Homeless in Arizona

More drug war propaganda from nut job Sheila Polk.

1) Sheila Polk seems to think votes in Ohio rejected their marijuana proposition because marijuana is the tool of the devil. From the articles I read it seemed like voters rejected it because it gave a marijuana monopoly to 10 special interest groups.

2) The reason the marijuana "black market" exists in Colorado, Washington and even in Arizona is because marijuana was NOT fully legalized.

Instead a monopoly was given on growing and selling marijuana to a few special interest groups. Completely legalize marijuana and that black market will disappear overnight.

Our Turn: Pot failed in Colorado. Why bring it here?

Seth Leibsohn and Sheila Polk, AZ We See It 7:37 a.m. MST November 9, 2015

Our Turn: Promises about legalized marijuana have not come to pass in Colorado. Why would Arizona follow suit?

As Arizonans prepare for a public debate on legalizing marijuana, we encourage a close look at Colorado — the first state to fully legalize recreational use and sale of marijuana – and Ohio, the most recent state to defeat it. [Colorado didn't FULLY legalize marijuana. It gave a marijuana monopoly to a few special interest groups]

Ohio — a key bellwether state — defeated legalized marijuana this week by a margin of 28 points. What Ohio made clear is that when the facts about today’s more potent and dangerous marijuana are aptly communicated and exposed, there are no good reasons left to make it both legal and more widely available – and it loses. [Many news articles say Ohio voters rejected the measure because it gave a marijuana monopoly to 10 special interest groups. Not because they were against legalizing recreational marijuana]

Perhaps recent news in Colorado is what informed Ohioans. For example: legalization advocates claimed it would help put an end to the black market and illegal sales. In just the last month in Colorado, however, we witnessed the contrary.

To wit:

October 28: Officers find 6,400 illegal marijuana plants in southern Colorado forest.

October 9: 32 busted in big Colorado illegal marijuana cultivation crackdown.

October 6: DHS suspends 7 cross country runners.

October 8: Manitou Springs police: Mustangs boys’ soccer marijuana issue handled by school.

The largest of these raids, also last month, found 20,000 marijuana plants, 700 pounds of dried weed, and more than 30 guns. Among those arrested were Honduran, Mexican, and Cuban nationals. Clearly, instead of putting an end to the black market, legalization in Colorado has created a magnet for it as legality and availability drive sales and consumption.

As just this one month in Colorado also reveals, the notion that we can solve an international drug cartel program by legalizing a dangerous product that harms our youth is, quite simply, a fraud.

As noted above, high-school marijuana use—including by those on athletic teams—is also a major problem and growing concern. Why? As explained in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors just last month: “[A]s marijuana has become more accessible and adults have become more tolerant regarding marijuana use, adolescents perceive marijuana as more beneficial and are more likely to use if they are living in an environment that is more tolerant of marijuana use.” [Just because teenagers misuse marijuana, doesn't make it right to deny it to adults. Should we make cars illegal for adults, because a few teenagers misuse cars?]

Legalizing an intoxicating substance for adults will not keep it out of the hands of our youth—which is why 77% more of Arizona’s youth use alcohol than marijuana today. Making marijuana like alcohol means more adolescents will use more marijuana…just like they do alcohol. And it’s critical to note that today’s marijuana is not the same as it was in decades past—it’s at least five times more potent, practically an entirely different drug. [That is just scare tactic propaganda. Yes, marijuana is stronger today, but you just smoke less of it to get the desired high then you did 20 years ago. And 5 times seems like a gross exaggeration. Just because whiskey is stronger then beer, doesn't mean you drink whiskey like beer. You drink a lot less whiskey to get the same effect as a lot more beer. The same is true with marijuana]

One month in Colorado is, of course, not the whole story; we recommend reading September’s Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Report. This report documents that, since legalization in Colorado, marijuana has been associated with such social fallout as increased homelessness, school suspensions and expulsions, and traffic deaths.

It couldn’t be clearer: Arizonans should not want this for its families and communities, and we certainly do not need it. [Translation - Sheila Polk doesn't want to end the "War on Drugs" because it gives her a high paying job jailing people for victimless drug war crimes!!!]

Seth Leibsohn is the host of The Seth Leibsohn Show on 960am/KKNT. Sheila Polk is the Yavapai County Attorney. Respectively, they are the Chair and Vice-Chair of Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy.