This past Monday (June 22), I read a commentary in the Opinion section outlining the many reasons to treat marijuana like alcohol, by guest columnist New Mexico Rep. Bill McCamley. As a 28-year federal drug agent, I believe it is important for the public to have accurate information if we are going to have an honest discussion on legalizing marijuana.

In 2012, Colorado legalized the recreational use of marijuana and, in 2014, also allowed for licensed marijuana retail stores, cultivation operations and edible manufacturers. Although Rep. McCamley offers that teen use has decreased at a "significant level" as states like Colorado tax and regulate marijuana, that conclusion is not actually supported by the study he cites. In fact, the 2014 findings showed that nationally after five years of increased marijuana use among teens, it only slightly declined, from 26 to 24 percent. Pointing to this decrease as the direct result of state regulation and taxation in the wake of legalization assumes far too much, with far too little context.

In fact, in Colorado, in 2013, the percentage of youths (ages 12 to 17) who used marijuana within the past-month was 56 percent higher than the national average. Colorado went from being ranked 14th (in 2006) to third in the nation for past month marijuana use among youth. This is troubling because scientific studies have revealed that moderate marijuana use can impede the development of a child's brain. Rep. McCamley also argues that marijuana is the substance least likely used by emergency room patients.

However, from 2011 to 2013, Colorado emergency room visits related to marijuana increased by 57 percent. Marijuana-related emergency room visits in the first six months of 2014 exceeded all of 2013. Traffic fatalities involving operators testing positive for marijuana increased 100 percent from 2007 to 2012 — fatalities, not accidents. The majority of arrests for driving under the influence of drugs involved marijuana and over one quarter were marijuana alone.

Also, while it's fashionable to claim that marijuana is not a gateway drug, countless medical and scientific studies have found otherwise, reporting that teens who used marijuana at least once in the last month are 13 times more likely than other teens to move onto other drugs like methamphetamine or heroin, and almost 26 times more likely than those teens who have never used marijuana. To suggest that the use of hard drugs "will probably decline" simply ignores a significant body of scientific research.

Proponents claim that since marijuana retail stores opened on January 1, 2014, the crime rate in Denver has decreased, comparing January to June 2013 to the same time period in 2014. Actually, reported crime in Denver increased 6.7 percent during that time period, and violent crime throughout the state increased 2.1 percent. And although Coloradans were sold on the promise of higher revenues from the marijuana tax, somewhere in the neighborhood of $125 million, the true figure for calendar year 2014 was $52.5 million, equivalent to only 0.5 percent of Colorado's general tax fund revenue.

Legalization is not a silver bullet for America's drug problem. Prices remain relatively stable nationally, seizures of Mexican heroin and methamphetamine have increased, and Mexican criminal enterprises have entered the legalized/regulated marijuana market in Colorado. Markets adapt, so do the cartels.
I welcome an open and honest debate on our nation's federal drug laws. However, our citizens deserve to have accurate information on this important issue.