Guest MINDSETTER™ DeNuccio: RI Should Reject Marijuana Legalization
Tuesday, March 08, 2016
I often tell my husband that I wish I had gotten into a social issue that was a little more black and white, than substance abuse prevention. What pretty clear to me is not so clear to others. The question of marijuana becoming a legal, recreational drug is once again being considered in Rhode Island. I am concerned about the future of Rhode Island and therefore wary of marijuana being more available in our beautiful ocean state.
Consider our RI’s picturesque Main Streets: I like the look and feel of Brown Street in Wickford and Hope Street in Bristol. Imagine marijuana coffee shops, marijuana paraphernalia shops, cannabis dispensaries or marijuana smoking bars cropping up on those streets. If marijuana becomes legal for recreational use, that would be what would happen. Legal ensures retail access. It is naïve to think that those commercial establishments would just be on Broad Street in Providence. Right now in Colorado local newspaper advertisements are filled with pot promotions- including appliance repair services that comes with a bag of weed! Smokeable weed is just one aspect: There are “Pot Tarts,” “Ganja gummy bears,” “Canna Punch,” and any other candy that you are familiar with now available laced with marijuana. Oh, you say, that it is only for individuals over 21! - but the reality is that kids are getting ahold of these products. Emergency room visits are up in Colorado and Washington where these products are available commercially. Pets and kids are consuming marijuana-infused candies and cookies. The lunch ladies and school administrators can’t tell the difference between pot brownies and granny’s brownies. We have already had a hospital transports from schools in RI as a result of youth eating these types of products. Do we want to see more of that? Not me.
Proponents say that “regulation” of marijuana will make the streets safer and prevent the alleyway sales of marijuana. I don’t believe it. The black market is alive and well in Colorado and Washington. Commercial availability has not slowed the illegal market. The dealers continue to grow weed in their apartments and homes because growing weed is easy – way easier than manufacturing alcohol. They continue to sell to whomever doesn’t want to pay the highly taxed marijuana prices.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTMarijuana is a drug. Marijuana use hijacks the teen brain. The frontal lobe, the part of the brain that controls important cognitive skills such as emotional expression, problem solving, memory, language, judgment, and sexual behavior, is not fully formed until about 24 or 25 in women and 27-28 in men. Research shows that introducing marijuana to the teenage brain has negative effects. Academic pursuits become less meaningful as marijuana becomes more valued. Acutely, marijuana decreases attention and concentration, decreases memory and information processing and decreases decision response speed. Through longer term exposure, marijuana impairs planning, organizing and problem solving. There are deficits to allocation of attentional resources, filtering out of irrelevant material and loss in the retrieval and immediate verbal memory. Studies indicate at least an 8-point drop in IQ after long term marijuana use.
Think that legalizing marijuana keeps it out of the hands of youth in Colorado? Wrong! According to the most widely respected survey on youth drug use, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Colorado youth between the ages of 12-25 are number one in the country for marijuana use rates. In 2016, 11.6% of Colorado youth between the ages of 12-17 were considered marijuana users compared to 7.15% nationally. Drug related suspensions and expulsions increased 40% between 2009 and 2014. One study from Denver indicates an increase of 8th graders marijuana use of 350%. What will Rhode Island do to prevent this from happening to our kids?
RI’s high schools are under pressure to produce students that are ready to compete in a global society. There are daily reports in local media about testing and performance in our schools. Marijuana use already affects this issue. By normalizing its use by creating an atmosphere where marijuana is legal- our educational institutions will be negatively impacted. Teen marijuana use is linked to school dropout, other drug use, and mental health problems. That is not the prognosis that I want for RI youth. RI’s future depends on our youth being competitive and employable.
The short term benefit of increased tax revenue is not worth the risk to our kids and to the economic future of RI. Already, Electric Boat is on record for having enormous problems securing employable workers because they can’t pass the drug tests. What will that situation look like in a few years, if we legalize this drug? Just because alcohol is a legal drug doesn’t mean that you can show up for work impaired – the same is true for marijuana use. In this case, since marijuana is illegal under federal law, its use will block someone from passing an employment drug test.
So let’s continue with the supposed economic benefit to our financially struggling state: Will it be $40 million in revenue or is it $50 million? Whatever it is, will it offset the social costs that will accompany legalizing marijuana? Marijuana is often compared to alcohol. Alcohol is legal for those over 21 and highly regulated and yet in 2010 the cost of underage drinking in Rhode Island (medical costs, legal costs, addiction treatment etc.) was $210 million. Those are costs to moms and dads, it’s not money coming from the state’s general fund!
Thinking about road safety: Reports from Colorado point to increased impaired driving consequences since legalization. In one year they saw a 32% increase in MARIJUANA-RELATED TRAFFIC DEATHS, after legalization. In the year following legalization in Washington, there was a 50% increase in reported drugged driving incidences.
Culturally it has taken decades to stigmatize drunk driving; while being high on marijuana is considered funny in our society. Will we go through decades before we stigmatize driving while high? There is currently no widely accepted valid test for law enforcement to administer to determine someone’s level of marijuana intoxication and we are woefully short of drug recognition experts in our law enforcement community. What are the plans to protect the RI roadways?
Lastly, recent research shows a connection between marijuana and opioids. We have an opioid epidemic going on and if you ask someone with an addiction to heroin if they started with marijuana, my guess is they are going to say, “Yes.” Will every marijuana user go on to use heroin, probably not, but I don’t want RI kids taking that risk. Bottom line is this, legalizing marijuana for Rhode Island is just not a good idea.
Related Slideshow: Who Supports, Opposes Marijuana Legalization in RI in 2016
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