoked marijuana in the car prior to driving.

Still, the question remains as to whether Colorado’s marijuana laws, or Washington’s for that matter, have directly led to surges in traffic fatalities overall. At this point, the data don’t conclusively prove that they have.<<

Most of the above is from an anti-pot biased group with some fake news and stats included.

Pot Turning Colorado to Sh*t, Says Law Group's Latest Anti-Weed Screed
MICHAEL ROBERTS | OCTOBER 11, 2017 | 6:45AM

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The Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a federally funded law enforcement group with an admitted anti-marijuana bias, has published the fifth volume in a series of reports about the impact of cannabis legalization on Colorado. Predictably, the new analysis, accessible below, is crammed with shocking statistics, and while many of the claims, including ones pertaining to an alleged spike in youth marijuana use in the state, aren't supported by other, more reliable studies, expect them to be touted by the roll-back-the-pot-legalization-clock crowd anyway.

RMHIDTA describes itself on its website as "an important component of the President's National Drug Control Strategy." It's said to provide "additional federal resources to those areas to help eliminate or reduce drug trafficking and its harmful consequences. Law enforcement organizations...assess drug trafficking problems and design specific initiatives to reduce or eliminate the production, manufacture, transportation, distribution and chronic use of illegal drugs and money laundering" in an effort to "reduce drug trafficking & related crime and violence."

The local branch of the organization is operated under the supervision of director Tom Gorman, who has acknowledged in this space that some of the data assembled by the RMHIDTA is opinion-based, meaning it may not pass muster in a scientific survey. But in his view, the studies allow folks "to look at trends over a period of time to see if this data supports other data."

RELATED STORIES

• Marijuana Reformer: Fed-Funded Anti-Pot Group Making World a Less Safe Place
• Drug Warriors Claim Sky Is Falling in Latest Anti-Marijuana Report
• Marijuana Report by Anti-Pot Group Continues Jihad Against Legalization

The edition of "The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact" was released during the summer of 2013; much of its focus was on what was characterized as the increasing number of Colorado pot seizures beyond state lines. Part two, released in August 2014, argued that pot-related driving fatalities were up 100 percent in five years. Part three, which was teased in the run-up to 4/20/2015, continued its jihad against pot with more alarming assertions about driving dangers and teen dopers, while part four, from January 2016, doubled down even further.

Tom Gorman is head of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Fox31 file photo
Now comes part five, whose errors come fast and furious. Indeed, the press release for the document asserts that "Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2013," which is incorrect in two different ways; the vote for legalization, via Amendment 64, happened in November 2012, while recreational sales began on January 1, 2014. Keep that in mind when considering the following statements about what's happened in the state over the past four years:

• Marijuana-related traffic deaths more than doubled to approximately one death every three days

• In 2016, 20 percent of all traffic deaths were marijuana related compared to only 9 percent six years ago

• Colorado youth now rank #1 in the nation for marijuana use and 55 percent higher than the national average

• Colorado college-age group rank #2 in the nation for marijuana use and 42 percent higher than the national average

• Colorado adults now rank #1 in the nation for marijuana use and 124 percent higher than the national average

• Seizures of Colorado marijuana to other states increased 20 percent by vehicle and over 300 percent by parcels



The report itself contends that "marijuana-related traffic deaths when a driver was positive for marijuana more than doubled from 55 deaths in 2013 to 123 deaths in 2016," adding that "marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 66 percent in the four-year average (2013-2016) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the four-year average (2009-2012) prior to legalization." However, it's important to note that prior to 2014, many jurisdictions didn't actually track the link between marijuana and traffic accidents, and meaningful stats are still hard to find — a fact that naturally inflates these digits in significant ways.

A photo from the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area's website.
RMHIDTA
IF YOU LIKE THIS STORY, CONSIDER SIGNING UP FOR OUR EMAIL NEWSLETTERS.
SHOW ME HOW
Similarly troublesome are the "Youth Marijuana Use" findings, summarized like so: "Youth past month marijuana use increased 12 percent in the three-year average (2013-2015) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the three-year average prior to legalization (2010-2012). The latest 2014/2015 results show Colorado youth ranked #1 in the nation for past month marijuana use, up from #4 in 2011/2012 and #14 in 2005/2006. Colorado youth past month marijuana use for 2014/2015 was 55 percent higher than the national average compared to 39 percent higher in 2011/2012."

Problem is, plenty of other studies come to very different conclusions, as marijuana reformer Mason Tvert pointed out to us after the fourth RMHIDTA salvo. As he noted, "The federal government already spent money to research use by people in Colorado, and SAMHSA [Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration] has the national survey, and it showed teen use in Colorado hasn't changed in the last several years. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has a survey that showed teen use hasn't changed, the Centers for Disease Control shows the same thing, and Colorado has the Healthy Kids survey done by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in conjunction with the departments of human services and education — and that shows teen marijuana use hasn't gone up, either. But this little group of narcotics officers has decided to put out something that says the opposite of what all these surveys show. And even though it's not news, it's being treated that way."

Indeed, TV stations such as Denver7 and KKCO have already published pieces on the report that portray it as an objective look at the situation rather than an attempt to undermine the entire rationale for marijuana legalization by an organization with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. And expect folks such as Jeff Hunt, the Colorado Christian University educator who just staged a daylong anti-pot event, to use the figures, as he's done in the past. That's the reason the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas has published five reports to date, and why it will undoubtedly keep on doing so for years to come.

Click to read "The Legalization of Marijuana: The Impact, Volume 5, October 2017."


Michael Roberts has written for Westword since October 1990, serving stints as music editor and media columnist. He currently covers everything from breaking news and politics to sports and stories that defy categorization.

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• Michael Roberts

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• Facebook: Michael Roberts
  
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[YogiMan71]

RMHIDTA is an anti-pot organization. Be wary of fake news.

Pot Turning Colorado to Sh*t, Says Law Group's Latest Anti-Weed Screed
MICHAEL ROBERTS | OCTOBER 11, 2017 | 6:45AM

• Facebook
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• Twitter2
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AA
The Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a federally funded law enforcement group with an admitted anti-marijuana bias, has published the fifth volume in a series of reports about the impact of cannabis legalization on Colorado. Predictably, the new analysis, accessible below, is crammed with shocking statistics, and while many of the claims, including ones pertaining to an alleged spike in youth marijuana use in the state, aren't supported by other, more reliable studies, expect them to be touted by the roll-back-the-pot-legalization-clock crowd anyway.

RMHIDTA describes itself on its website as "an important component of the President's National Drug Control Strategy." It's said to provide "additional federal resources to those areas to help eliminate or reduce drug trafficking and its harmful consequences. Law enforcement organizations...assess drug trafficking problems and design specific initiatives to reduce or eliminate the production, manufacture, transportation, distribution and chronic use of illegal drugs and money laundering" in an effort to "reduce drug trafficking & related crime and violence."

The local branch of the organization is operated under the supervision of director Tom Gorman, who has acknowledged in this space that some of the data assembled by the RMHIDTA is opinion-based, meaning it may not pass muster in a scientific survey. But in his view, the studies allow folks "to look at trends over a period of time to see if this data supports other data."

RELATED STORIES

• Marijuana Reformer: Fed-Funded Anti-Pot Group Making World a Less Safe Place
• Drug Warriors Claim Sky Is Falling in Latest Anti-Marijuana Report
• Marijuana Report by Anti-Pot Group Continues Jihad Against Legalization

The edition of "The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact" was released during the summer of 2013; much of its focus was on what was characterized as the increasing number of Colorado pot seizures beyond state lines. Part two, released in August 2014, argued that pot-related driving fatalities were up 100 percent in five years. Part three, which was teased in the run-up to 4/20/2015, continued its jihad against pot with more alarming assertions about driving dangers and teen dopers, while part four, from January 2016, doubled down even further.

Tom Gorman is head of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Fox31 file photo
Now comes part five, whose errors come fast and furious. Indeed, the press release for the document asserts that "Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2013," which is incorrect in two different ways; the vote for legalization, via Amendment 64, happened in November 2012, while recreational sales began on January 1, 2014. Keep that in mind when considering the following statements about what's happened in the state over the past four years:

• Marijuana-related traffic deaths more than doubled to approximately one death every three days

• In 2016, 20 percent of all traffic deaths were marijuana related compared to only 9 percent six years ago

• Colorado youth now rank #1 in the nation for marijuana use and 55 percent higher than the national average

• Colorado college-age group rank #2 in the nation for marijuana use and 42 percent higher than the national average

• Colorado adults now rank #1 in the nation for marijuana use and 124 percent higher than the national average

• Seizures of Colorado marijuana to other states increased 20 percent by vehicle and over 300 percent by parcels



The report itself contends that "marijuana-related traffic deaths when a driver was positive for marijuana more than doubled from 55 deaths in 2013 to 123 deaths in 2016," adding that "marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 66 percent in the four-year average (2013-2016) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the four-year average (2009-2012) prior to legalization." However, it's important to note that prior to 2014, many jurisdictions didn't actually track the link between marijuana and traffic accidents, and meaningful stats are still hard to find — a fact that naturally inflates these digits in significant ways.

A photo from the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area's website.
RMHIDTA
IF YOU LIKE THIS STORY, CONSIDER SIGNING UP FOR OUR EMAIL NEWSLETTERS.
SHOW ME HOW
Similarly troublesome are the "Youth Marijuana Use" findings, summarized like so: "Youth past month marijuana use increased 12 percent in the three-year average (2013-2015) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the three-year average prior to legalization (2010-2012). The latest 2014/2015 results show Colorado youth ranked #1 in the nation for past month marijuana use, up from #4 in 2011/2012 and #14 in 2005/2006. Colorado youth past month marijuana use for 2014/2015 was 55 percent higher than the national average compared to 39 percent higher in 2011/2012."

Problem is, plenty of other studies come to very different conclusions, as marijuana reformer Mason Tvert pointed out to us after the fourth RMHIDTA salvo. As he noted, "The federal government already spent money to research use by people in Colorado, and SAMHSA [Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration] has the national survey, and it showed teen use in Colorado hasn't changed in the last several years. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has a survey that showed teen use hasn't changed, the Centers for Disease Control shows the same thing, and Colorado has the Healthy Kids survey done by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in conjunction with the departments of human services and education — and that shows teen marijuana use hasn't gone up, either. But this little group of narcotics officers has decided to put out something that says the opposite of what all these surveys show. And even though it's not news, it's being treated that way."

Indeed, TV stations such as Denver7 and KKCO have already published pieces on the report that portray it as an objective look at the situation rather than an attempt to undermine the entire rationale for marijuana legalization by an organization with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. And expect folks such as Jeff Hunt, the Colorado Christian University educator who just staged a daylong anti-pot event, to use the figures, as he's done in the past. That's the reason the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas has published five reports to date, and why it will undoubtedly keep on doing so for years to come.

Click to read "The Legalization of Marijuana: The Impact, Volume 5, October 2017."


Michael Roberts has written for Westword since October 1990, serving stints as music editor and media columnist. He currently covers everything from breaking news and politics to sports and stories that defy categorization.

• CONTACT:
• Michael Roberts

• FOLLOW:
• Facebook: Michael Roberts
• Twitter: @mikerobertscolo

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Growing Hemp is coming to Pa. HAHA !

Canadian cannabis giant plants a flag in Pennsylvania, plans hemp industrial parks across the U.S.
by Sam Wood, Updated: March 22, 2019- 10:37 AM

TNS

Canopy Growth Corp., the Canadian cannabis behemoth, is acquiring AgriNextUSA of Reading with an eye on building its hemp business in the United States.

AgriNextUSA has been headed by Geoff Whaling, an evangelist for hemp and its many applications. Whaling said Canopy’s chairman, Bruce Linton, called him right after President Donald Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp and asked, “When are we growing hemp?”

RELATED STORIES

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• Scranton cannabis festival expected to attract 10,000. But Pa. bans dispensaries from being there.

Whaling would not say how much Canopy was paying for AgriNextUSA.

The self-styled “Hemporer” of America sees hemp becoming a multi-billion dollar industry. Analysts for investment bankers Cowen & Co. predict that U.S. revenues for just one range of hemp products — manufactured with the extract cannabidiol or CBD — could be worth $16 billion annually by 2025.


ADVERTISEMENT
Whaling will serve as a strategic adviser to Canopy. He has been friends with the company’s principals since the Ontario-based corporation was a tiny outfit with 20 people. Canopy now employs thousands in a dozen countries, and is the largest cannabis and hemp company with a market capitalization of $15.7 billion.

Whaling, president of the National Hemp Association and Pennsylvania Hemp Industry Council, said his first project with Canopy will be to get a hemp industrial park running near Binghamton, N.Y.

“We expect to hire a few hundred people,” he said. “This is moving very, very quickly.” Planting of this year’s hemp crop could begin in less than seven weeks.

“We want to rekindle this once-great American industry,” Whaling said. “Right now there’s no infrastructure or supply chain to support it. No equipment or facilities.”

The remedy to that, he said, is a series of hemp industrial parks across the country, complete with textile mills and CBD extraction facilities. He hopes to plant a park in Pennsylvania, “because this was once the epicenter for hemp in America.”

Ross Duffield, former manager of the Rodale Institute’s experimental farm near Kutztown, Pa., was hired by Canopy to become its national cultivation manager, Whaling said.


Hemp can be used to manufacture a wide array of items. In addition to extracted CBD, hemp’s fibers can be fashioned into textiles and advanced building materials. Its seeds are a high-protein resource for a variety of foods and oils.

Whaling said he would reach out to farmers within a 50-mile radius of Binghamton to encourage them to grow the crop. That might not be a hard sell. According to Cowen, corn and soybeans generate a few hundred dollars per acre, but the gross returns per acre for CBD hemp go up to $36,000.




Posted: March 22, 2019 - 10:37 AM

 

[Delco Lion]

RMHIDTA is an anti-pot organization. Be wary of fake news.

Pot Turning Colorado to Sh*t, Says Law Group's Latest Anti-Weed Screed
MICHAEL ROBERTS | OCTOBER 11, 2017 | 6:45AM

• Facebook
  1k
• Twitter2
• email
• Print Article

AA
The Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a federally funded law enforcement group with an admitted anti-marijuana bias, has published the fifth volume in a series of reports about the impact of cannabis legalization on Colorado. Predictably, the new analysis, accessible below, is crammed with shocking statistics, and while many of the claims, including ones pertaining to an alleged spike in youth marijuana use in the state, aren't supported by other, more reliable studies, expect them to be touted by the roll-back-the-pot-legalization-clock crowd anyway.

RMHIDTA describes itself on its website as "an important component of the President's National Drug Control Strategy." It's said to provide "additional federal resources to those areas to help eliminate or reduce drug trafficking and its harmful consequences. Law enforcement organizations...assess drug trafficking problems and design specific initiatives to reduce or eliminate the production, manufacture, transportation, distribution and chronic use of illegal drugs and money laundering" in an effort to "reduce drug trafficking & related crime and violence."

The local branch of the organization is operated under the supervision of director Tom Gorman, who has acknowledged in this space that some of the data assembled by the RMHIDTA is opinion-based, meaning it may not pass muster in a scientific survey. But in his view, the studies allow folks "to look at trends over a period of time to see if this data supports other data."

RELATED STORIES

• Marijuana Reformer: Fed-Funded Anti-Pot Group Making World a Less Safe Place
• Drug Warriors Claim Sky Is Falling in Latest Anti-Marijuana Report
• Marijuana Report by Anti-Pot Group Continues Jihad Against Legalization

The edition of "The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact" was released during the summer of 2013; much of its focus was on what was characterized as the increasing number of Colorado pot seizures beyond state lines. Part two, released in August 2014, argued that pot-related driving fatalities were up 100 percent in five years. Part three, which was teased in the run-up to 4/20/2015, continued its jihad against pot with more alarming assertions about driving dangers and teen dopers, while part four, from January 2016, doubled down even further.

Tom Gorman is head of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Fox31 file photo
Now comes part five, whose errors come fast and furious. Indeed, the press release for the document asserts that "Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2013," which is incorrect in two different ways; the vote for legalization, via Amendment 64, happened in November 2012, while recreational sales began on January 1, 2014. Keep that in mind when considering the following statements about what's happened in the state over the past four years:

• Marijuana-related traffic deaths more than doubled to approximately one death every three days

• In 2016, 20 percent of all traffic deaths were marijuana related compared to only 9 percent six years ago

• Colorado youth now rank #1 in the nation for marijuana use and 55 percent higher than the national average

• Colorado college-age group rank #2 in the nation for marijuana use and 42 percent higher than the national average

• Colorado adults now rank #1 in the nation for marijuana use and 124 percent higher than the national average

• Seizures of Colorado marijuana to other states increased 20 percent by vehicle and over 300 percent by parcels



The report itself contends that "marijuana-related traffic deaths when a driver was positive for marijuana more than doubled from 55 deaths in 2013 to 123 deaths in 2016," adding that "marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 66 percent in the four-year average (2013-2016) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the four-year average (2009-2012) prior to legalization." However, it's important to note that prior to 2014, many jurisdictions didn't actually track the link between marijuana and traffic accidents, and meaningful stats are still hard to find — a fact that naturally inflates these digits in significant ways.

A photo from the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area's website.
RMHIDTA
IF YOU LIKE THIS STORY, CONSIDER SIGNING UP FOR OUR EMAIL NEWSLETTERS.
SHOW ME HOW
Similarly troublesome are the "Youth Marijuana Use" findings, summarized like so: "Youth past month marijuana use increased 12 percent in the three-year average (2013-2015) since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana compared to the three-year average prior to legalization (2010-2012). The latest 2014/2015 results show Colorado youth ranked #1 in the nation for past month marijuana use, up from #4 in 2011/2012 and #14 in 2005/2006. Colorado youth past month marijuana use for 2014/2015 was 55 percent higher than the national average compared to 39 percent higher in 2011/2012."

Problem is, plenty of other studies come to very different conclusions, as marijuana reformer Mason Tvert pointed out to us after the fourth RMHIDTA salvo. As he noted, "The federal government already spent money to research use by people in Colorado, and SAMHSA [Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration] has the national survey, and it showed teen use in Colorado hasn't changed in the last several years. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has a survey that showed teen use hasn't changed, the Centers for Disease Control shows the same thing, and Colorado has the Healthy Kids survey done by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in conjunction with the departments of human services and education — and that shows teen marijuana use hasn't gone up, either. But this little group of narcotics officers has decided to put out something that says the opposite of what all these surveys show. And even though it's not news, it's being treated that way."

Indeed, TV stations such as Denver7 and KKCO have already published pieces on the report that portray it as an objective look at the situation rather than an attempt to undermine the entire rationale for marijuana legalization by an organization with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. And expect folks such as Jeff Hunt, the Colorado Christian University educator who just staged a daylong anti-pot event, to use the figures, as he's done in the past. That's the reason the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas has published five reports to date, and why it will undoubtedly keep on doing so for years to come.

Click to read "The Legalization of Marijuana: The Impact, Volume 5, October 2017."


Michael Roberts has written for Westword since October 1990, serving stints as music editor and media columnist. He currently covers everything from breaking news and politics to sports and stories that defy categorization.

• CONTACT:
• Michael Roberts

• FOLLOW:
• Facebook: Michael Roberts
• Twitter: @mikerobertscolo

POPULAR STORIES

• Frontier Airlines Finishes Last in Another Airline Quality Report
• Oil and Gas Groups Spending Big on Ads Opposing Reform Bill
• Nuggets Are Back in the Playoffs for the First Time in Six Years
• Kratom Addiction: Colorado Clinics' Widely Different Reports

Growing Hemp is coming to Pa. HAHA !

Canadian cannabis giant plants a flag in Pennsylvania, plans hemp industrial parks across the U.S.
by Sam Wood, Updated: March 22, 2019- 10:37 AM

TNS

Canopy Growth Corp., the Canadian cannabis behemoth, is acquiring AgriNextUSA of Reading with an eye on building its hemp business in the United States.

AgriNextUSA has been headed by Geoff Whaling, an evangelist for hemp and its many applications. Whaling said Canopy’s chairman, Bruce Linton, called him right after President Donald Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized hemp and asked, “When are we growing hemp?”

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Whaling would not say how much Canopy was paying for AgriNextUSA.

The self-styled “Hemporer” of America sees hemp becoming a multi-billion dollar industry. Analysts for investment bankers Cowen & Co. predict that U.S. revenues for just one range of hemp products — manufactured with the extract cannabidiol or CBD — could be worth $16 billion annually by 2025.


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Whaling will serve as a strategic adviser to Canopy. He has been friends with the company’s principals since the Ontario-based corporation was a tiny outfit with 20 people. Canopy now employs thousands in a dozen countries, and is the largest cannabis and hemp company with a market capitalization of $15.7 billion.

Whaling, president of the National Hemp Association and Pennsylvania Hemp Industry Council, said his first project with Canopy will be to get a hemp industrial park running near Binghamton, N.Y.

“We expect to hire a few hundred people,” he said. “This is moving very, very quickly.” Planting of this year’s hemp crop could begin in less than seven weeks.

“We want to rekindle this once-great American industry,” Whaling said. “Right now there’s no infrastructure or supply chain to support it. No equipment or facilities.”

The remedy to that, he said, is a series of hemp industrial parks across the country, complete with textile mills and CBD extraction facilities. He hopes to plant a park in Pennsylvania, “because this was once the epicenter for hemp in America.”

Ross Duffield, former manager of the Rodale Institute’s experimental farm near Kutztown, Pa., was hired by Canopy to become its national cultivation manager, Whaling said.


Hemp can be used to manufacture a wide array of items. In addition to extracted CBD, hemp’s fibers can be fashioned into textiles and advanced building materials. Its seeds are a high-protein resource for a variety of foods and oils.

Whaling said he would reach out to farmers within a 50-mile radius of Binghamton to encourage them to grow the crop. That might not be a hard sell. According to Cowen, corn and soybeans generate a few hundred dollars per acre, but the gross returns per acre for CBD hemp go up to $36,000.




Posted: March 22, 2019 - 10:37 AM

I've been using CBD drops and creme for my sciatica and herniated disc. Started using it after the docs took me off oxycodone and muscle relaxers after 30 days. I feel it has helped get me over the worst of my excruciating pain and spasms, and now is helping with the pain/muscle ache in my leg from physical therapy/gym.

 

[The Spin Meister]

Maybe you should just smoke a little and see for yourself. It's hard to explain the difference but aggressive driving is not a byproduct, far from it and totally the opposite of alcohol. It's a very different mindset, alcohol makes you crave more as it loosens your inhibitions. MJ makes you think more introspectively and generally makes you a more tolerant and patient person. I don't condone driving on either but if given the choice of the two, I would much, much prefer a driver on mj vs. alcohol, it's not even a close comparison

----
I am fully aware that MJ has a different affect from alcohol. For most it calms people, thus the name Mellow Yellow.

Yet no one has answered the questions I asked about all its other affects, what the levels of intoxication are, what quick easy, accurate and affordable tests there are, and what liabilities employers have.

 

[bdgan]

Hardened criminals, some who are incarcerated for life, can no longer go into the yard and light up but the Governor has sent the Lt. Governor out into the state to stick his finger in the air and see if it's OK to legalize "recreational" marijuana. What's wrong with this picture? I am a devout non smoker, having gone through countless car rides in the summer and having my fathers cigarette ash fly in my face in the back seat (He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 87, had a Whipple and passed away from it in 1991, my mother passed away about 2 years ago from COPD which was probably brought on by my fathers 3 pack of Pall Mell's a day habit). Does it make sense when the right hand is saying "Smoking is bad, we are trying to help you and make you quit" while the left hand is saying "Go ahead, light up"? If studies prove it has medicinal value and people want to go that way, fine. but overall, shouldn't we be trying to get people to quit smoking period?

States are legalizing marijuana use because they can tax it.

 

[bdgan]

I've been using CBD drops and creme for my sciatica and herniated disc. Started using it after the docs took me off oxycodone and muscle relaxers after 30 days. I feel it has helped get me over the worst of my excruciating pain and spasms, and now is helping with the pain/muscle ache in my leg from physical therapy/gym.

Where do you use it? Sciatica pain down my leg is horrible but I'm told it originates in the spine where I have disc degeneration.

 

[Delco Lion]

Where do you use it? Sciatica pain down my leg is horrible but I'm told it originates in the spine where I have disc degeneration.

I assume everyone's sciatica is slightly different. I'm just about over my sciatica/pinched nerve caused by a herniated disc. My bad pain went from the start of the nerve(left lower back) all the way down my leg to my ankle. All my symptoms are almost gone.

I take two drops three times a day. Place the drops under my tongue. I use a gel product on the real intense localized pain spots, and a creme where the pain is more spread out over larger muscles areas-glutes, quads, and calf.

There are not tons of studies on CBD, but several say CBD interferes with pain, nerve respecters, and the brain. It may do other positive things as well. All I know is I am getting better. I am also going to the gym, PT, and had a spinal shot. Google CBD and sciatica.