Legal Marijuana in Washington State. Derek Franklin, MA Washington Assoc. for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention

Transcription

1 Legal Marijuana in Washington State Derek Franklin, MA Washington Assoc. for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention

2 Washington Marijuana Legalization Background: Initiative of the People Legalizes marijuana use for > Legalizes edibles, infused liquids, concentrates 4. Tightens regulations; seed to sale 5. Creates state monopoly 6. Little regulation on advertising 7. No new funds for law enforcement 8. DUI MJ enforced 9. Creates MJ dedicated fund for public health, prevention, further study

3 Washington Marijuana Legalization Background: Changes to I Option to reduce 1,000 buffer zone 2. MMJ wrapped into Commercial MJ stores 3. MMJ dispensaries illegal, but proliferating 4. MJ delivery businesses illegal, but proliferating 5. Efforts to establish vape lounges 6. Efforts to ban local control 7. Efforts to wipe MJ proceeds into general fund 8. Efforts to reduce MJ taxes to compete with OR

4 Washington Packaging

5 Other MJ Products

6 Washington Marijuana Legalization: Impacts Across Social Ecology

7 Narrative: Youth Culture

8 Messaging to Youth

9 Narrative: Advertising to Youth

10 Public Health Perceptions

11 Public Health Perceptions

12 Public Health Perceptions

13 Narrative: Medical Benefits

14 MJ Culture

15 Regional Norms and Attitudes

16 Community/ Societal Norms

17 Impact: Cultural Norms

18 Legalization Claims:

19 Northwest HIDTA 2016 Report: MJ Big Business in Washington MJ moving through the mail 17 THC extraction lab explosions in 2014 MJ impaired driving increasing WA year olds and adults use 5% > national average in Finding strong tie between crime and MJ use Increase in pediatric poisonings

20 Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana Per se (in and of itself) 5 ng/ml active THC per milliliter of whole blood Distinguishes from carboxy THC-COOH Probable cause still necessary for an arrest No court admissible roadside MJ impairment test (yet) Suspicion of MJ impairment Warrant Transport to ER/ Hospital Blood draw Crime labs overworked/ long delays MMJ confusion

21 Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana One-third of all DUI cases now test positive for active THC, up from 19% in 2012 The number of drivers involved in fatal accidents that had active THC in their blood increased over 120% from 2010 to A survey revealed that a full 49% of young adult (ages 18-25) respondents who used marijuana in the past month had driven a car within three hours of getting high -- and that 16% of them had done so six or more times in that same month.

22 Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana

23 Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana Challenges: 1. Law enforcement given another unfunded mandate from an addictive substance industry 2. Tourists and inexperienced users in rental cars 3. Polysubstance abuse and the potentiation effect 4. Prolific legal vape use masks MJ use while driving 5. Need more data to link to legalization

24 Impact on Schools 1. Youth who use regularly tend to get lower grades and are more likely to drop out (interferes with attention/ memory/ learning) 2. Youth with medical eligibility cards contributing to access and positive MJ norms 3. Current young heavy users using more MJ & higher potency 4. Ex: Small HS in Eastern WA could not field basketball team due to high % violations of school drug policy 5. In Seattle public schools, 77% of all drug and alcohol disciplinary violations from September 14 to January 15 were related to marijuana.

25 New Prevention Focus: Legal Parent Users

26 Impact on Youth 1. Youth ages accounted for 74% of all state marijuana seizures in 2014, compared to 28.9% in Perception of harm falling, prevention efforts up, overall use flat (2014 State Survey) use will inevitably increase. 3. Marijuana poisoning calls to the Washington State Poison Center rose 54% from 2012 to 2014, often related to MJ edibles and concentrates. 4. Healthy norms around MJ eroding in part due to advertising, misinformation, social media and visible use by adults

27 Prevention Messages: Focus on Marijuana

28 Other Impacts 1. Crime (14 yoa shoots 15 yoa for baggie) 2. Prosecution challenges * 3. Environmental (energy, environmental hazards from illegal grows) 4. Home delivery 5. MJ Industry 5K Run and sponsorships 6. Veterinary poisonings 7. Tax proceeds continue to increase 8. Advertising explosion *State authorities have yet to criminally prosecute any marijuana businesses for attempting to sell pot to minors, despite documented violations that entailed felony liability.

29 SA Prevention Community Discussions 1. Ethics of working with industry 2. What do you call it? Commercial Marijuana 3. How to support enforcement with little clarity and regional differences 4. Pushing back on the we can t enforce it so might as well legalize and regulate it 5. MJ tax proceeds constantly in danger of being absorbed for other budget shortfalls 6. Ethics of taking MJ tax dollars from the state for prevention

30 Who sets the prevention narrative? Derek: I am not without hope. The fact that a majority of our population, over 90%, does not use marijuana reminds me of the sizeable reservoir of untapped healthy community attitudes and behaviors largely ignored in the prohibition vs. legalization narrative. Roger: I m glad you mentioned the majority who don t use marijuana. It also needs to be said that large percentages of people, both youth and adults, either don t consume alcohol or other drugs or, if they are consumers, do so without adverse consequences. The Addiction Newsletter The American Psychological Association, Division 50, Spring 2013

31 Thank You Derek Franklin WA Marijuana Info: