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November 30, 2011 01:11 AM UTC
25 Comments
…go down in any states that still maintain the ban? Are there other factors that contributed to this decrease or did you just fall for the classic statistical fallacy?
that a pair of economics professors would have enough academic rigor to control for that.
There’s an associated paper linked from the Channel 7 link in the diary, but I don’t have time to dig in to it.
Quick scanning the paper, and I very well could have missed it, but it doesn’t look they provide stats for other states. If there’s even one state non-MMJ state where traffic deaths went down, it puts the whole premise into question.
It’s making a bold, and quite erroneous, assumption that legalized MMJ is the reason for the whole drop (hell the headline to this post is MARIJUANA = 9% DROP IN TRAFFIC DEATHS). Can it contribute to the decrease, sure, it’s plausible. Is it the reason for the decrease? Most certainly not.
Here is the link to the entire study…
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7418…
I think it is easy, the more people who outwardly smoking pot, the less they drink alcohol, less traffic accidents.
I rarely drink anymore. The headaches the next morning even after two drinks is too much for me.
…that saw drunk driving related fatalities fall. Just silly to claim this is the only reason and therefore all MMJ should be legalized when there could be other major factors (like, say, a decreased consumption of alcohol over all by the populations) that need to be added to the equation.
My first two thoughts that this study might be bogus were that the tanking economy has reduced alcohol sales as well as caused people to drive less, so fewer traffic accidents and even fewer of them involving alcohol.
From what I can see, the authors controlled for individual income, the unemployment rate, and miles driven per person. So… gee whiz. I wouldn’t say that it’s conclusive since there isn’t a comparison with other states (except a simple before and after with neighboring states on increased use) but this is definitely a thing.
which went into effect 5 yearsa go and has dramatically (at least where I live) decreased the numbers of folks hanging out in bars. They’re doing their drinking at home
We have never saw a drop in bar or restaurant patrons, even when it happened in LA. People just step outside and smoke.
but, up here, for 7 months a year, it can be kind of chilly to step out and smoke
I am always amazed at the people standing outside smoking a cigarette. My mom is 77 and has been smoking since she was 13. She will smoke outside in zero degrees. I just don’t get it. I guess that is what nicotine does to you! LOL
I do believe that number of people who smoke is huge. Moreover, if we stop acting like Puritans and admit to ourselves that a good portion of America smokes pot, legalize it; we will have a drop in some issues and a huge drop in the incarceration rates. Along with that, yes, more people will choose to smoke instead of get drunk.
In the MMJ industry, we have VERY few alcoholics. I have yet to see some drunk and disorderly at our events. Not saying it has not happened, i just have not seen it. However, i do see drunkenness at every Broncos game. I see it in our restaurant after every Rockies game and i see it at just about every holiday party as the evening moves on.
No doubt that stoned people are much more reasonable than drunk people are. In addition, stoned people do not take the chances that drunk people do.
Study after study is telling us to move forward with legalization. No one caught smoking pot or selling pot should be arrested. It is just not a crime against society, unless we are willing to outlaw cigrettes and alcohol.
I wouldn’t mind seeing MJ legalized a la alcohol. You can be arrested and charged for selling alcohol without a license, and considering the amount of drug cartel influence in MJ sales outside of the MMJ market, it would be wise to license MJ dealers – move more of the grow indstry back to the States.
http://www.regulatemarijuana.o…
The people running and funding this campaign are names you know and people that are experienced in political and social outreach.
I am excited by the idea of educating people about what legalization should look like.
our governor to get on the bandwagon with Governors Grigore and Chafee, who submitted a petition to the FDA to have MJ reclassified.
Problem: Since Hick made his fortune in beer brewing, think he may side with the alcohol lobby instead?
I have yet to get a call from someone saying, “My spouse has been smoking weed all day and now they’re breaking things and beating me up.” Alcohol is much worse than marijuana.
And another thing: I don’t see how inhaling smoke, regardless of the source, is good for you. Smoking marijuana should not be considered “medicinal” and it’s stupid to classify it as such. Just completely legalize it from growing it to smoking it to baking brownies with it.
MJ is so illegal in this country that they won’t even let you run medical trials on it, though.
I did see one interesting study in the news not too long ago that the smoke from weed did not appear to have the same carcinogenic effects as tobacco smoke, though – and the reason wasn’t that the carcinogens weren’t present… The research seems to indicate a counter-carcinogenic effect from some of the other compounds in Cannabis. That could point to some interesting new medicine – if ever the FDA could be convinced to re-classify it.
As a matter of fact there are studies that show smoking MJ actually lowers cancer growth in cigarette smokers.
At Simply Pure, http://www.simplypure.com for medicinal use, we suggest that you don’t smoke cannabis. Edibles and vaporizers are a much better option.
Alcohol lowers your inhibitions and you drive more recklessly.
Pot makes people drive slower, if they’re motivated to get up at all.
And, the economic facts you cite show that dealing drugs is a money making business.
No big surprise.
I have been dealing drugs for 20 years. My suppliers are Coors, Barcadi, Stoli, etc. And yes, those dealers make a tremendous amount of money and ruin thousands lives and are responsible for almost 100,000 deaths per year.
I like to think of cannabis as a healing herb. And the fact that we are investing in the future of Denver to the tune of $330,000 per month, all sounds like a good thing to me….
Yesterday I was in Denver for a meeting and became lost downtown and drove by numerous dispensaries. The smell was overwhelming to me. I enjoyed it greatly, expected a concert to break out or something. alas, I found my way out and back to 6th West.
Back in the day I was in severance with a friend who was too drunk to drive back to Denver. I was stoned but not drunk. So, I made the drive back safely. But because of the harsh penalties on pot at that time, I took the precaution of splashing whiskey all over my face like after shave and gargling with it. If stopped, I wanted to look drunk as a skunk, knowing I would actually pass any alcohol test. In the event, I arrived safely after a very slow and cautious drive. Today, I’d probably be pulled over for driving too slowly.
Of course, from the perspective of the Medicare generation, I don’t recommend driving drunk or stoned.