Dear Editor,
Like a magic trick, Arizona’s Proposition 207 is not what it seems. Prop 207 is called “The Smart and Safe Arizona Act” but neither adjective reflects the reality it proposes.
Take it from us, Coloradans who saw the same smoke-and-mirrors trick eight years ago. After the magic show ended in 2012 and Colorado voters agreed to regulate marijuana similar to alcohol, we were left with: increasing marijuana-impaired traffic fatalities, rising frequency of marijuana use by youth, exponentially higher potency with radically new marijuana products, almost double the national rate for daily marijuana use among young adults. Reasonable people can disagree about whether adults should be allowed to smoke a joint in the privacy of their home. We don’t take a position on the question of marijuana legalization. But we are adamant that kids be protected and the public see behind the curtain so they can make informed decisions.
Reporting on Prop 207 shows images of the plant’s leaves. Magicians call this the flower trick. The proponents of Prop 207 want you to think you are legalizing the same stuff smoked at Woodstock, the reality is far different. In Colorado it is very difficult to buy any marijuana with a potency similar to Woodstock.
Almost 93% of products sold in Colorado are considered highly concentrated, with a potency four times higher than average THC content of the early 1990s.
Colorado’s health department just analyzed the health effects of high potent products, warning that it’s use is “associated with higher rates of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, psychosis, and generalized anxiety.”
Legal marijuana today has little to do with the plant. Prop 207 provides for the manufacture and sale of concentrated THC, the intoxicating ingredient in marijuana, and will bring products to Arizona that challenge the imagination. You won’t believe your eyes as to what people, motivated to get rich, can come up with.
In Colorado, we have highly concentrated THC hidden (often from parents and teachers) in asthma inhalers, USB devices, mouth sprays, breath mints, dissolvable powders, and even suppositories. All the hocus-pocus in the world cannot make these products safe for kids. Nor is limiting marijuana candy a magic wand that will reduce youth use. High school students are more likely than adults to dab ultra-potent THC concentrates or vape marijuana than adults in Colorado.
These rates are a substantial increase from just two years ago. Prop 207 displays amazing sleight of hand with regards to road safety as well. The normalization of marijuana use will make your roads less safe, regardless of DUID laws. In a 2020 Colorado Department of Transportation report, 69% of marijuana users admitted to driving while high. These attitudes have filtered down to our youngest drivers.
A recent survey of Colorado high school students found that they are almost twice as likely to drive after using marijuana than alcohol. Prop 207 also attempts to hypnotize Arizona voters by saying it “does not allow: any person to smoke marijuana in a public place or open space”. The trance will only last until Election Day. Expect subsequent industry efforts to chip away at this public health protection, as occurred in Colorado where marijuana now can be smoked in clubs and restaurants, tasting rooms attached to marijuana stores, and tour buses.
That exposes kids to secondhand smoke and normalizes marijuana use as they grow up. We wouldn’t presume to tell Arizonans how to vote on Prop 207 but, after Coloradans fell for some of these marijuana industry illusions, you deserve to know the reality behind this show.
Henny Lasley
One Chance to Grow Up Co-Founder and Executive Director
