Pot-Positive Traffic Fatalities Up 100% in Colorado

Cybercast News Service ^ | November 26, 2014 - 9:48 AM | Cully Stimson

[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.” …

[South40]

Michael Brown had 12 nanograms.

I am not a marijuana smoker and never have been. But I had the impression the drug made one mellow. To your knowledge, could it also make one aggressive?

[JRandomFreeper]

Only thing I would begin to care about is for the fiber use.

And THC isn't required for that.

/johnny

[Secret Agent Man]

i said i wasn’t talking about adminstrative/regulatory laws, which are arbitrary and not based on anything moral.

[JRandomFreeper]

I think what a lot of this boils down to is "What is the role of government?".

The founders answered what they thought the role of federal government was with Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.

Some want government to outlaw what they don't like, and require what they do like.

Some want government to stay out of it, and let free men decide what is acceptable.

/johnny

[DesertRhino]

Testing positive can mean they smoked a couple of weeks ago. Id be careful with this stat,,

[chris37]

When I was younger, there was some conflict in me that I ran from 24/7 with drugs.

I literally could not do enough drugs to get high enough to escape what I was running from.

But there is no escape. All I did was create a whole new set of extremely serious problems on top of the original problem.

It lead to a truly sad existence.

Now I have walked away from all of that and found peace and happiness in this world, which previously I thought would elude me forever.

Tough, tough lessons.

I am very happy that the Lord gave me the chance to learn them, otherwise I’d still be lost.

[Viennacon]

Now come on, since when do liberals wait for ‘studies’? The downtrodden and oppressed can’t wait for studies damn it!

[Gasshog]

Legalize Marijuana

Hay man, Like Wow what could go wrong??

[ViLaLuz]

Lol... You made me laugh :)

[JRandomFreeper]

Missed that. I don't think the role of government is to legalize what some people like and make illegal what they don't like.

/johnny

[gogeo]

But...but...but...DUDE!!!

[arthurus]

It has not been long enough. At this stage all it may show is that many more people drive who smoke pot. I suspect that it will, indeed, be found that marijuana does contribute to poor driving but that is not yet. I do not favor the bans but laws about driving under the influence should certainly be enforced. I believe none of those laws to be exclusive to alcohol nowadays.

[JRandomFreeper]

Sorry for your experience. Do you believe that experience should give you the power to decide what is lawful and unlawful for everyone?

/johnny

[gogeo]

Whether it is legal or illegal has no bearing at all on whether or not people use it or do not use it...

There's obviously a portion of the public who did not use it because they did not want to risk being arrested.

How many that is, who knows? But it certainly exists.

[jonascord]

Prohibitionists never learn, die but are always replaced by fresh Stupid.

The War on Drugs has destroyed more Constitutional protections than any other single excuse the Feds have dreamed up. It's created a permanent criminal economy, and a stack of permanent federal, state and county agencies that are absolutely dependent on the continuation of that "illegal" economy.

It's unfortunate that between the WoD and the Democrats, any federal statistics are pure fabrication. Show of hands as to the truth in these latest numbers?

[pfflier]

Here we go again...

Where?

[chris37]

I have no problem in laws that would hold accountable those victimized by people who are under the influence of anything.

If you hurt someone else, sober or high, you should be held accountable. That is responsibility for one’s actions, and that is something I believe in strongly.

However, I can tell you from experience that there is no punishment that a society can meter out that eclipses or exceeds in anyway the suffering an addict already endures at their own hand.

It is a hollow, empty pointless existence to know that every day you cannot proceed with anything at all, not even food or water or even air, until you get your fix. Then you have a few hours to proceed with the rest of life until you need your fix again...

That is when you know that you have truly enslaved yourself, locked yourself in a prison cell and wrapped yourself head to toe in heavy chains, and you cannot move at all, but all the while you have the key to walk out, you simply do not have the strngth or will to use it.

That is Hell on earth.

[gogeo]

Altitude could play a part; there are no statistics like this coming from Washington, the other state that legalized.

Stoner Central would be within view of the Space Needle in Seattle.

Disproportionate number of public transit users there.

[cherry]

as soon as they perfect the procedure for testing for weed by an inhalation device, we will see that all these "alcohol related" accidents are really alcohol and weed related....

oh then what will the libtards say then when their precious argument about how bad alcohol is and weed is just a little innocent drug and nobody stoned ever, ever gets into any accidents....

[gogeo]

but they don’t. we are not living in some fantasy libertarian vacuum where the negative personal acts of someone only affect that person and nobody else.

I've witnessed a few pot referendums, including the last successful one.

I've wondered why proponents...

1) Claim there's no negative side effects to smoking weed.

2) Pledge to dedicate X% of the revenues to addiction treatment.