Now that the Florida Supreme Court has cleared the proposal to legalize recreational pot for the November ballot, the drug of choice among those who want to defeat the proposal is going to be disinformation. So it’s worth having a look at what we’ve learned from other states that have inhaled.
Fourteen years ago Washington State and Colorado were first to legalize recreational pot and regulate it strictly, perhaps too strictly. The states are not just healthy, but have both grown proportionately faster than Florida in those years, with quality of life and economic prosperity their driving factors. The Colorado pot industry took in more than $15 billion in those years, integrating that money out of the shadows and into the economy with new businesses and “40,000 jobs at the industry’s peak a couple of years ago,” the Denver Post reported.
The feared rise in use or addiction among children hasn’t happened, though there’s been a national uptick in accidental ingestion of pot by children. That’s a packaging and regulation issue, as with any drugs or alcohol, not a legalization issue. A University of Colorado study last year concluded that recreational pot in the state “does not increase substance use disorders or use of other illicit drugs among adults and, in fact, may reduce alcohol-related problems.”
Keep in mind that alcohol is still the leading killer of any mind-altering drug by far, accounting for nearly 500 deaths per day. No one is advocating for a return to Prohibition.
Since Colorado and Washington, 22 more states have legalized recreational pot, including red states like Montana, Missouri and Ohio. Fourteen more, including Florida, allow its medical use.
In all those years, lifetime marijuana use among adolescents, according to the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future survey (for decades the gold standard in substance use among young people in the country), has been flat or slightly declining, as with all illicit drugs among adolescents. The pandemic caused a significant drop in use that has not reversed.
The gateway-drug argument, an old favorite among nostalgics for the days of Reefer Madness, was bunk in 1936 and is bunk today: marijuana did not cause the spike in opioid deaths we’ve seen since the late 1990s. Oxycontin and the Sackler pharmaceutical predators did. In that regard we unquestionably have a drug problem. But what started with prescription narcotics and turned into a fentanyl and heroin crisis claiming upwards of 70,000 lives a year has as much to do with pot as drinking Evian does with cholera.
As with alcohol use, as with French fries, butter or sugar consumption, obvious cautions apply. Don’t overdo it. There are short-term drawbacks with pot–impairment, altered perspectives, occasional paranoia, though frankly how that distinguishes the contemporary behavior of most Americans on or off pot is difficult to tell.
But let’s not frame the discussion in cherry-picking hysterics, especially in a country that either bans or over-regulates pot while gleefully putting guns in the hands of anyone who asks. In Florida you’ll still have a harder time getting a medical marijuana card than a gun, and of course the tally lives up to the absurdity: Gun deaths in Florida in 2022: 3,176. Marijuana overdose deaths: zero. (Aside from exceptions you can count on one hand, it is all but impossible to die of a marijuana overdose. Synthetic marijuana is a different story, as are any other perversions of pot that its antagonists will use to invoke world-ending scenarios.)
We are not a puritan society. Even with guns, we do not, or at least should not, set our legal standards to apply the worst denominator to everyone. As with pot use, the law should reflect moderation. Some regulations are necessary. Children and adolescents don’t need to be smoking pot. The same prohibitions on smoking tobacco that now covers most public, commercial, business and many private spaces should obviously apply to pot—there’s nothing wrong with banning any kind of smoking from any public space, even streets—and any kind of impairment at the wheel should be harshly punished.
Over-regulations such as the continuing ban on banking transactions involving pot businesses hurt workers and local economies more than they serve any discernible public purpose. It is also ridiculous that pot is still federally illegal and categorized as a Schedule I drug like heroin and LSD. The classification is simply wrong chemically and logically. (The Biden Administration is recommending that the drug be rescheduled to Schedule III, but that would still not bring any state recreational or medical pot allowances into compliance with federal law. It would just require pot to become a prescription drug, and only with Food and Drug Administration approval. It shouldn’t be that, either.)
Opposing recreational pot legalization at this point seems to have more to do with obstinacy or habit, a sort of clinging to old ways more for ideological than rational or legally defensible reasons: can so many decades of legislating and policing and moralizing be so wrong? Well, yes. So was slavery. So were miscegenation laws, or prohibition against gay marriage, women lawyers and no-fault divorces. So was Prohibition. American drug laws need their Vatican II.
For all that, I don’t expect the amendment to pass. Colorado’s legalization measure passed with only 55 percent of the vote. Missouri approved with just 53 percent. Last year Ohio approved with 57 percent, same margin as California’s approval in 2016. If Florida were a democratic state, it would pass with that kind of margin, too. But it’s not. Amendment 3 needs to clear the 60 percent threshold. So even a minority of margaritaville reactionaries can defeat it, as will likely happen, especially in a state where the governor would rather swill booze from four-gallon bottles of wine than lead the charge against this tired old prohibition.
Pierre Tristam is the editor of FlaglerLive. A version of this piece airs on WNZF.
PD says
Sorry, but you are wrong. The THC levels in pot today — as high as the 30s or even higher — are sending kids and young adults to the ER with psychosis. Just tonight, NBC Nightly News aired a segment on this. And I’ve experienced it with a family member. Had hoped pot was like when I went to college. It is not. Please look into this further. I know of many young lives being de-railed. Thank you.
Just to add, I’m a long-time journalist and love Flagler Live. You guys do a terrific job.
Pierre Tristam says
The THC content of legalized pot can be a problem, as it was in the early goings in Colorado: that’s what caused Levy Thamba to jump to his death in 2014. But Colorado then regulated THC content, and recommended dosages with pot have to be given the same deference as recommended dosages with any other substance, and no one–no one–is advocating pot use by children or adolescents. Nor should the fact that some children or adolescents end up abusing pot dictate whether we legalize it for adults, only how. Of course there’ll be abuses, misuses, accidents, but the question is: does any of it amount to the sort of problem we have with other, legal substances, whether alcohol or pharmaceuticals, and is it preventable. The evidence clearly shows that we do not–not when recommendations are followed, pot edibles aren’t left lying around like candy (they typically look like candy) and regulations limit THC content.
The NBC report is a tendentious, sloppily reported piece of Reefer Madness journalism. For instance, Kate Snow reports that “nearly 30 percent of high school seniors reported having used marijuana in the past year.” It’s a dishonest half-truth: what she doesn’t tell you is that, based on her own source (the Monitoring the Future survey), that’s the lowest proportion of marijuana use since 1993. The story is based on one woman’s experience with her son’s schizophrenia. It makes an unproven causal link between the 17 year old smoking weed and developing schizophrenia. But it is more assumption than proof. He did not die of marijuana, but of an overdose from “other drugs” that Snow, irresponsibly, does not specify, but she does lob a softball to the mother (“who happens to be a neuroscientist”), asking her if she really thinks that had her son not started smoking weed, he’d still be here. “Yeah.” The old gateway argument.
She interviews one other source, Dr. Christian Thurstone, who’s been crusading against legalization for years. Then, with a throw-away caveat (“research is still ongoing”) that in fact underscores the uncertainty surrounding recent findings, because there hasn’t been enough research just yet, she cites a couple of studies that make a link between THC and psychosis or schizophrenia. The graphic has the figure 47 percent writ large, between the capitalized words: SCHIZOPHRENIA OR BIPOLAR DISORDER” above, and “MARIJUANA AND RISK OF TEEN PSYCHOSIS” Below. Another rather blatant lie and misuse of the data: what she does not tell you is that the study not once refers to adolescents (the study, in fact, was based on general population figures), what she does not tell you is that the study was based on data gathered between 1994 and 2014, before most of the recreational pot movement in the U.S., what she doesn’t tell you is that the study was based on the Danish population, not the American population, and most of all, what she doesn’t tell you is that the study focused on “Substance-induced psychosis,” meaning all drugs, including alcohol, opioids, sedatives, cocaine, amphetamines and so on. Yes, “substance-induced psychosis is strongly associated with the development of severe mental illness,” and yes, “It appears that cannabis-induced psychosis converts to schizophrenia in up to 50% of cases,” but that appearance is then followed with a laundry list of caveats. And of course Snow did not interview or cite a single source that might add perspective or contradict her pre-determined conclusions. Meanwhile, nowhere in all this, either in Snow’s job or in the pot-legalization bashing opinions making the link with drug-induced psychosis, do we ever read about the three decades of pumping our children with ADHD drugs like Ritalin, Adderall, Dexedrine and so on, some of which are meth with a prescription, all of which have also been shown to trigger psychosis in some. And Millions more children are pumped with these poisons than marijuana. But again: there’s no argument for legalizing pot for children and adolescents (though there’s an easy argument to end their poisoning with ADHD drugs).
All in all, the NBC report is your typically half-baked, deceptive, propagandistic hack job barely distinguishable from daytime talk radio.
Been There says
These were the exact comments my husband and I were making while watching the interview. What is not being represented are the children that have been helped by (the correct dosing) THC. My own daughter was an anorexic that need inpatient treatment that would have cost us $36,000 a month. At the time, anorexia was not identified as a mental health issue (according to mainstream medicine, she was choosing not to eat). My annual income was the same as one month of treatment. What relieved her symptoms was cannabis. Thirteen years later she is a thriving contributing professional, working on her second degree, who runs 1/2 marathons. Luckily, Florida made cannabis available medically so we no longer have to live in fear of her being arrested for possession of what saved her life. You will always have abusers. Compare the incidents of deaths and violence for people under the influence of alcohol to cannabis. Deaths that occur sometimes because people are trying to get off alcohol.
If you watch the NBC news report again, listen for when the mother stated, “it TRIGGERED his schizophrenia.” The young man was schizophrenic. Schizophrenia normally presents in the early 20s. It is not uncommon for it to maifest in older teens. Slanted journalism.
JimboXYZ says
It’s not disinformation when FlaglerLive posts an article about a motorcyclist that was hit & hospitaliized by a drunk pot head of irresponsible. Their own families don’t want them around. Potency, it takes far less marijuana abuse in less time to be a greater level of impaired than a beer. That’s the difference between alcohol & cannabis. One can have a beer or a drink with a meal & function better than a couple of tokes off the reefer or bong. Both are gateways to the next level of illegal narcotics for the party animal. The drunk ? I’ve never read a story where the abuser robbed their parents/own family for the next fix of their drug of choice. Then again how many lives have been ruined by alcohol. Quite often the domestic violence calls involve either or both. Quite often it’s an individual that won’t break their addiction. Anyone that says pot isn’t addictive, explain why those folks go out of their way to buy another bag to get stoned like it’s any other drug ? Waiting ? Someone wants to make money, profiting off off another’s weak moment or a a relative;y temporary to more permanent economic situation with recreational cannabis, that’s the only reason it’s on the ballot. Because like tobacco & vape abusers, nobody wants that garbage around them in their personal lives. Nobody wants a pathetic drunk or stoner, even junkie under their roof.
Been There says
Habit is not addiction. You can stop using cannabis cold turkey and there are no life threatening side effects. Watch a chronic alcoholic try to get off alcohol and you’ll see the difference.
Your bias of “stoner” is predjeudicial. This is the “reefer madness” being referred to. It is a common baseless opinion.
Many successful professionals consume cannabis and it helps them be able to function in situations where they may not be able to. Folks suffering from PTSD do well with indica leaning THC to relieve their symptoms. There are many strains and dosage levels. You’r sweeping statements illustrate your lack of knowledge regarding the topic.
Cannabis doesn’t make you violent or aggressive. Alcohol does. Also, the concept of “gateway” drugs is antiquated. Addiction is genetic. The desire to step up to more dangerous illicit drugs is determined on personality. Either you are or you aren’t. You will or you won’t. It is an individual proclivity.
Yes, there will be abusers. There are people who abuse food, sex, credit cards etc. This is because they are inclined to do so based on chemistry and trauma.
Mary Fusco says
Jimbo, I couldn’t agree more. My father and his father were alcoholics. My sister married an alcoholic, became one herself and eventually took her own life. Her daughter started with “recreational” drugs, went to the hard stuff plus alcohol and died in her early 40’s of cirrosis of the liver. Her daughter died of a overdose at 21. As with any dependency, whether it be alcohol, weed or even food, it takes more and more to get the ultimate high. This is where the problem lies. I don’t want anyone in my home that is dependent on any substance. Had enough of that in my life! So thankful I took a different route.
Joe D says
Sensitivity to alcohol intoxication leading to alcoholism, is a HIGHLY genetic disorder. Unfortunately the “gene” for addiction is likely present and being passed on in multiple generations in your family, with disastrous outcomes.
43 years as a Certified Nurse Case Manager and Masters prepared Clinical Nurse Specialist in Family and Adolescent therapy, has taught me that MANY of my clients suffered from the genetic tendency for addiction once triggered. Much more study needs to be done, but Regulated Adult use of Marijuana and CBD products (those that give the benefit of anxiety control/ pain control/ sleep management without any “high” effects) can do much to assist SOME people gain control of their lives.
JimboXYZ says
Another point, ever wonder why pot is introduced to children/juveniles at the schools ? That’s where when it’s legalized, even at the level of alcohol & tobacco for an age of consumption. Are we protecting children or aren’t we. The poster child for drugs is Hunter Biden. Anyone want to bet that he started out with alcohol, recreational pot to advance to whatever he abuses to become the pathetic loser of a POTUS son that evades $ 1.4 million in taxes, that Joe & Jill are so very proud of ? Go ahead read about Hunter. At age 40+ they gave him an age exception to get into the US military, he gets caught abusing & he doesn’t get the dishonorable discharge anyone else would get. His excuse ? Someone laced his cigarettes with the drugs. Just a liar, not even a good one, this is a 40+ year old grown adult, son of a Senator & VPOTUS at the time. He’s nothing more than a Social Security number for the rest of the Biden family to use should anyone get caught. And the Left is definitely about the sympathy card of white privilege on that just the same. There you have it, & Hunter Biden is their best spin of a success story for drugs, that he is some higher functioning example of a drug abuser. Can’t wait until I start to hear the arguments that a minor should be allowed to abuse drugs based upon some dis/mis-information that cannabis has some benefits as a learning tool for the usual village idiot (s) ?
“Just Nope to Recreational Dope !”
T says
What lol
Not a pot user says
Mr. Tristam, this is an excellent essay. While I do not smoke or use pot, I appreciated all of the economic, social and public health data you presented. You made a convincing case for its approval. I hope this type of information gets to voters. Everyone needs to vote on the merits and not emotions that are not based on facts. Even though I am not a user, I’m voting yes.
Why does Florida require such a high margin? Is that in the constitution or is it a law that the legislature wrote to slow measures presented by citizens? I always thought that the ability to citizens to amend the constitution was a check on the governor and the legislature.
JC says
>>>Why does Florida require such a high margin? Is that in the constitution or is it a law that the legislature wrote to slow measures presented by citizens? I always thought that the ability to citizens to amend the constitution was a check on the governor and the legislature.
Voters approved a ballot measure back in the 2000s to increase the passing of amendments from 50% to 60%. Some people hate this, but I like the 60% rule since it can be used as a buffer to prevent even worse stuff from passing (the “pro-solar” one a few years back, the one from 2020 that wanted two 60% votes to get something on the constitution).
The dude says
Reefer Madness is propaganda not a documentary, yet the boomers will insist, with a straight face, that smoking the devil’s cabbage will definitely lead to boogie dancing and the intermingling of the races… then take a big swig of the gin or vodka drink in their boomer hand…
FREE THE WEED JOE!!! Meatball Ron ain’t gonna do it.
Meatball and his toadies in the Floriduh legislator will either find a way to exclude this issue from the ballot, or just not honor the results of the vote if it doesn’t go their way.
Old Guy says
The first paragraph took me back to the early 70’s when the same was being said of my parents generation. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
I do agree with your point that the republican legislature and the governor will find a way to maintain the status quo if the results don’t go their way. We have seen this movie before with other issues.
If it does pass and the laws are changed I do hope the same restrictions on the location for public use of tobacco and vaping will apply.
Laurel says
Jimbo has Biden-Harris, Dude has Boomers. Same difference.
Laurel says
Keep getting that “data error connection” thing.
So, again…
Jimbo has Biden-Harris, Dude has Boomers. Same difference.
jake says
Seriously dude, pot has been around for decades. Many “boomers” smoked it then, and many still do. We were laughing at “Reefer Madness” in the sixties.
CPFL says
I hope and think it will pass. There are plenty of people I know all over the political spectrum that partake in the devil’s lettuce. One only needs to go to a dispensary to see all different types and ages of people that are card holders. Not sure how true it is, but after speaking with a weed doc he said that medical weed will be available to card holders with higher THC content than recreational use weed. Of course there are going to be issues with weed use, just like there are issues with alcohol use.
Samuel says
The money a state can make if it goes recreational would truly help the State of Florida Colorado made billions of dollars from it. V
This Is The Way says
If alcohol is legal, recreational pot should be as well. I moved here from a state where recreational pot was legal for a long time now.
Few key points:
No increase in crime seen, in fact there is less crime because there is a safe and legal place to buy pot.
It doesn’t “smell” in the air no more than someone smoking a cigarette or someone who thinks a bottle of cologne makes up for not bathing.
There was an enormous budget surplus for the state due to high taxing of marijuana sales, so much in fact that the excess money was used to make the state better (fixing roads, bridges, beautification, etc).
Scientifically (Google it), marijuana is no more of a gateway drug than alcohol, cigarettes or the MORE addictive and LEGAL OxyContin and Xanax.
As someone who took recreational pot gummies while living in aforementioned rec legal state, they helped immensely with my anxiety, I had no cravings for more or something stronger (unlike Xanax), there were no harsh side effects (unlike Xanax), there was no withdrawal symptoms if I missed a few days (unlike Xanax).Almost seems unreal that something as harmful and habit-forming as Xanax is legal and given out like candy by many physicians.
I totally supporting this bill ‘cause it’s gnarly dude. /s
Truthfully, I’m supporting it because:
1: It’s good business. The amount of tax revenue for towns would be lucrative and may help stave off some tax increases. That money would go a long way to making communities better and help them thrive.
2. It’s safer and non-habit forming, unlike many legal prescriptions such as Xanax and OxyContin. No withdrawal symptoms from stopping marijuana. No nasty side effects. It helps certain conditions better than any habit-forming prescription. When politicians rail against recreational pot, check their donations. Guaranteed they have big pharma payouts to stop this as it will impact their money-gouging prescription market.
3. There is zero evidence of crime increase in fact there is a decrease in crime because there are safe and legal ways to buy marijuana.
4. If someone doesn’t want to smoke it, don’t. When people smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol, do you feel compelled to partake or do you just say, “No thanks?” Same is true with marijuana. Will some curious people try it? Sure. I tried cigarettes once and I hated them. Same with alcohol. It’s not a gateway drug (science has debunked). Are there some people who try marijuana and then do cocaine or heroin? Yes. Why? Because they didn’t get the feeling they wanted from marijuana. There are people like that everywhere. Beer doesn’t give them the buzz they want fast enough so they find a high ABV of hard liquor and “advance” to that instead.
5. It should be up to each individual in how they care and treat their body for anything. This is no exception. If marijuana helps with someone’s anxiety, reduces nausea for cancer patients or helps stimulate their appetite, decreases menstrual cramps, makes nausea from vertigo lessen, decreases ADD symptoms, and so on, then how to treat is the person’s choice. Me? I choose marijuana every time because it actually helps me feel better, unlike Xanax, which actually made me want something stronger, and more often.
Concerned Citizen says
I don’t know what you “smell”
But when a car rolls up next to me and the windows are down it smells like a Skunk. I have to staff gates at gated neighborhoods sometimes. And was shocked at the folks who ride around just blazing. Quick to wave “The Card”
Please find something a little more pleasant. If you’re going to blow it at other people.
Big Money says
Honestly, I am not a big fan of marijuana. It just never seemed very appealing to me. But I don’t think it should have been prohibited in the first place. That’s what concerns me.
Best I can tell, it was prohibited without any real reason, and that should raise red flags. To me, it is proof that even in a “free country” you will be controlled by and for the benefit of those in power.
And they can take away anything they want, without any reason at all.
It is just like everything in this country. It is about power and control, because that’s how these people get rich. And the less educated you are, the easier you are to control.
Nobody cares about your opinions, your health, or whether you’re driving impaired or not. They don’t care about your children either.
Nobody cares about anything except money, and that’s why it will fail.
The doctors are against it because they are getting rich handing out prescriptions. We have doctors like this right here in Palm Coast- and this is all they do all day.
The dispensaries are for it because it would bring in new business.
If Desantis stood to gain financially, it would be legal already. And it wouldn’t matter whether his constituents wanted it or not.
So much noise here and it’s all irrelevant. If you want to know why any of this happens the way it does, you just need to follow the money.
Personally, I don’t think it’s enough to just make it legal. I feel like our government should be made to answer for it being prohibited in the first place. What right did they have? And how could anyone possibly justify all of the damage this prohibition has done to so many people?
To be clear- I’m not interested in hearing anyone answer those questions. I know it’s all about the money. Make no mistake- if they could get rich by taking your guns away they would. And if they could get rich taking your bible away they would take that too.
Sherry says
Prohibition of Alcohol DID NOT WORK. . . just made it a crime. Prohibition of Marijuana DOES NOT WORK. . . just makes it a crime! There are too many people in jail, with their lives ruined, over a non-addictive recreational “fell good” habit!
Yes, of course, there will be those who will continue to abuse it, just as there are those who abuse alcohol . . . which is more dangerous.
Legalize Pot! Regulate It! Get a Big Tax Benefit From It!
Mary Fusco says
Sherry. Money aside, anyone that needs alcohol or pot to function already has a huge problem. The body will eventually need the next level in order to continue functioning. Herein lies the problem.
Been There says
That is an inaccurate statement. Many people drink alcohol and don’t become alcoholics or jump to narcotics.
People with ADD, PTSD, cancer, chronic pain and glaucoma can function better because of cannabis. If you want to tell these people that they need to suffer instead of providing a non-addictive alternative to expensive pharmacology that always comes with negative side effects, go right ahead. That but for the grace of God go I, right?
You’re scope of experience and reference is limited. Get more education.
Laurel says
Mary F.: You make a blanket statement that all of us who have imbibed in pot will eventually move to harder stuff. Simply not true. I know people who have smoked pot all their adult lives, and never moved on to stronger drugs.
Sherry says
Thanks Laurel. . . as usual, you are “Right On”!
Steve says
You are so wrong. Medical has helped me tremendously with side effects of Chemo. 90% effective All due respect If you have never used it you don’t know what you are talking about.
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
Vote YES for Legalization. Many of you cry day and night in your comments on FlaglerLive about the quality of the roads, swales and on and on here. Money from recreational sales can go into the infrastructure and those that don’t want to use it still reap the benefits from those tax dollars. NO ONE has ever died from direct use of Marijuana yet millions have died from alcohol and prescription drug abuse. Don’t let a propaganda film from 1936 cloud your mind, by the way I don’t partake in ganja.
EJH says
Agree totally, tax it like booze and take a large portion and deal with the hurricane and flood insurance crises we have in Fl. The current regime seems to ignore this issue and has no solutions, taxing pot will benefit most homeowners sure up the Citizens insurance pool everyone benefits.
The Sour Kraut says
https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2024/04/05/antipsychotics-marijuana-induced-psychosis/5371712325242/
Laurel says
I am a firm believer that the plants on our Earth can benefit us if used properly. Problems come in when these plant chemicals are processed. The government should not prevent us from growing a few plants in our yard, but go hard, and real hard, on those who process these plants for profit. I mean there is a big difference in an Andean crewing on a few coca leaves and Breaking Bad types processing these leaves, along with harmful chemicals, into a dangerous product. Pharmaceutical companies do it all the time.
For some reason, people think that more is better and made pot into a plant with an abnormal amount of THC. That stuff’s not fun, and knocks you against the wall. Still, cannabis is not the scary, dangerous plant that will drive you mad, or push you over the edge. It is not a gateway drug, and never will be. If the average American had been able to grow a plant in the back yard, like a rose bush, we would never have had “drug wars” over pot.
Drama, drama, drama. Money induced drama.
James says
https://lasvegassun.com/news/2024/apr/01/germany-has-legalized-possession-of-small-amounts/