Marijuana And Law Enforcement
- Col. John Bolduc, Superintendent of the Nebraska State Patrol, testified before the Legislature that marijuana legalization would make narcotics enforcement more difficult. For example, Nebraska’s drug detection K-9s are all trained to detect marijuana. Were Nebraska to legalize medical marijuana, many or all of Nebraska’s drug K-9 units would have to be replaced, at significant cost to law enforcement agencies.
- States that legalize marijuana have struggled to prevent illegal drug diversion. A 2016 Oregon study estimated that 70 percent of the state’s 2017 marijuana crop would be illegally diverted and sold on the black market. (Grants Pass Daily Courier, 7/25/16)
Marijuana And Driving
- Impairment due to marijuana use is a major safety hazard, both for the user and other drivers. A 2012 analysis determined that acute marijuana consumption nearly doubles a driver’s risk of being involved in a car accident resulting in serious injury or death. (Asbridge, et. al., 2/8/12)
- Colorado has seen significant increases in the percent of traffic fatalities where a driver tested positive for marijuana. In 2006, that figure was roughly 6 percent. By 2016, it jumped to over 20 percent of traffic fatalities. (Rocky Mountain High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, 10/17)
- A poll of Colorado marijuana users found that 1 in 4 drove while high “almost daily.” (Colorado Department of Transportation, 4/17/18)
The Marijuana Industry
- Marijuana is big business. That’s why the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries are investing so heavily in the cultivation and sale of marijuana products.
- Nebraska’s former chief medical officer, Dr. Tom Williams, testified before the Legislature that physicians do not have sufficient training and research grounding to ascertain proper dosing, side effects, and drug interactions of marijuana. Rather than allow the Food and Drug Administration to undertake its regular approval process, the industry is asking politicians and voters to take the place of doctors and pharmacologists in approving marijuana without the necessary research.
- Nebraskans have seen this same approach employed with tobacco and opioids. We were told for years that these products were completely safe, and that no additional regulation was neccessary. Today, millions of dollars and countless lost lives later, we know the truth.
