FOP Comes Out Against Legalized Marijuana

He said a Colorado Healthy Kids Survey showed “marijuana use among youth has gone down after legalization”.

It opposes Issue 3 and affirms the board’s position to keep all schools drug-free. Steiner said that a few self-selected wealthy investors are putting Ohioans at risk by inflicting permanent damage on the state. Also considered were marijuana-related arrests per 100,000 residents through 2012 provided by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report.

Two states that have legalized recreational and medicinal marijuana, Washington and Colorado, have experienced a rise in marijuana-related DUIs and serious traffic accidents involving marijuana-positive drivers.

“The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado” report by Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area says legalization led to a 32 percent increase in 2014 marijuana-related traffic deaths compared to the previous year. “Without it, we’ll continue to surrender our streets to drug dealers who don’t create legitimate jobs, care about sick Ohioans, pay taxes or ID kids before they sell to them”. During the same time period, the number of pounds of pot seized increased 722 percent. So you can clearly see that there are issues with the report just by doing a little bit of homework about what statistics they used, which of course, is due to this being an opponent of pot in the first place. There are also 16 different testing sites along with 505 dispensaries, and 748 cultivation sites for the medical pot. “There are so many families all over our state affected by cancer, Alzheimer’s, PTSD, epilepsy and other debilitating illnesses who could benefit from medical marijuana”. Before the legalization, all of these states had already reduced the penalties for possession and use of small amounts of the drug or introduced policies permitting medical marijuana use.

The constitutional amendment proposed by Issue 3 would authorize the possession of up to 9 ounces of marijuana for adults 21 and over – eight ounces of homegrown marijuana and one ounce of commercially purchased marijuana – which would allow a heavy recreational user to maintain a 16-month supply at home. Only 10 investment groups would have ownership of the cultivation sites, which are the people funding the campaign. Marijuana sales would be taxed at all levels, with proceeds mainly going to local governments.

What analysts do not know is what will happen if both issues pass.