COLUMBUS — Nebraska Attorney General
Doug Peterson has heard all the arguments for legalizing medical and
recreational marijuana.
They
bring up weed’s popularity — and acceptance — during the 1960s and
’70s, and say alcohol causes more problems than marijuana use.
Peterson isn’t buying it.
Today’s pot is different from the
drug people were toking five decades ago, according to Peterson, who’s
unwilling to shrug off the recent marijuana revolution.
“I
find a lot of (state) senators just don’t seem to think it’s that big
of deal, and that’s frustrating,” Peterson said in an interview Thursday
while visiting several area communities.
The
attorney general said marijuana grown by commercial businesses in
states like Colorado — where recreational use of the drug was legalized
by voters — is more potent than ever.
Peterson
said he recently toured a facility in Colorado that was growing
marijuana with a THC content near 30 percent, far stronger than the 3-5
percent level of the psychoactive chemical found in weed in the 1970s.
“He must have thought I was an investor because he was tickled to death that the product was that strong,” Peterson said.
The
attorneys general in Nebraska and Oklahoma argue this high-potency weed
is crossing state lines, straining law enforcement agencies in states
where marijuana is illegal and consuming tax dollars. They are
challenging Colorado’s approval of recreational marijuana use on the
grounds that it violates the federal Controlled Substances Act.
Peterson believes the marijuana industry is also targeting youths by adding the drug to edibles such as cookies and candy.
“You
don’t put edible products into Pixy Stix, power drinks and things of
that nature if they weren’t trying to get the young people involved in
it,” he said.
If a beer company
increased the alcohol content in each can then added a logo geared
toward children there would be public outcry, he contends.
“The marijuana industry does that, it’s just under the radar,” he said.
Peterson
opposes medical cannabis — for the time being — because he believes
it’s a gateway to medical marijuana, then recreational use.
He said there’s a “clear
progression” from allowing people to smoke weed to alleviate pain to
allowing people to smoke weed for fun.
“That’s exactly what happened in Colorado,” Peterson said.
The
attorney general argues that pro-marijuana groups know there’s
resistance to fully legalizing the drug, but people are more willing to
support the idea after there’s a user base for medicinal purposes.
Peterson
and Gov. Pete Ricketts opposed a bill introduced this year that would
have legalized medical cannabis in pill or liquid form in Nebraska. The
measure from Sen. Tommy Garrett of Bellevue was defeated by a
filibuster.
Products such as cannabis oil, which
doesn’t contain THC, must be studied further by the medical industry to
determine their effectiveness as a treatment option, he said, and
that’s happening now at facilities such as the University of Nebraska
Medical Center.
Public policy
shouldn’t be driven by emotional testimony from families looking any
possible solution to medical issues, he added.
Peterson also discussed the need to improve mental health services in Nebraska.
The
attorney general said a lack of mental health resources is the No. 1
concern expressed to him by law enforcement personnel across the state.
“The
difficult thing is that law enforcement is not in a position to
properly handle someone who is having a major psychotic episode,”
Peterson said. “They’re not in a position, nor do they want to be in a
position, to diagnose.”
“If someone is having a major psychotic episode, putting them in your jail is not treatment,” he added.
When
the state shifted some treatment from regional facilities to
community-based services, gaps opened in areas where local resources
never materialized.
The lack of
available facilities for mental health care has become an issue for law
enforcement agencies that can’t find openings for emergency in-patient
treatment.
“What’s frustrating
is we’ve thrown the responsibility on law enforcement, but we haven’t
given them the resources,” said Peterson, who called it a “deep and
longstanding” problem that must be addressed by the Legislature.
“The problem is none of these solutions are easy and oftentimes they’re not going to be cheap,” he said.
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