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.” …

[JRandomFreeper]

Laws are about using the deadly force of government power.

That is reality.

What is the role of government with this issue?

/johnny

[vette6387]

“But...but...but...DUDE!!!”

Tommy Vietor, White Hut Deputy Press Secretary

[Secret Agent Man]

society must have legal ways to deal with these people regardless if they understand that’ or not. hence laws with consequences. these laws don’t just come about on their own without community and society input. thats why states have different laws. but when we see one state where lax laws fail, and another where the problem is under better control, to ignore what works and what isn’t is denying what’s in front of your facde.

[cuban leaf]

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?

---

It makes them mellow. As a former pot smoker (quit in 1977) I see pot smokers as the most UN-dangerous of any drug user. There are plenty of belligerent drunks. I NEVER saw a belligerent stoner. Pot's biggest victim, by far, is the person using it. It was the height of hypocrisy to make alcohol legal but pot illegal.

[JRandomFreeper]

You support the full force of government power (guns and all) to make sure those people don't smoke a plant you don't like?

/johnny

[gogeo]

The libertarian streak in me says that if someone is DUI and crashes their car, they should lay there until they get better or die.

If only life were that clean. I had a fleet vehicle involved in a collision with a DUI. I will never be made whole for all the cost and grief resulting from another person's irresponsibility.

There should be consequences, sure...but for many, the consequences are too limited. Do you want to take someone's driver's license? What's the chance they will drive anyway...without a license or insurance? Very high, from what I've seen. What are the consequences to them?

That they can't pay for the damage they cause...and they'll be guests at the Gray Bar Hotel, tab paid courtesy of you and me...which will probably improve their lifestyle.

[Secret Agent Man]

don’t give me that. that’s not the only reason laws’exist.

laws exist so that one citizen who’s wrong by another has a means to get justice. govt exists to have a system where justice can be meted out fairly. laws also exist to punish lawbreakers.

murderers can have lawsuits brought against them by the govt for violating state/fed laws, and the victims file civil lawsuits as well against them for damages. it’s not just govt power. it gives victims power and a way to get justice too.

[Secret Agent Man]

shut up. do not put your words in my mouth. retract it or shut the hell up. i am sick of your twisted mischaracterization of anyone who disagrees with you on this issue. your statement is bullsh1t and it’s clear you selectively read my comments on this.

[sickoflibs]

RE:”Pot-Positive Traffic Fatalities Up 100% in Colorado”

No-one could have predicted this!

[JRandomFreeper]

I wasn't talking about WHY laws exist, only the reality of laws.

Criminal law is the use of government force.

That is all that it is.

Civil law is a different beast, that is about righting wrongs.

So which is it? Criminal law? Civil law? What this article is about is the change in Colorado Criminal law.

/johnny

[chris37]

Definitely agree, cuban leaf.

Jesus Christ is the only salvation. In Him is where the goodness of mankind is found. Away from Him...is a place I do not want to be.

[onedoug]

Though if he runs up medical expenses or liabilities that he cannot pay, who does? We all know.

Connecticut wrapper?

[JRandomFreeper]

Since you are unclear, I am simply trying to restate what I understood, to see if I am correct.

A simple error checking mechanism that humans sometimes use.

I assume that by your "Shut up." that I didn't get your meaning.

Care to try again?

/johnny

[MUDDOG]

could it also make one aggressive?

I think it would make a person more reckless, and that could lead to behavior that would seem to be or actually was aggressive, especially if you were inclined that way already.

I think recklessness was the effect of THC on Michael Brown.

The effect of THC was an issue at the grand jury. From what I've read, the state took the position that the THC contributed to his aggressiveness, while the Brown family's pathologist Michael Baden testified that he didn't think it would've had that effect.

[Secret Agent Man]

what i’m saying is that their negative behavior never just affects themselves. the guy who’s so high he gets in his car and drives over his kid backing up. the guy who crashes into a tree and the paramedics who are called out to respond, on the way there, get into an accident and someone dies or is injured. the lives of the people they leave behind that loved’them.

[Secret Agent Man]

i am clear. i am saying i never said what you wrote and i want you to either retract it or shut up. i never advocated what you supposedly say i am for.

[JRandomFreeper]

he gets in his car and drives over his kid backing up. the guy who crashes into a tree and the paramedics who are called out to respond, on the way there, get into an accident and someone dies or is injured. the lives of the people they leave behind that loved’them.

The same can happen because a guy got into a fight with his wife. How are those situations handled?

/johnny

[SoFloFreeper]

OMG! No way!

[RegulatorCountry]

Heavy users begin to experience paranoia which would explain instances of aggression. As far as driving stoned, it’s not a good idea. The actual act of driving itself isn’t so much the problem, since the fear of being stopped is enhanced. The problem is distractibility, fiddling with the music, talking, anything other than concentrating on driving. I can imagine crashes are more likely due to this distractibility. So many distractions behind the wheel nowadays.

[JRandomFreeper]

Then be clear. What laws do you want? Do you want criminal laws forbidding the use of marijuana?

/johnny