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:
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
Rehab kills. Just ask Amy Winehouse. No, wait...
That was a troubled young lady right there...
I remember seeing pictures of her near the end and just thinking wow.
She lost the battle with her demon.
Even though I don’t like her, I feel very sorry for her and for those who loved her.
” Gee, how’s all that “weed is harmless and marijuana users never hurt anyone” talking point working out for our libertarian and liberal friends? “
Every pot smoker I ever hired, stabbed me in the back, one way or another. 0 for 10. Not a coincidence.
Also, are people stoning today that used to get drunk?
That said, I snicker as much as anyone when people quip about the mile high city now being twice as high.
For alcohol, there seems to be an agreed measure of what means too drunk to drive, the BAC. For stoners, there isn’t, which has to lead to a lot of subjectivity and confusion (especially when it is a multi drug intoxication). Will there be something like a universal competency test? People might not want that because it might collar those who are tired or sick too.
At least every one that let you know he/she stoned.
An inconvenient truth
Law can legitimately govern what people do. It can prohibit public intoxication. Maybe it could even prohibit private intoxication. The spiritual error is in demonizing a substance because the wickedness is always in its use. It never hops off the shelf and grabs anyone by the collar.
Laws do not govern what addicts do.
An addict’s addiction governs what the addict does.
I did not demonize the substances, I called them what they are, poison.
I demonized addiction itself, which is the use of such substances and other things. Addiction is clearly a personal demon that some in this world battle against for their entire life.
Sounds like an extremely weak argument.
The whole point is that legalization is not going to improve those numbers.
No, the whole point is the Reefer Madness brigade cooking the books as usual. (And legalization just might improve those numbers, by eliminating the incentive to smoke it as soon as you've got it in order to avoid a possession arrest.)
No matter how you slice it, 100% of the stoners I discovered screwed me over. Not good.
"Pot-positive" could mean ANY level in the bloodstream - and could also mean use any time within the past few weeks.
the majority of DUI drug arrests involve marijuana;
Since pot has always been far and away the most used illegal drug, this factoid has doubtless always been true.
drug-related suspensions/expulsions increased 32 percent over a 5-year period
Pot has been legal for only about a year.
and a majority was for marijuana;
Since pot has always been far and away the most used illegal drug, this factoid has doubtless always been true.
almost 50 percent of Denver arrestees tested positive for marijuana;
No evidence that this is an increase.
marijuana-related emergency room visits increased 57 percent from 2011-2013; and marijuana-related hospitalizations has increased 82 percent since 2008.
"Marijuana-related" means merely that they were asked if they'd used marijuana and said yes - this is like saying every illness or death of a tobacco user is a "tobacco-related" illness or death.
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.
Who here would disagree that the sort of person who's likelier to choose to use pot is also the sort of person who's likelier to drop out? That's enough to explain the linkage. And a similar argument can very plausibly be made regarding suicide attempts.
since pot destroys the brain permanently over a short time, perhaps pot users should not be allowed to legally drive at all. (see the repeated images of brain mri scans.)
Another report using only percentages and not numbers.
The number 2 is 100% more than 1.
so it is ok for people to die because it is 100% rather than a “number”?
How about expanding implied consent to include mandatory MRI for THC positive scans? If the brain destruction is too far gone then ineligible for a DL.
Laughable nonsense - a number of FReepers have posted, in a manner not consistent with permanent brain destruction, that they are former users who have quit.
It's well established that drunk drivers kill people - do you therefore support banning alcohol, or is it OK for people to die?
“so it is ok for people to die because it is 100% rather than a number?”
You sound like a liberal arguing for banning guns. “If it saves just one life! For the children!”
Totally off the subject, but there are a bunch of beautiful 13ers that have the advantage of far less traffic.
A few of us had a great time climbing Mt. Rosalie. We saw only one other hiker the whole day.
I cite the MRI scans of prolonged users, nice try but enjoy the consolation prize.
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