The Trojan Horse in Wyoming - Attempts to decriminalize marijuana: smoke & mirrors

by Wyoming Liberty Group

Brace yourself.

In the coming days, as Wyoming lawmakers convene later this month, you will hear a lot of things about marijuana. But much of it amounts to this: Just smoke and mirrors.

Pro-pot forces, for instance, will tell you this doozy: That marijuana should be decriminalized in Wyoming, where it remains illegal. They will tell you that decriminalization is a way to reduce the rate at which people—especially people of color—are put in prison on marijuana charges. They will tell you that decriminalization is not a ploy to pave the way for the full legalization of marijuana. They will tell you that the decriminalization of marijuana is not a strategy to open the door to decriminalizing all illicit drugs, like heroin, methamphetamines and cocaine. And they will tell you, don't worry, that decriminalization of marijuana won't create problems in Wyoming.

Don't believe it for a second.

First, let's clear one thing up. The decriminalization of marijuana isn't supposed to be the same thing as legalization. Decriminalization is supposed to mean keeping people out of prison. Legalization is supposed to mean something else—making it legal to commercialize the sale of marijuana like, for instance, cigarettes or alcohol.

But here's the bottom line: The attempt to decriminalize marijuana in Wyoming is not the end goal. Decriminalization is just one step on the way to the real prize for pro-pot forces: legalizing and commercializing marijuana to make a buck. And then, they want to decriminalize other illegal drugs.

Check out this whopper: In July 2005, the head of the Drug Policy Alliance—the powerful DPA—the New York-based group behind many of the campaigns across the nation to decriminalize and legalize marijuana, told this to the Harvard Law Review: He said the decriminalization of marijuana is not part of a broader plan to decriminalize other drugs, including heroin, meth and cocaine.

"A majority of my organization and my board and the drug-policy reform movement as a whole are basically very cautious. We basically don't support that," he was quoted as saying.

Flashforward to today: That same organization—the DPA—calls for the decriminalization of all drugs. "The Drug Policy Alliance is the leading organization advocating for drug decriminalization," it states on its website.
That's called a complete reversal—a 180.

Now, let's dispense with some of the propaganda of prop-pot forces. Most people, for one, are not in prison for pot. Indeed, "4 out of 5 people in prison or jail are locked up for something other than a drug offense," according to the nonprofit Prison Policy Initiative.

The myths of decriminalization and legalization are rife. They don't make things better. For example, in Washington, D.C., in 2017, after legalization, marijuana-related arrests made up a rising percentage of all arrests across racial demographics, but it was even worse among Blacks.

In California, after legalization, studies have shown that marijuana shops have opened disproportionately in Black communities and in areas with higher rates of poverty.

And since legalization in Colorado, marijuana-related arrest rates of people of color have remained essentially the same.

There's more to worry about when it comes to decriminalization and legalization. For instance, Joseph Califano Jr., the former U.S. secretary of health, education and welfare, said this: "Marijuana is particularly harmful to children and young teens. It can impair short-term memory and ability to maintain attention span; it inhibits intellectual, social and emotional development, just when young people are learning in school. [There is] a powerful statistical correlation between using marijuana and use of other drugs such as heroin and cocaine."

He added: "Legalizing drugs not only is playing Russian roulette with children. It is slipping a couple of extra bullets into the chamber."

For instance, use before the age of 18 increases the likelihood of marijuana-user disorder by sevenfold. And legalization is associated with a 25 percent increase in marijuana-use disorder among 12- to 17-year-olds.

In the five years after Colorado legalized marijuana, the state has witnessed a 46 percent increase in hospitalizations due to Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, where the user experiences repeated and severe vomiting.

In California, emergency department visits and admissions related to marijuana abuse have risen 89 percent, according to recent statistics.

Calls to poison control in Massachusetts as a result of cannabis incidents increased 140 percent in the three years after legalization.

And in Michigan, tests that were positive for cannabinoids more than tripled in fatal car crashes over a 13-year period.

Is this the future we want for Wyoming?

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