A new report by the Drug Policy Alliance, From Prohibition to Progress: A Status Report on Marijuana Legalization, demonstrates how and why marijuana legalization is working so far. From Prohibition to Progress finds that states are saving money and protecting the public by comprehensively regulating marijuana for adult use. There have been dramatic decreases in marijuana arrests and convictions, saving states millions of dollars and preventing the criminalization of thousands of people.
Marijuana legalization is also having a positive effect on public safety and health. Youth marijuana use has remained stable in states that have legalized. Access to legal marijuana is associated with reductions in some of the most troubling harms associated with opioid use, including opioid overdose deaths and untreated opioid use disorders. DUI arrests for driving under the influence, of alcohol and other drugs, have declined in Colorado and Washington, the first two states to legalize marijuana. At the same time, states are exceeding their marijuana revenue estimates and filling their coffers with millions of dollars.
On this week's show, we hear from:
Jolene Forman, Staff Attorney, Drug Policy Alliance (report author)
Representative Reggie Jones-Sawyer, California State Assembly Member and author of the Legal Cannabis Protection Act
Representative Jonathan Singer, General Assembly Member, Colorado
Shaleen Title, Commissioner, Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission
Roseanne Scotti, Senior Director of Resident States and New Jersey State Director, Drug Policy Alliance (moderator)
- KBOO