Here are the effects of cannabis legalization after 5 years
Today is the five-year anniversary of Colorado and Washington residents voting to legalize cannabis for social use. While most of legalization naysayers have created narratives regarding the “danger” of cannabis use, the data collected in the last five years has refuted all those fears with factual evidence.
Read below to see how underage use in Colorado is lower than the national average, as well as how traffic fatalities, arrests and violent crimes haven’t increased since the 2012 vote. We’ll also get into the positive effects of legalization, such as increased tax revenue and decreases in opioid use.
Underage use is lower than the national average
According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 21 percent of Colorado teens reported using cannabis in the past 30 days in 2015, four percent lower than the national average reported in 2009.
In addition, a 2016 study from the Washington State Healthy Youth Survey found cannabis use among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders has been about the same over the last ten years.
According to the federal National Survey on Drug Use and Health, teen cannabis use is at a 20-year low.
Traffic fatalities remain flat
A June study in the American Journal of Public Health found “three years after recreational marijuana legalization, changes in motor vehicle crash fatality rates for Washington and Colorado were not statistically different from those in similar states without recreational marijuana legalization.”
Cannabis arrests plummet
While some racial disparities in cannabis arrests are present, an analysis by the Drug Policy Alliance stated arrests in Colorado for cannabis possession, cultivation and distribution of cannabis plummeted 95 percent after the state legalized social sales.
Violent crime rates fall in legalized states
While US Attorney General Jeff Session may claim cannabis legalization results in increased crime, actual data disproves this theory.
The Drug Policy Alliance released a report which found the year after social cannabis sales started, Denver saw a 2.2 percent drop in violent crime, and overall property crime fell by 8.9 percent. In Washington, violent crime fell 10 percent from 2011 to 2014.
Cannabis tax revenue makes the world a better place
According to a report from VS Strategies, Colorado has collected more than $500 million in cannabis revenue from mostly social but also medical cannabis sales. Washington collected $185 million for fiscal year 2016 and that number is expected to increase to $233 million for fiscal year 2017 according to a new report from New Frontier Data.
According to Leafly, more than 149,000 full-time jobs are supported by cannabis legalization. New Frontier estimates that by 2020 cannabis jobs will surpass manufacturing jobs in the United States.
People are using less opioids
Recent research published in the American Journal of Public Health shows opioid-related deaths decreased by over 6 percent in the first two years following Colorado fully legalizing cannabis.
With all this data to back it up, nationwide cannabis legalization seems a lot less scary than certain politicians make it out to be.
