When voters go to the polls and vote on marijuana legalization, they are being told a “yes” vote is for a regulated industry. This could not be further from the truth.
In reality, once commercialization is approved, the marijuana industry hires well-heeled lobbyists to roll back regulations that are put in place to protect public health and safety. This is playing out before our eyes at the moment in Washington. mjbizdaily.com/in-reversal-wa…
The Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board instructed producers of pot-laced edibles that are appealing to kids to halt production on their products as they would be banned under new regulations taking effect in January.
These common-sense regulations were handed down by the board on the grounds that these highly-potent pot candies were highly appealing to children, as evidenced by data showing massive increases in youth exposure. wapc.org/wp-content/upl…
In 2017, there were 378 total marijuana exposures reported to the Washington State Poison Center. This number is an all-time high for reported marijuana exposures and is an increase of 87 incidents from the previous year.
Almost a third of the reported instances of marijuana exposure in the last year occur within the age group of children up to 5 years old.
Of the reported 378 instances of marijuana exposure in 2017, nearly half occurred as a result of eating marijuana edibles. learnaboutsam.org/new-data-from-…
When the decision to ban youth-targeted edibles was handed down, the pot industry was outraged. Now, due to the industry’s gravy train of lobbying investments and pushback, the board is reversing its decision.
Not only is it reversing its decision to ban edibles at this time, but it is allowing marijuana industry groups 30 days to submit their own proposed regulations. In other words, the industry is writing its own rules…
We wouldn’t want Big Tobacco, Big Alcohol, or Big Pharma to write their own regulations, but it is perfectly fine for Big Marijuana to do so?
If you think legalization means “safe and regulated,” think again. We’ve seen this all before. Let’s put #peoplebeforeprofits
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Today, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment released their bi-annual “Monitoring Health Concerns Related to Marijuana in Colorado” report.
Our takeaways:
The report finds there have been significant increases in past-month and daily or near-daily use among adults, marijuana-impaired driving, exposures in children under the age of five, and use of high potency forms of the drug among high school students.
Also, despite constant statements to the contrary, after an initial reduction in use, regular youth marijuana use among those under 15 rose 14.8% in 2019 versus 2017.
The report is a comprehensive collection of the latest data and findings that track how marijuana legalization has affected commercialized states.
It greatly underscores the importance of slowing down the rush to commercialize marijuana in the United States.
To kick things off, the report shows that there has been a 25% increase in Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) among 12-17-year-olds in “legal” states since the implementation of legalization.
Today, the Vermont Senate advanced S. 54, a bill to commercialize marijuana in the state.
Ahead of the vote, top marijuana researchers sent Vermont Governor @GovPhilScott a letter encouraging him to continue his pro-public health stance by vetoing the bill.
🔽🔽🔽
Notably, S. 54 drops a House-backed provision that would have banned marijuana industry advertising and lacks a solid, roadside saliva provision that Governor Phil Scott has insisted upon in order for him to support it.
Furthermore, the letter notes that S. 54’s inclusion of marijuana potency caps is laudable but points out that marijuana industry lobbyists have “labeled this commonsense regulation as “stupid” and promised to try and repeal these regulations should the bill be signed into law.
Ahead of a tentatively scheduled vote next week in the U.S. House on the MORE Act, a bill that would federally commercialize marijuana, a coalition of thirty groups sent a letter to House leadership opposing the bill.
Statement🔽🔽🔽
“Almost 200,000 Americans have lost their lives and countless others are barely making ends meet. That anyone in Congress could fathom holding so much as a meeting on marijuana legalization at this time is beyond comprehension."
On Friday, @samhsagov released the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which was packed with some key takeaways to highlight during #RecoveryMonth.
Notably, some 699,000 youth have an addiction to marijuana in 2019 – representing 187,000 new youth cases of CUD.
Overall, more than 4.8 million people aged 12 or older reported Marijuana Use Disorder in 2019, up from 4.4 million in 2018.