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Pot-Positive Traffic Fatalities Up 100% in Colorado
Cybercast News Service ^ | November 26, 2014 - 9:48 AM | Cully Stimson

Posted on 11/30/2014 6:03:08 PM PST by Olog-hai

… The data coming out of Colorado is exhibit A on why voters should reject legalization efforts. Even the Democratic governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, said that legalizing marijuana in Colorado was “reckless.” As I have written at Heritage, pot-positive traffic fatalities have gone up 100 percent since voters legalized pot in Colorado. This is true despite the fact that overall traffic fatalities in Colorado have gone down since 2007.

A report by a federal grant-funded agency in Colorado found seven specific negative side effects that pot legalization has caused in Colorado:

  1. the majority of DUI drug arrests involve marijuana;
  2. youth consumption of marijuana has increased;
  3. drug-related suspensions/expulsions increased 32 percent over a 5-year period and a majority was for marijuana;
  4. an increase in college users;
  5. almost 50 percent of Denver arrestees tested positive for marijuana;
  6. marijuana-related emergency room visits increased 57 percent from 2011-2013; and
  7. marijuana-related hospitalizations has increased 82 percent since 2008.
Perhaps people are also aware of new scientific studies pointing to the inherent dangers of marijuana. For example, the British health research journal The Lancet Psychiatry recently concluded that teens who smoke marijuana are “also 60 percent less likely to graduate college and seven times more likely to attempt suicide.” …

(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: cannabis; carfatalities; colorado; deathtoll; dui; marijuana; pot; potheads; trends; wod
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To: JRandomFreeper

I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.

What I did wish at times in my life was to be one of those people whom I saw all around me that make it through the trials and tribualtions of this world without needing to alter themselves via drugs.

I mean, I really did wish hard that I could be a normal person, but that was not going to be the road I walked on, that’s for sure.

But at least now that I am older and maybe just a bit wiser than I was before, I am closer to that wish being a reality.

I still don’t handle life as well as others. bad wiring I suppose. But, whatever mistakes I am making these days, I am making with a clear head, and I thank God for that.

The good times and joy that I have known in more recent years have truly made my life worth living.


141 posted on 11/30/2014 8:18:40 PM PST by chris37 (heartless)
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To: Uncle Miltie

“If there used to be a whopping TWO mary-jane related fatalities and it increased to FOUR, that would be a 100% increase from danged near nothing to still nothing.”

My thoughts exactly. Control-freak “news” from the Hypersensitive Crowd. The people who support Mooche’s lunch programs and go berserk over 16 oz. Soda cups.

Contrary to the endless sarcastic comments in the news from Fox to local, there aren’t millions of stonies wandering Colorado like the Walking Dead.


142 posted on 11/30/2014 8:20:11 PM PST by bluejean (The lunatics are running the asylum)
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To: jsanders2001

It’s isn’t highly addictive.

Wanting to be high on pot all the time is not the same as you must do this drug right now or your are very likely going to die of withdrawl.

That is what a phsyically addictive drug can do.

The MJ addict behaves the way you describe simply because they like the buzz so much they want to experience it all the time.

But if they all of a sudden ran out of supply, they would be fine, might be grumpy for a while, but they certainly would not die.


143 posted on 11/30/2014 8:22:47 PM PST by chris37 (heartless)
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To: chris37; Olog-hai

Marijuana is highly addictive. Psychologically. This explains the well stated comment that it’s a quasi-religion.

Just try to say anything negative about pot to a pothead, they get very emotional about it. You won’t see this with crack, meth, heroin, alcohol, tobacco or synthetic hallucinogens.


144 posted on 11/30/2014 8:55:04 PM PST by reasonisfaith ("...because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." (2 Thessalonians))
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To: UnwashedPeasant

If it went from 1 to 2, and 50% of drivers test positive, there must be like 4 cars on Colorado.

Drug make for funny logic and lots of excuses.


145 posted on 11/30/2014 8:59:08 PM PST by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)
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To: reasonisfaith

I can’t argue that it isn’t psychologically addicting, but that in no way at all compares to phsycal addiction.

Physical addiction is a chain with a ball as big as planet earth attached to it, and it is truly hard to free oneself from it.

Now I am a former pothead, a heavy user in fact, and I believe that while pot is not a drug that is just going to kill you if you use it, as cocaine and heroin certainly can, and certain combinations of pills can, I do also believe that pot is indeed a bad drug.

It is my belief that people are much better off not using it.

There is no altered state that is really desirable.

What I would tell those people, and what I told myself was that I cannot run from what is haunting me. What I must do is deal with the problem like a man, because attempting to run from it via drugs is not only futile, all I am going to achieve is running to even greater demons than I had to start.

Alcohol, MJ, pills, coke, acid, heroin, meth...those are not your friends, not at all. What they all are, in truth, is poison.


146 posted on 11/30/2014 9:04:06 PM PST by chris37 (heartless)
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To: Impy
>> More DUIs in CO now involve weed rather than booze <<

Gee, how's all that "weed is harmless and marijuana users never hurt anyone" talking point working out for our libertarian and liberal friends?

147 posted on 11/30/2014 9:13:55 PM PST by BillyBoy (Thanks to RINOs, Illinois has definitely become a "red state" -- we are run by Communists!)
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To: cuban leaf

First, it was still illegal in 2012. Second, if the pot-positive fatalities went up from 39 to 78, but the *overall* traffic fatalities dropped from 555 to 474, then where is your case against pot? http://www.coloradodot.info/library/traffic/traffic-manuals-guidelines/safety-crash-data/fatal-crash-data-city-county/Colorado_Historical_Fatalities_Graphs.pdf/view


148 posted on 11/30/2014 9:16:49 PM PST by coloradan (The US has become a banana republic, except without the bananas - or the republic.)
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To: Olog-hai
Colorado a major marijuana exporter, says new report: Illegal marijuana grown in Colorado spreading to other states

Physicians Who Use Marijuana are 'Unsafe to Practice' (Colorado)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2952497/posts

More people say they were drugged by sample chocolate bar at Denver County Fair's 'Pot Pavilion'
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3190259/posts

Colorado Deaths Stoke Worries About Pot Edibles
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3146746/posts

Regular marijuana use muddles your brain more than you think: Study
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3225819/posts

Colorado finds its pot of gold
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3166035/posts

Doctors: Pot Triggers Psychotic Symptoms
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1826274/posts

Study finds genetic links between schizophrenia and cannabis use
Tue 24 Jun 2014 11:47:48 AM MDT
Reuters ^ | 06/24/2014 | Kate Kelland
"Genes that increase the risk of a person developing schizophrenia may also increase the chance they will use cannabis, researchers said on Tuesday after studying more than 1,000 users of the drug."

Smoking marijuana as a teenager lowers IQ for LIFE, scientists warn
Sat 07 Jun 2014 02:44:39 AM MDT
Daily Mail ^ | June 6, 2014 | Daily Mail Reporter
"Smoking cannabis as a teenager lowers IQ into adulthood and could have a lifelong impact, researchers have warned."

Colorado Lawmakers Approve Plan for Pot Banking
Thu 08 May 2014 04:18:43 PM MDT · by SeekAndFind · 8 replies
NBC News ^ | 05/08/2014
" The plan seeks to move the marijuana industry away from its cash-only roots."

Source: DEA, IRS, firefighters raiding four marijuana businesses tied to money laundering case
Wed 30 Apr 2014 02:26:41 PM MDT
ABC News Denver ^ | April 30, 2014
"DENVER - Federal agents and local officers are raiding four marijuana businesses tied to an alleged international money-laundering scheme."

Basalt girl hospitalized after accidentally eating pot edible
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3172357/posts

UK 'too soft on cannabis dangers'
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1656261/posts

Psycho peril for teen pot users
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1356900/posts

Messing With Heads [Re. recent research on cannabis (marijuana).]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1356907/posts

The terrible truth about cannabis:...20-year study...demolishes claims that smoking pot is harmless
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3212140/posts

Doctors: Pot Triggers Psychotic Symptoms
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1826274/posts


149 posted on 11/30/2014 9:20:00 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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To: coloradan
...the *overall* traffic fatalities dropped from 555 to 474,

What years are those figures? (can't get pdf on my device)

150 posted on 11/30/2014 9:26:26 PM PST by Ken H (What happens on the internet stays on the internet.)
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To: familyop
I see your health concerns and raise you:

- RICO laws that were only intended against organized crime used against pro-life demonstrators

- Asset forfeiture laws used more to line police pockets than stop crime

- Militarized police forces that used to only be in highly urban areas that are now popping up in rural areas as well

- SWAT teams that are now easily manipulated by pranksters to "SWAT" innocents because they otherwise would spend most of their time sitting around doing nothing

- Large prison populations that are exploited as cheap labor by the same business owners that look the other way with regard to illegal aliens

- Continuous supply of drugs even during the height of the WOD that only led to higher prices, more thievery to buy drugs, and more money in the pockets of drug gangs and drug cartels

- Bloody turf battles between Crips and Bloods that resulted in thousands of deaths. More turf battles to come if the Crips don't play nice with MS13

- National and State Parks trashed to grow illegal crops and made unsafe for the public to visit

151 posted on 11/30/2014 9:33:20 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: ClearCase_guy
"if the government shouts out: "Pot's OK!!""

It is still OK to smoke and drink and eat fatty foods and sit around doing little or no exercise.

However, the government has made it quite clear that they believe that smoking is always bad, drinking in excess is bad, eating too much fat or doing too little exercise is bad.

They are not saying "Smoking and drinking and fat and lethargy are OK!!"

Legalizing marijuana is not the same as the government advocating its use. If it turns out that the marijuana sold today is much more potent than "our grandfather's marijuana" and that it is indeed dangerous then it can be properly regulated by the FDA or the Ag Dept.

152 posted on 11/30/2014 9:47:02 PM PST by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: Olog-hai
Pot-Positive Traffic Fatalities Up 100% in Colorado

I strongly believe that the legalization of recreational pot use is an utter stupidity, but...

Manipulated numbers, capitalizing on the stupidity and utter ignorance of the ordinary voter, as whatshisname asserted, is just as reprehensible as the pro-illegal drug crowd.

Every one of those seven so-called (unsupported) statistics are cherry-picked, manipulated or fraudulent.

Perhaps all three.

Without the data (actual numbers, with supporting source) on which the claims are based, they are meaningless.

153 posted on 11/30/2014 10:34:51 PM PST by publius911 (Formerly Publius6961)
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To: chris37
Laws cannot save people from themselves.

No, but it can severely punish those who actually kill others, accident or certain consequence, doesn't matter.

154 posted on 11/30/2014 10:37:58 PM PST by publius911 (Formerly Publius6961)
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To: MUDDOG
In Colorado and Washington state, the legal limit for DUI is 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood. Michael Brown had 12 nanograms.

Ya.
So?

Maybe 12 is 1/5 the legal limit in Missouri...

155 posted on 11/30/2014 10:45:31 PM PST by publius911 (Formerly Publius6961)
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To: publius911

Yeah, but I don’t think anyone is arguing that the drunk driver, for instance, shoudln’t be charged with a crime if he in fact hurts or kills someone while driving in that condition, yet the substance itself remains legal to purchase.

And even with those just laws, people still drink and drive and hurt and kill others.

Those laws do not save people from that action, they provide a method of jailing that perp after the fact, but the damage is already done.

But that being said, of course I support such laws. A person’s addiction is theirs to contend with, but if that person lets that addiciton get so far out of hand that physically damages another, then it’s off to prison, and rightly so.


156 posted on 11/30/2014 11:08:00 PM PST by chris37 (heartless)
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To: JRandomFreeper

i think any drug product that has no medicinal value to it at all, that creates an instant addiction to it the first time it’s used, and destroys a person’s health, i have no problems with government - ie all of us/society, voting whatever restrictions on that product we deem appropriate.

all the hard street drugs, coke, crack, meth, someone mentioned krodokil, i have no problems with them being classified illegal. they have no redeeming qualites any way you view them.

i already mentioned prior pot in certain forms has medicinal properties that should be explored and evaluated for those purposes.

we are already seeing the results of recreational legalization of pot and the negative results are hardly unexpected. but perhaps you don’t mind the increase in negatie consequences that prove potheads don’t just harm themselves but inevitably harn others because they don’t live in confined cages under total isolation from the rest of us.

you tossed out the prior lame argument that thers do harmful actions to other when not on drugs. the essence of the products they take are the big factor that screws up the drug person’s brain into doing sh1t they wouldn’t normally do on the damn drug. but you don’t seem to get that. why give people access to drugs we know screw up sensory perception and the decision-making governors in their heads, just because all they give ash1t about is how good they want to feel, and screw everyone else?


157 posted on 12/01/2014 1:09:21 AM PST by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Olog-hai

there are many drugs that hook you the first time you take them.

i have never met one person who became an instant alcoholic after their first drink.

that’sthe difference. while there are alcoholics, it’s a known fact most people who drink do not become alcoholics. you can find social drinkers. you cannot find social meth-heads. you cannot find moderate crackheads. you can’t find i only inject krokodil when i play cards, people.


158 posted on 12/01/2014 1:13:46 AM PST by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: samtheman

there was just a study that came out shortly after colorado’s legalization that shows pot smokers’ brain volume decreases over usage and that the shrinkage starts right away. it doesn’t take a long time to notice the changes.


159 posted on 12/01/2014 1:16:52 AM PST by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: GeronL

different tangent, but i totally agree. this was just an excuse to do this. if swat was used how it was sold to us, they’dbe raiding known drug houses, killing gangbangers, busting up drug gangs and groups. they dont use swat like this, as they explained they would.


160 posted on 12/01/2014 1:18:49 AM PST by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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