Think about these issues:

• If you care about academic performance in your schools particularly middle and high schools you should know the facts.

• If you think legalizing marijuana will save millions of dollars in prison costs you need to know the facts.

• If you care about your community's environment and enjoy the benefits of  organic fruits and vegetables you need to know the facts.

• If you care about the elderly and terminally ill in our country you need to know the facts.

• If you care about public safety on your local roads and highways you need to read the stats and know the facts.

• If you care about employment, jobs, quality of service or own your own business in your community you need to know the facts.

• If you care about the youth drug rate and addiction you need to know the facts.

• If you care about the economy today and in the future you need to know the facts.

• If you care about the safety of medicines in our country you need to know the facts.

• If you think the pill mills were and continue to be a problem in your neighborhood and throughout our nation you need to know the facts.

If you care about academic performance in your neighborhood schools particularly middle & high schools and colleges you should oppose legalization of marijuana.

• Because marijuana use negatively effects motivation, memory, AND learning. ⁽¹⁾
   
• Because youth with an average grade of D or below were more than four times as likely to have used marijuana in the past year than youth with an average grade of A. ⁽²⁾
   
• Kids with an average grade of D or below are FOUR times more likely to have used marijuana in the past year than kids with an average A.⁽³⁾

• Even a Little Pot Use Ups College Dropout Risk - Second study found similar connection with other drugs.

WHY?

• Because marijuana grow sites are already having major adverse environmental impacts including: ⁽¹⁾
  • Vastly increasing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere, which negatively effects global warming;
  • Vastly increasing fish kills from fertilizer runoff that creates toxic aquatic conditions; and
  • Poisoning watersheds with arsenic and acaracide, used to keep rodents away from the marijuana plants.

• Marijuana legalization will further exacerbate these environmental issues  ⁽²⁾

• Medical Marijuana Poses Serious Risk to Public Health  (view excellent video pot grown in CA)

1 Allen, Hezekiah, Mattole Resoration Council and Scott Greacen, Friends of the Eel River. The Ugly, the Bad and (Maybe) the Good? (April 17, 2012). Available; www.treesfoundation/org/publications/article-486     
2. Aleen, Hezekiah, Mattole Reseration Council and Scott Greacen, Friends of the Eel River. The Ugly, the Bad and (Maybe) and Good? April 17, 2012.

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WHY?

• Because marijuana is the most prevalent illegal drug detected in impaired drivers, fatally injured drivers, and motor vehicle crash victims.⁽¹⁾
• 20% of crashes in the U.S. are caused by drugged driving.⁽²⁾
   
• According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, drivers who tested positive for marijuana in fatal car crashes DOUBLED between 2006 and 2010.

• A 2007 roadside survey of weekend nighttime driver showed that 8.6% tested positive for marijuana, nearly four times the percentage of drivers with a BAC of .08 or more. ⁽³⁾
   
• In a study of seriously injured drivers admitted to a Level-1 shock trauma center, more than a quarter of all drivers tested positive for marijuana. ⁽⁴⁾

• More information on marijuana and driving.

1 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Drug Involvement of Fatally Injured Drivers. U.S. Department of Transportation Report No. DOT HS 811 415. Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2010.   
2 The Institute for Behavioral Health, “Reduce Drug Impaired Driving.” 2010. Available: http://www.ibhinc.org/dd.html     
3 Compton, R., and Berning, A. Results of the 2007 National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers. Traffic Safety Facts Research Note. 2007.   
4 Romano, E, and Voas, R. B.; Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Drug and Alcohol Involvement in Four Types of Fatal Crashes, June 2011. 

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WHY?

• Because among youths age 12 to 17, marijuana usage rates were higher in states with medical marijuana laws (8.6%) compared with those without such laws (6.9%).⁽¹⁾
   
• About 10% of all people who try marijuana will become daily users
   
• Regular marijuana use during adolescents found to increase risk 2 to 5 times of developing psychosis, schizophrenia, anxiety and depression in adulthood.  For More Information

 1 Wall, M. et al (2011). Adolescent Cannabis Use from 2002 to 2008: Higher in States with Medical Cannabis Laws, Cause Still Unclear, Annals    of epidemiology, Vol 21 issue 9 Pages 714-716.                                                                                                         (BACK TO TOP)

WHY?

• The total overall costs of substance abuse in the U.S., including productivity, health and crime- related costs, exceed $600 billion annually.
  • This includes approximately:
    $193 billion for illicit drugs⁽¹⁾
    $235 billion for alcohol ⁽²⁾
    $193 billion for tobacco ⁽³⁾  

• Federal and state alcohol taxes raise $14.5 billion, covering only about 6% of alcohol’s total cost to society.⁽⁴⁾

1 US, Dept of Justice NDIC, The Economic Impact of Illicit Drug Use on American Society, 2011.
2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs—2007. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; October 2007.)
3 Rehm J, Mathers C, Popova S, Thavorncharoensap M, Teerawattananon Y, Patra J. Global burden of disease and injury and economic cost attributable to alcohol use and alcohol-use  disorders. Lancet. 2009 Jun 27;373(9682):2223-33. [Table 4]
4 Dupont, Robert M.D., Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (1973-1978), “Why We Should Not Legalize Marijuana.” April 2010.  Available:  www.cnbc.com/id/36267223/Why_We_Should_Not_Legalize_Marijuana
5 Ibid                                                                                                                     (BACK TO TOP)

If you care about the safety of medicines in our country you need to know the facts.

In the United States, medications imply FDA approved.  Marijuana has not.

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Can anyone in our nation deny that the prescription drug epidemic changed our neighborhoods and community shopping centers?

Pill Mills on every corner throughout our neighborhoods.                                          Does this look familiar?