Opponents of Issue 3, which would legalize marijuana use and
sales in Ohio, say a new Colorado report shows legalization would be
detrimental to public safety.
(Elaine Thompson, Associated Press)
Marijuana-related traffic deaths, drug-related expulsions and marijuana-related hospitalizations increased in Colorado since recreational marijuana became legal there, according to the annual report by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area released Tuesday.
The Rocky Mountain HIDTA is a federally funded organization formed to reduce and eliminate illegal drug trafficking.
Colorado voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, and retail sales opened in January 2014. The average number of marijuana-related traffic deaths increased 41 percent in 2013-14 compared to the three years when medical marijuana was commercialized (2009-12), according to the report.
The Denver Police Department reported twice as many DUIs involving marijuana -- from 33 in 2013 to 66 in 2014.
Colorado hospitals reported a 38 percent increase in the number of marijuana-related hospitalizations in 2014 compared to 2013 -- from 8,272 to 11,439.
Ohioans will vote on Nov. 3 whether to legalize marijuana for recreational and medical use. Issue 3 would legalize sales and use for adults age 21 and older. Commercial marijuana could only be grown at 10 sites owned by investors in ResponsibleOhio, the political action committee behind the initiative. Ohioans could grow marijuana at home after obtaining a $50 license, but would be limited to four flowering plants kept out of public view.
Ohioans Against Marijuana Monopolies spokeswoman Jen Detwiler said the report shows Issue 3 would be detrimental to public safety in Ohio.
"This is what's at stake in Ohio," Detwiler said in an email. "It's a shame that a few wealthy investors are willing to cause serious and permanent damage to Ohio for their own personal financial gain."
Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, a national pro-legalization organization, said the report is political literature, not an objective government report. Tvert said the report's author was an official spokesman for the campaign against legalization in Colorado and the report cites anti-marijuana advocacy organizations.
Tvert said the report's conclusion about increased teen use contradicts a state-sponsored survey showing youth marijuana use in Colorado has remained stable since 2005. The 2013 Colorado Healthy Kids Survey also showed rate of marijuana use among high school students has decreased since 2009, the year in which medical marijuana businesses began opening around the state.
"The report cherry picks data and leaves out other data or anything else that might refute it or in any way suggest Colorado's law has been beneficial or not problematic," Tvert said in an email.
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