September 11, 2021 – The Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) program has published annual reports every year since 2013 tracking the impact of legalizing recreational marijuana in Colorado. The purpose is to provide data and information so that policy makers and citizens can make informed decisions on[Read More…]
Tag: legalization
Drugged Driving: A New Report
In America, every 52 minutes a person dies in an alcohol-related collision. When a driver has a blood alcohol level (BAC) of .08, they have a nearly 4 times greater crash risk. Many people falsely believe that driving after using marijuana is less impairing than after drinking alcohol. In Colorado,[Read More…]
Marijuana’s Impacts in Colorado: A Policy Memo
June 2021 Dr. David Murray, a Senior Fellow with the Hudson Institute, a “think tank” based in Washington D.C. released a policy memo titled, “The “Colorado Experiment”: Legalized Marijuana’s Impact in Colorado”. This brief, yet informative read, offers insights into what has been called the “Colorado Experiment” referring to the[Read More…]
Marijuana Legalization in the Midwest: The Potential Impact
The purpose of this report is to examine the effects of marijuana legalization in other states in order to provide drug policy experts and law enforcement leaders with potential impacts and consequences for Midwestern states that are contemplating the legalization of “medical” and/or “recreational” marijuana. This report will utilize data[Read More…]
Marijuana’s Impact on California 2020
In 1996, California became the first state to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes with the passage of Proposition 215. Now, in 2020, recreational marijuana use is fully legal within California for individuals 21 years of age and over. This report will outline the current and potential impacts of these policies.[Read More…]
The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact
The Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) program has published annual reports every year since 2013 tracking the impact of legalizing recreational marijuana in Colorado. The purpose is to provide data and information so that policy makers and citizens can make informed decisions on the issue of marijuana[Read More…]
Substance Use Disorders and Increased Risks from COVID-19
September 24, 2020 According to a recent study (Wang, Kaelber, Xu and Volkow) published in Molecular Psychiatry, nearly 11 percent of the U.S. population has a substance use disorder (SUD). Additionally, those individuals with a current SUD are at increased risks for COVID-19 as well as its adverse outcomes. This study examined[Read More…]
Marijuana Most Common Drug Detected in Workplace Testing
Date: August 25, 2020 Read time: 5 Minutes Quest Diagnostics, a leader in workplace drug testing, reported that positive drug tests reached a 16-year high in 2019. Notable increases were seen in positive test results for cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. Marijuana continues to be the most commonly detected drug in[Read More…]
Depression and Marijuana Use in Adults
Date: 08-19-2020 A new report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Network) examined the changes in marijuana use rates in adults with depression from 2005 to 2016. The study, “Association of Depression With Past-Month Cannabis Use Among US Adults, Aged 20 to 59 years, 2005 to[Read More…]
Smoking, Vaping and COVID Risk Factors
Association Between Youth Smoking, Electronic Cigarette Use, and Coronavirus Disease 2019 In July 2020, researchers from Stanford University (Gaiha, Cheng, et.al.) published the results of a study of over 4,300 people (youth to young adults) in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The study examined the association between the use of[Read More…]