Last Updated on December 31, 2016 by Morris Green

If there were ever a time to avoid political conversation, one might say it’s today. With one of the most controversial presidential elections right around the corner, politics is a more volatile topic than ever. But we’re not here to talk about the Clinton vs. Trump, Trump vs. Clinton debate. We’re here to discuss how a multimillion-dollar campaign that pushed the vote in favor of legalizing marijuana in Colorado has impacted the state. How is Colorado fairing as the four year anniversary of the November 2012 vote approaches?

Setting Up Legal Weed in Colorado

It took over a year. Retail stores popped up. Home cultivation ensued. At almost the exact moment of the legalization, marijuana plant giveaways were underway. In what one might call a frenzy to rival Black Friday shoppers and Christmas, a new brand—the marijuana industry—erupted with an explosion of sales. Marijuana items from candies to sodas became the big sellers, and retail sales went through the roof. But as is the case with triumphant campaigns, sometimes the win was all that mattered and what came after amounted to a science experiment gone wrong.

The Impact of Legal Marijuana in Colorado

Just what has happened in Colorado since 2012? Has legal weed improved wellbeing and lifestyles, dropping crime rates as the mega campaign predicted it would? Legalization would decrease substance abuse and addiction cases because taking away the illegal status would be only a positive step in the war on drugs, right? Well…

In the Spring 2016 edition of Advances in Addiction & Recovery, Dr. Kevin Sabet and Jeffrey Zinsmeister offered a sweeping summary of the cost of three years of marijuana legalization in both Colorado and Washington State. And while some might call it a biased article, the statistical information cannot be denied:

Since legalization and commercialization, Colorado leads the USA in past-month marijuana use among 12- to 17-year-olds. Why is this concerning? Because marijuana affects the brain. For 12- to 17-year-olds, whose synapses and cognitive functions are still developing in a growing brain, the impact can be life altering. Psychological conditions including anxiety, depression, and psychosis can become the battle of their next decade—even the rest of their lives. Dependency and abuse leading to lifestyle changes from unwanted pregnancy to crime to support a habit can forever change the course of their pre-adult and adult lives.

Teen admission to substance abuse and addiction treatment facilities is up 66 percent from 2011 to 2014. Interestingly, Colorado has declined to gather data regarding the influx of teenagers into treatment. Why? Maybe the public isn’t ready for the frightening impact of marijuana’s legalization. Arapahoe House isn’t dropping the ball, and through their own research were able to establish at least a 66 percent influx since 2011. The facts prove that one of the major selling points of the legalization campaign—the idea that minors would not be encouraged but discouraged from using if the drug were legal—was largely incorrect.

From 2012 to 2014, marijuana poisonings increased 148 percent and 52 percent in Colorado and Washington State. According to Sabet and Zinsmeister, poisoning cases are just a tiny peek at the health and safety issues states with legalized marijuana now face. Poisonings among minors age zero to five increased by 153 percent in Colorado from 2012 to 2014—an upsurge never before seen. The data supports the opinion that legal weed is a major health and safety risk, especially to children, and the free manner in which this dangerous substance is now available will only cause the number of accidental poisonings, overdoses and subsequent deaths to grow.

Black market sales have not fallen off. Another major point the campaign for legal weed continually hit was how legalization would positively impact black market sales. With the new legal status, the need to run the drug in such a market would not be required. Crime rates were projected to fall, but reality is singing a different tune. Colorado officials admit that the black market has seen no meaningful impact. The Colorado Attorney General, Cynthia Coffman, told reporters in February 2015, “The criminals are still selling on the black market. …We have plenty of cartel activity…plenty of illegal activity that has not decreased…” In addition, Lt. Mark Comte of the Colorado Springs Police Vice and Narcotics Unit stated that “[legalization] has done nothing more than enhance the opportunity for the black market.” Colorado has now earned the title of “the black market for the rest of the country.”

What North Carolinians Should Know About Marijuana

Colorado made marijuana legal in every sense. The impact has been far from the positive picture the multimillion-dollar campaign that backed it painted. As data begins to be collected—from third party sources as the actual state has yet to track the impact of the legalization—the scope of effect is just beginning to be discovered.

North Carolina lawmakers attempted to legalize medical marijuana as recently as spring of 2016. We covered the dangers posed by medical marijuana in early 2015, and if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that education is sorely needed. Medical marijuana is not safer than any other highly addictive prescription drug, and a doctor’s oversight doesn’t remove the risk.

Recreational use of marijuana is a different debate from medical use, but one thing is certain: the impact of legalized weed in states like Colorado and Washington have raised alarm. The need for substance education, counseling, and treatment has never been stronger.

No one will deny the current political climate in the United States is volatile. And very few would admit that who takes the presidency is of little to no importance because it can change our country’s course for better or for worse. View the campaign to legalize marijuana with the same fervor. The political campaign that won votes and landed Colorado in its current predicament is a campaign all states will face. The question is will you be well-educated? How will you vote? What future do you want for those who call North Carolina home?