What can we learn from Colorado?

How NOT to handle marijuana! -

When I returned to Colorado after my years as a religious sister, I noticed something strange.   Or rather, I smelled something strange.   Having grown up rural, I know what skunks smell like. I found myself wondering how Denver came to have a wild skunk problem.   But I must apologize to skunks. They weren't to blame. During my absence, Colorado had legalized recreational cannabis, and the city of Denver reeked of it.   What has happened in Colorado since 2014, when recreational marijuana became available in the state, is clear proof that the push to legalize cannabis is a bad idea, and why it's ill-advised for the Trump administration to consider loosening regulations by rescheduling cannabis from Class I to Class III.   According to the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, between 2013 and 2022, violent crime in the state increased 61% and property crime increased 19%.   A 2021 study by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA), found that after legalization: Traffic deaths where drivers tested positive for marijuana increased 138% while all Colorado traffic deaths increased 29%. The percent of suicide incidents in which toxicology results were positive for marijuana increased from 14% in 2013 to 29% in 2020. I can also tell you that the everyday visible effects of chronic cannabis use are on full display. What you might not know is this: today's cannabis contains a substantially higher THC level than the '60s and '70s "grass" people get so nostalgic about. THC is the psychoactive compound in cannabis that produces its effect. Where cannabis once contained about 2% THC, today's bioengineered types can contain anywhere from 15% to as much as 90% depending on the type of cannabis product. Keep in mind, THC is psychoactive. It changes how your brain works. And it leads to what the medical community calls "Cannabis Use Disorder" – a state of addiction that can trigger a host of difficulties, not the least of which are anxiety and psychosis: A Danish study found that up to 30% of schizophrenia cases in young men could have been avoided had they not developed Cannabis Use Disorder. According to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 3 in 10 people who use cannabis have Cannabis Use Disorder. As cannabis becomes more mainstreamed, those numbers have nowhere to go but up.   The risk of developing Cannabis Use Disorder has been found to be even greater for people who begin to use it before age 18. And trust me, that age group is using cannabis in significant numbers. The 2021 RMHIDTA report I mentioned also found that past-month marijuana use among people ages 12 and older had increased 26%.   Anecdotally, a priest once told me he was surprised to find that when kids bring up smoking in the confessional these days, they aren't talking about cigarettes.   Why should Catholics care about this issue?   Aside from the health dangers, there is an urgent spiritual side. Archbishop Samuel Aquila of Denver, who has watched Colorado's consequences unfold, had this to say: "Anything that diminishes man's use of reason and will assails his dignity as a human person and is therefore harmful."   God granted us dignity beyond every other creature. We are made in His image and likeness in that we have reason and rational thought. Altering our ability to reason removes us from access to the truth, most importantly, the ultimate truth of God himself.   People who think drugs bring them closer to God couldn't be more mistaken.   Go forward bravely, Kelsey Reinhardt President, CatholicVote Paid for by CatholicVote Civic Action, a 501(c)(4) organization. Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here. CATHOLICVOTE  |  PO Box 3310  |  Carmel, IN 46082  |  (317) 669-6127