State doesn’t need marijuana for all
Hardly a week goes by without a familiar story: Someone with access to an Oklahoma business or civic group bank account is hauled tearfully into court for embezzling large sums to feed a casino gambling addiction.
These tales should serve as warnings of what Oklahoma could face if advocates seeking the full legalization of marijuana have their way. Any time you legalize a potentially addictive behavior or substance, there will be unintended consequences.
The experience of states that have legalized so-called “recreational” marijuana is hardly encouraging. Washington saw a doubling of drugged driving arrests and a 10 percent increase in fatal accidents linked to THC, the active ingredient in pot.
In Colorado, fatal crashes connected to pot intoxication have doubled, and so have emergency room visits connected to pot. Even without legal marijuana, Oklahoma recorded 179 fatal accidents in 2017 linked to drug intoxication. How much worse would that be with free and easy pot?
But highway safety is only part of the issue. Despite what advocates of pot legalization claim, marijuana — especially the potent varieties commonly sold by commercial growers — is addictive. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “30 percent of marijuana users may have some degree of misuse disorder,” which can range from dependence to outright addiction. They reported that some 138,000 Americans sought treatment for marijuana addiction in 2015 alone.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says that pot addiction may reach 9 percent of users. That’s about the same percentage of drinkers who will eventually become alcoholic.
“Teens who use marijuana regularly may develop serious mental health disorders, including addiction, depression and psychosis,” the academy said. Worse still, there are indications that habitual pot use in the teen and young adult years can permanently impair cognitive abilities. In layman’s terms, that’s called brain damage.
And anyone who believes that legal pot can be kept out of the hands of youth should learn from Colorado, where law enforcement reports dramatic increases in off-the-books marijuana cultivation and sales after legalization.
Those advocating for legal pot in Oklahoma took a credibility hit when it was recently discovered that they had grossly over-reported the number of signatures on their petitions. How, then, can anyone believe their assurances that marijuana is just a harmless “herb”?
We partially opened the door to widespread marijuana use by approving State Question 788, which allows home growth and possession of pot for just about any medical condition, real or imagined. That will have consequences, but nowhere near as dire as full legalization.
The latest case of theft driven by gambling addiction, in Pawnee, sent the thief to jail but also bankrupted her family and forced the closing of the business she victimized, costing some of her neighbors their jobs. Despite what some claim, addiction in any form is not a victimless offense — a lesson we will learn in spades if we foolishly make pot legal for all.