Idaho’s Elisha Figueroa is tired of all this pot talk. She works in the Idaho Office of Drug Policy. Yesterday she decided to look up some statistics and explain how the legalization of marijuana has failed society. In a piece of writing titled “Experiment with Legalized Marijuana isn’t working out” Figueroa is sick and tired of hearing all about the economic benefits of legalization the drug. And while everyone is yakking about the economics, says Figueroa, no one is talking about how society is going to hell in a handbasket. She begins listing off some statistics, and they sound frightening. If there are any parents out there, close your eyes!
After recreational marijuana was legalized there, Colorado youth’s past-month use for 2013/2014 was a whopping 74 percent higher than the national average.
[...]
The percentage of Colorado vehicle operators who were found positive for marijuana increased from 7.88 percent in 2006 to 24.03 percent in 2014 (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2006-2013; CDOT, 2014).
[...]
The Colorado Hospital Association reported that marijuana-related emergency room visits increased from 8,197 in 2011 to 18,255 in 2014.
Holy crap! Colorado is really going down the toilet bowl. Forget about the extra marijuana tax money they are putting into social projects and college scholarships—according to Elisha Figueroa, those kids are on dope! The op-ed is pretty standard anti-marijuana legalization stuff. Unfortunately, the commenters, and one commenter specifically, could not allow Ms. Figueroa’s misuse of statistics to go unchallenged. Robbie Freeman decided to take a part Figueroa’s assertions one by one, quoting the passages and then explaining what was faulty in her statements. On the “whopping 74 percent higher than national average” use of marijuana:
In 2012 - two years before recreational marijuana was legalized the average use by teens in Colorado was 11.16% After recreational marijuana was legailzed in 2014 the number was 12.56%
To make it sound as if it jumped 74% with your omission of the actual numbers and comparing it to only the 2012 national average is a nice try. The number went up by 1.4%.
On the number of Colorado drivers testing positive for marijuana:
True: but you omitted the fact that testing postivite for marijuana 'metabolites' does not indicate impairment. It only means that at some point in the last 60 days a person consumed marijuana.
The number of those people actually charged with DUI - ZERO!
----> DUI in Colorado is down marginally by 1% since marijuana was legalized <---- A half truth is still a lie Ms. Figueroa
On the emergency care increases.
Colorado has an estimated 726,000 cannabis consumers. 8,197 up to 18,255 is an increase of
10,058 Statistically a .014 percent increase. That's .014 of one percent. 1/6th of one percent increase. So again once people have all the numbers it amounts to nothing. How many of those poison control center calls or ER visits ended in a death? ZERO... that seems to be a recurring number.
Freeman adds more and sources everything. Figueroa’s final statement is probably the most remarkable since it is a clear case of “projection.”
When our way of life and the health and safety of our communities are jeopardized, we must be vigilant seekers of the truth and not swayed by stories filled with emotion and half-truths.
We can agree on that, Ms. Figueroa.