The Lie of Legalization - To see the devastation of marijuana, just look to our neighbor, Colorado

by Wyoming Liberty Group

As Mark Twain once said: "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics."

With all due respect, there may be one other kind of lie: The lie told by pro-pot forces.

If you haven't heard their footsteps yet, here's what you need to know. Marijuana interests have entered our state capital of Cheyenne during the ongoing legislative session. They're scurrying behind the scenes to try to crack open the lucrative market for marijuana in Wyoming, where it remains illegal.

And the lie they tell is that marijuana is no big deal. That the legalization of marijuana won't harm our beautiful state of Wyoming. But, let's take a look at the truth by looking just to our south at our neighbor, Colorado, where marijuana is legal. What, after all, has happened there?

Here's the first fact: Over a decade ago, in 2012, Colorado became the first state in the nation to ignore federal law by legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. Marijuana, by the way, continues to be federally illegal. And, at the risk of overlooking another important fact, "recreational" is a term used loosely, if not falsely. Let's call "recreational" use of marijuana for what it really is: "Adult use." Since then, about half the states across the country have followed suit, legalizing "adult use" marijuana.

Here's a statistic to ponder since Colorado opened Pandora's Box: Pot shops outnumber all McDonald's and Starbucks stores combined in the entire state of Colorado. Ponder that jarring image. It's far easier to bump into a pot shop than it is to get fast food in much of Colorado. Shocking—but not surprising. This has been true for several years.

What, incidentally, does the multitude of pot shops in Colorado convey to children? For one, that marijuana is commonplace—that it's okay. But other, more essential statistics tell a far different story. That there is actually nothing okay about marijuana.

Since Jan. 1, 2014, just over a decade ago, when retail sales of adult-use marijuana began in Colorado, there is perhaps one word to describe what has unfolded: mayhem.

In short order, Colorado regulators issued recalls of massive quantities of pot treated with unauthorized pesticides. A security guard was shot and killed in an Aurora pot dispensary. In Boulder, health officials reported a jump in cases of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, a potentially dangerous condition in which long-term users of marijuana vomit repeatedly.

But that is all a bit anecdotal. Let's take a look at the broader picture. In the decade after Colorado legalized adult-use marijuana, the state has witnessed rises in emergency-room visits, hospitalizations related to marijuana, calls to poison control, driving while under the influence and deaths caused by crashes involving drivers who tested positive for cannabinoids, the compounds found in marijuana, according to no less of an authority than the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice's Office of Research and Statistics.

For instance, DUIs in Colorado involving marijuana rose from 12 percent in 2014 to 31 percent in 2020. The number of traffic fatalities, where the driver tested positive for a cannabinoid, skyrocketed 140 percent from 2013 to 2019.

Don't like those numbers? How about these figures, from the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA), a program established by the White House.

Since adult-use marijuana was legalized in Colorado, past-month marijuana use among those aged 12 and up rose 26 percent, according to a report in 2021. Past-month marijuana use among those 18 years old and up rose 20 percent. And past-month marijuana use among those between the ages of 18 and 25 rose 10 percent.

Bottom-line: None of those statistics bode well.

Nor does this disturbing number: Suicides where toxicology was positive for marijuana rose in Colorado from 14 percent in 2013 to 29 percent in 2020. This is especially relevant for us in Wyoming, which for many years has suffered from one of the highest rates of suicide in the nation.

For a moment, let's put aside the statistics, or the lies put forth by pro-pot forces. The question is: Do we in Wyoming want this kind of reality brought about the legalization of marijuana?

Stay tuned. More information to come from your friends at Wyoming Liberty Group.