We’re two weeks out from the Nov. 8 election and the Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy have been kicking their “No on 205” campaign into high gear with a slew of ads filled with misleading information and flat out lies to dissuade voters from passing a law that would be part of any real responsible drug policy.
With the amount of purported “facts” released by the ARDP, it’s time for another installment of fact checks!
Colorado teens lead the nation in teen marijuana use:
Let’s start with the ad featuring former Colorado Governor Bill Owens and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb in No on Prop 205’s “Mistake.”
Owens starts with favorite, “Colorado teens now lead the nation in teen marijuana use.” We’ve heard this one before. By itself, it is actually a true statement. Though according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, D.C., Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington give Colorado a run for its money.
What I can only assume slipped Owens’ mind is the fact that Colorado has always had the highest teen marijuana use in the country, even before legalization. He also failed to mention the 2015 Healthy Kids Colorado survey, which suggests that teen use has dropped since 2009 and only increased by 1 percent between 2013 and 2015.
Okay, that one was easy. What else have they got?
Marijuana edibles are marketed to children:
The ad then goes on to show edible marijuana candies styled in the fashion of Kit-Kat Bars, Twix and Butterfingers. Perhaps it’s childish of me to enjoy a candy bar every once in a while, but I’m not sure candy qualifies as being solely marketed to children.
It’s a good thing for Owens that every state that has legalized recreation marijuana prohibits the sale to those under the age of 21.
It’s conceivable that a stoned parent may unwittingly leave a “KeefKat” bar on the kitchen counter to be stumbled upon by a candy-craving kiddo, but is a hungry, happy, sleepy child the worst thing in the world? Let’s see what the ARDP has to say about exposure to children.
Fifty percent of newborns test positive for marijuana:
Later in the ad, Webb says 50 percent of newborns test positive for marijuana. This number comes from the only anti-marijuana study that’s come out of Colorado since legalization: the infamous Rocky Mountain High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area report.
The figure only comes from one hospital. St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center located in Pueblo, Colorado, tests newborns when reasonably suspicious of the mother’s drug consumption. That 50 percent amounts to five whole babies.
According to the Denver Post, 52 babies were born at St. Mary-Corwin in March, 11 were tested for drugs and five tested positive for marijuana.
We’re not making light of infant exposure to marijuana. The effects of marijuana use on unborn babies is still in development, but in order to seriously address these issues, we need to be a little more serious about our facts.
Marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 62 percent:
I had a little trouble with this one since it seems at this point the ARDP is just spouting numbers like trying to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar. In another ad they used 32 percent and the Rocky Mountain HIDTA report says 67 percent. Owens tells us it’s 62 percent, but the number isn’t important.
Data is hard, so let’s try to explain this one with some other examples:
In 2006, the nation saw an increase in the percentage of drivers in fatal car accidents who were listening to Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” at the time of the incident.
Following Apple’s release of the iPhone in 2008, the number of accidents in which the driver had a smart phone shot up dramatically.
Most recently, the number of fatal crashes where the driver supported Donald Trump for president sky-rocketed after he announced his campaign in 2015.
See the problem?
We have yet to find a way to detect marijuana intoxication in users aside from how quickly they down a serving of McDonald’s fries. Since THC can stay in your system anywhere from days to weeks depending on a variety of variables, we can’t say for sure whether or not marijuana was a contributing factor in any traffic-related fatalities.
This is the type of fact that makes people shout out “correlation does not imply causation”—it’s one of those phrases you memorize in school like, “In 1442 Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” just one is inherently more useful and slightly less annoying.
The list goes on and it’s not difficult to discern how the ARDP’s crusade against legal pot might affect their analysis. For a fun exercise, take anyone of their commercials and simply Google their “facts.” This is one smokescreen that’s not difficult to see through.
This article appears in Oct 27 – Nov 2, 2016.
I accept ADRP as an ally in the trenches of deceit and crony capitalism. This proposed “Department of Marijuana and Controls” is the devil incarnate.
There is so much to be written into the proposal no one has the slightest clue of whats to come of this. Price fixing self investigative, self disciplined, self overseen, Allowed to tax and lien personal assets acting as a government within itself. Peace Officer credentials and powers as well as court.
Whenever I hear of people around me talking about this I know I am looking at one of the stupidest people in Tucson complete and utter ignorance of the world around them
The first time I saw a ‘No On Prop 205’ ad I was amazed at the out and out lying in it. It doesn’t take much to debunk everything in it. 5 minutes on google should be plenty. But then, this is USA 2016 and many will buy it lock stock and barrel. Sad.
Get a clue it is not IF, Marijuana should be legalized
The opposition is HOW, it should be legalized 205 is not it
Washington tax rate is 15% paid by distributor + license fees to producers and processors and testers 10%. So if 100 paid by the retailer to sell the product he applies another additional sales tax of WA state average 11% all added up this equated to the product point of sale being 47%
With tax rates like this the DMLC will have a self fulfilling prophecy of it’s value>>> to fight the very demon it supplies a vicious cycle.
We have been riding this tumultuous cycle of enforcement, protect the children, diatribe of false protection. Only to embrace it as value with prop 205
Cartel will soon go to all oils and edibles counterfeit packaging. Thanks to the dispensaries shatter smokable are for just getting high little medical value, almost all of the edible could be easily replaced with an oil. I really hate paying 45% tax on infused hot sauce or hippy dippy infused drink.
This whole proposal was written by dispensaries that have known for years that the Medical aspects of the operation was open to medical scrutiny and would not pass the tests.
So Dispensaries have opted to throw the medical aspects aside to supplying the addicted diminished capacity boon party recreational people while isolating market availability with heavy police enforcement.
This has heavy handed Governmental administrative panacea was written all over it. This is christmas a board of three really the other 4 members are just there to represent the people but dont have a vote LMFAO.
What a travesty has been done on the voter initiatives with this prop 205 this is really no different than saving payday loans.
With their charlatan slick marketing on how we helped so many families in that time of emergency need for monies.
One is to think if payday loans gave so much of what they collected to schools the 35% added interest would be helpful to the children.
In fact, I started out against it because of things I didn’t like, and then I realized, if not this, nothing. There will be no way to fix it if there is no yes on Prop 205. There will be no marijuana legalization and the cartels will celebrate. We take a step and Bernie has taught us this, we are strong, we are growing, we are heading for Independent Progressives 2020, and this is just another step in changing the trend of Koch and ALEC writing outrageous bills to protect their oil and coal in Arizona, their charter schools and their infringement on universities with big donations to guide which professors they want in place. It’s time to move forward and it’s time to approve legalization of marijuana, as imperfect as it is. Payday loans are killers of the poor, which is why we voted to stop them and fought off Brewer as she tried to reverse that decision. Now they have crept back as title and deed loans which are costing people their homes and cars. Why would you even want to encourage that!
Soundcloud,
That was not an encouragement for PAYDAY LOANS
It is a comparison as it as the same social impact the one least can afford pay the most.
These people are charlatans only here to extract as much out as the society will allow. The question is do we vote for unknown scary or the bird in the hand. Nothing can change in this prop if passed without voter state constitutional approval. With all the tax collecting campaigning against fair market department what can and will change.
The “Medical Marijuana” of today is NOT like the Marijuana used in the 70’s and 80’s. Through Artificial Selection Experiments, strains of Marijuana have been developed by the Marijuana Drug Industry that substantially increase the potency of the Drug. As such, its’ use poses serious potential consequences.
Marijuana of today is a Very Potent and Dangerous Drug!!!
Marijuana pipe found in car of driver charged in crash that killed Ann Day
Carmen Duarte Arizona Daily Star May 12, 2016.
Fatal road crashes involving marijuana double after state legalizes drug
Science News, May 10, 2016. Source: AAA
Summary: Fatal crashes involving drivers who recently used marijuana doubled in Washington after the state legalized the drug, according to the latest research. New research also shows that legal limits for marijuana and driving are arbitrary and unsupported by science, which could result in unsafe motorists going free and others being wrongfully convicted for impaired driving.
http://tucson.com/news/local/crime/marijua…
Marijuana pipe found in car of driver charged in crash that killed Ann Day”; Carmen Duarte Arizona Daily Star May 12, 2016
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016…
Fatal road crashes involving marijuana double after state legalizes drug: Science News, May 10, 2016
This Drug is effective in treating some medical conditions; Muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis, Nausea from cancer chemotherapy, Poor appetite and weight loss caused by chronic illness, such as HIV, or nerve pain, Seizure disorders (childhood epilepsy), and Crohn’s disease. Purified extracts from whole-plant marijuana can slow the growth of cancer cells from one of the most serious types of brain tumors.
Research in mice showed that treatment with purified extracts of THC and CBD, when used with radiation, increased the cancer-killing effects of the radiation (Scott KA, Dalgleish AG, Liu WM. The combination of cannabidiol and ?9-tetrahydrocannabinol enhances the anticancer effects of radiation in an orthotopic murine glioma model. Mol Cancer Ther. 2014;13(12):2955-67.)
Scientists are also conducting preclinical and clinical trials with marijuana and its extracts to treat numerous diseases and conditions, such as the following:
1. Autoimmune diseases (diseases that weaken the immune system): HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis (MS), which causes gradual loss of muscle control
2. Alzheimers disease, which causes loss of brain function, affecting memory, thinking, and behavior
3.Inflammation
4.Pain
5.Seizures
6.Substance use disorders
7.Mental disorders
The FDA has not recognized or approved the marijuana plant as medicine.
The Medical Marijuana Program in Arizona is a Big-Money-Making SCAM supported by the Marijuana Drug Industry and their Supporters in the Arizona Legislature!
Marijuana use for Medical purpose should be supported by Scientific evidence, including Clinical Trials, and regulated by the FDA; closely monitored by the tending Physician and State Department of Health.”Medical Marijuana” should be available by Prescription only (in a Pharmacy) issued by a License Physician.
Congress should amend the Controlled Substances Act of 1970: Controlled Substances Act (CSA) (21 U.S.C. 811). making Marijuana available for Medical Treatment.
The major consumers of this Drug, if legalized for so-called recreational purposes, will be the younger generation; destroying the very fabric/future of our Democracy.
This Drug should NOT be legalized for recreational purposes!!!
@Nick Meyers: it was in 1492 that Columbus sailed the ocean blue, not 1442. Friends don’t let friends toke and type.
@Francis Saitta: When you say that today’s marijuana is not like the marijuana of the 70s and 80s, you are not talking about medical marijuana. You are talking about high-THC strains like “skunk.” Comparing all the hundreds of marijuana strains available today to skunk is like comparing all chile peppers to habaneros, or comparing Coors to absinthe. Many medical marijuana users prefer strains that are actually lower in THC and higher in CBD. Such strains are less likely to produce potent psychoactive effects and more likely to engender pain relief. High-THC strains don’t really do a whole lot for pain, as far as I know. I interact with people with chronic illnesses on a daily basis, particularly painful connective tissue disorders. Not all of them use marijuana, but the ones who do prefer the high-CBD low-THC strains that allow them to go about their day and function relatively normally while keeping their pain at a minimum. These patients do not want to be spaced out or “dazed and confused” all day. They want to lead healthier, more normal lives, and they feel that the appropriate strains of medical marijuana help them do that.
The FDA has approved Marinol, which is a marijuana derivative. The FDA has no jurisdiction over herbal medicines in general–this is why you can walk into Whole Foods and buy valerian or dandelion root or St. John’s wort over the counter–and in any case they will not be able to approve marijuana as long as the DEA keeps marijuana at Schedule I status. If the DEA could be persuaded to recognize some of marijuana’s medical benefits and downgrade it to Schedule II, then perhaps things might be different.
I understand your concern about users deciding to drop out of life and stay stoned all the time, but you could say the same of liquor, and our efforts at prohibiting that resulted in disaster. Note that, in all states where recreational marijuana use has been legalized, you have to be over 21 to buy it, and public use is usually illegal.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weedsdaywednesday/2016/11/02/weedsday-wednesday-a-live-cannabis-radio-show-prop-205-final-discussion
If you care to take about 45 minutes this is a great listen through of the final wording of the proposition. On your phone, on your wireless, while you’re driving, sitting at Starbucks it seemed others wanted me to turn it up. I was having breakfast on the patio @ Marana Del Rey became to focus of about 15 around us.
This is the grass roots that grew into the Medical Marijuana and part grassroots that went to court to force it to be implemented. These People At Tumbleweeds serve a responsible community service in education in compassion. Grew in Tucson to be foundation of medical education care. Early on TumbleWeeds supplied patients, I recall every visit was a review of my ailment.
Times have changed, the market has changed, Incipient greed has not it still infests. While we all depend on growth, control of supply is not growth. So many publications are clamoring for advertizing dollars they are falling all over themselves to be the server to the public in print. With a simple legislative amendment no advertizing that would support a federal crime in facilitating to support. They just did it with attorneys.