Marijuana legalization is working and states are benefiting from it

8 states currently have recreational legalization and 28 states have legal medical marijuana laws. Legalizers are saying that legalization is working in states that have recreational use laws and that medical marijuana is reducing opioid use in states that have legalized for medicinal purposes. The problem with these claims is that the data doesn't back them up.

       Governor Hickenlooper in Colorado recently did an interview on "Meet the Press" where he made some claims insinuating that legalization was doing what it was said to do. He also said that if legalization was on the ballot today that he would probably vote for it. Well a group of experts took notice of the claims by the Governor and united in writing a letter to him asking him to correct his statements. "I'm getting close," Hickenlooper said about supporting legalization. "...we didn't see a spike in teenage use. If anything it's come down in the last year. And we're getting anecdotal reports of less drug dealers. I mean, that's, to get rid of that black market..." Oh Governor, it saddens me that you're believing the lies or you have been on the marijuana lobby payroll. 

The Governor likes to quote the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey which has been debunked by several people including myself because it is based off of incomplete data. Every Legalizer that tries to tackle the data in Colorado always falls onto this survey because it fits their agenda, the truth however is a little different. When you look at the trending data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) it shows that Colorado not only leads the country in teen use [Table 1], but it has almost doubled in the past 10 years [Table 2]. Yes teen use has had it's ups and downs in Colorado, but there have been more ups.

Table 1

Table 2

     The black market is another area that the Governor thought he would address by saying that there is anecdotal evidence that there are less drug dealers. If that's true Governor then how come you're having almost daily drug bust of illegal marijuana grows and dealers? There was a bust recently where 16 people were arrested and 8 of them were found to have had state marijuana licenses and were using their business as a cover for the illegal activity. The black market is alive and well in Colorado. One area that appears to be having the biggest problem with illegal marijuana activity is Pueblo County. Most of these busts are happening in that geographical location.


   Oregon is another place where legislators are trying to say that legalization is working despite the data. The Oregon State Police recently released "A damaging report.....that shows how the state is violating federal policy." Portland for Positive Impact wrote in a Facebook post. In fact Smart Approaches to Marijuana has sent the State of Oregon a records request into when this report wasn't released earlier and what other information may have been left out. The report does paint a very ugly picture for legalization in the state. In the 40 page report it explains how Oregon has violated just about ever stipulation under the Cole Memo to keep the Feds at bay. Such as how Oregon is a leader in diverted marijuana into other states and the world. Oregon marijuana is being found in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and many other states.

Legalizers in both Oregon and Colorado said that legalization would eliminate the black market, but here we are. Just like Colorado, Oregon appears to be having an issue with criminals using the legal market to hide their illegal black market dealings according to the OSP report. "Correspondingly, criminal entrepreneurs, operating within this space generate significant profit by exploiting surplus medical cannabis and clandestinely diverting it out-of-state.", the report reads. So we're supposed to believe that we can take criminals out of the street and into the store front and they will go legit? The old adage about a tiger and his stripes is coming to mind right now.

From the above anyone should be able to tell that legalization isn't working as planned. If anything it has done more damage that it has helped. Kids have greater access to the drug, the Tax revenue isn't there and criminals are making more money than ever. We need to start getting the truth out now before more states make to same mistake that the previous eight did.