These days, when Mexico and the United States are mentioned in the same sentence, it usually has something to do with President Trump building a wall. So it’s a little bit ironic that Mexico beat the U.S. to tearing down the wall between its citizens and access to legal medical marijuana. On June 21, 2017, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed a decree legalizing medical cannabis in the country, with the strong support of the nation’s Lower House of Congress. [1]
There’s just this…one…little…pesky detail: only products with 1% THC or lower will be permitted. That’s just slightly less than some of the 20%+ THC products some of the legal medical cannabis dispensaries in America offer. Heh. Even so, the decree classified the psychoactive ingredient as “therapeutic.” [1] [2]
In the declaration, Nieto called on the Ministry of Health to draft and implement regulations and public policies regarding “the medicinal use of pharmacological derivatives of cannabis sativa, indica, and Americana or marijuana, including tetrahydrocannabinol its isomers, and stereo-chemical variants, as well as how to regulate the research and national production of them.” [2]
The decree is a start, but nothing close to what pro-marijuana lawmakers had hoped for. Sen. Miguel Barbosa said the legislation was “well below the expectations of society.” Sen. Armando Rios Peter referred to it as a “tiny” step away from a failed drug policy. [1]
But the bloody drug trade has made large swaths of Latin America terrifying warzones, so the move could ease such tensions, though the effect could be negligible, because – come on, 1% THC or less?
Though an estimated 100,000 people have died at the hands of drug cartels in the last decade, marijuana legalization of any kind is remarkably unpopular in Mexico. About 66% of the population opposes it.
The Catholic Church staunchly opposes legalization, even for medicinal purposes, once writing in an editorial:
“A drug is a drug even if it’s sold as a soft medicinal balm. Bad Mexican copycats emulate the neighbor to put on the table of ‘sane democracy’ a bleak, absurd and counterproductive debate. Recreational marijuana is a placebo to ease the pain of the social destruction in which we irremediably wallow.”
So, it might be a baby step, but it’s still a step in the right direction.
A statement from the Lower House of Parliament reads:
“The ruling eliminates the prohibition and criminalization of acts related to the medicinal use of marijuana and its scientific research, and those relating to the production and distribution of the plant for these purposes.” [2]
President Nieto was once a major opponent of marijuana legalization, but now believes that drug addiction should be thought of as a public health problem, and has advocated for Mexico and the U.S. to follow similar policies on drug use and marijuana legalization. [1]
Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.
A recent survey by Yahoo News and The Marist Poll reveals, among other things, that people – regardless of whether they have children or not – are more concerned about kids smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol than they are about kids using marijuana. [1]
For the survey, 1,122 adults age 18 and older were polled from March 1 through March 7, 2017.
Overall, 52% of respondents said that they had tried marijuana at some point in their lives. Among women, 49% said that they’d used marijuana, while 55% of men said that they had done so.
A whopping 83% of those surveyedsaid that they approve of legalizing marijuana for medical treatment, and among men and women, there wasn’t much difference in opinion. Eighty-two percent and 83% said they were in favor of pot legalization for medical purposes, respectively.
Support for recreational marijuana was considerably more tempered. In total, 49% of respondents expressed support for legal recreational pot. That number is far lower compared with those who believe medical marijuana should be legal, but it’s still a good sign; In 2000, just over 30% of Americans supported legalizing recreational marijuana, according to Gallup polls.
When asked if using marijuana was socially acceptable, regardless of whether they believe it should be legal, 56% answered yes. More men (58%) than women (53%) said they consider marijuana use socially acceptable.
The surveyors split that same question up among parents, parents with adult children, parents with children under 18, and parents who use marijuana, and this is what they found, respectively:
Parents – 50%
Parents with adult children – 49%
Parents with children under 18 – 51%
Parents who use marijuana – 75%
One of the most telling signs that pot is going more mainstream is this finding: Among people who said they follow a religion, 45% said consider marijuana use socially acceptable.
The split in opinion over marijuana legalization among political parties is, well, what you would expect to see in a poll. Overall, 54% of registered voters believe marijuana is socially acceptable. The survey found that 65% of Democrats, 38% of Republicans, and 61% of Independents don’t consider marijuana use taboo.
However, when it comes to pregnant mothers, Americans still view marijuana as something to be avoided. Only 21% of respondents overall said it is acceptable for a pregnant woman to use marijuana to reduce nausea or pain. Even among marijuana users, the percentage was relatively low: 40%. More men (23%) than women (19%) support marijuana use for nausea and pain in pregnant women. I would have expected these numbers to be lower.
When broken down into regions, the Western U.S. showed the most support for recreational marijuana, with 55% saying they favor legalization. The finding is unsurprising, since Colorado and Washington were the first U.S. states to regulate sales of recreational cannabis.
California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana. Another 61% of respondents in the Western U.S. said they consider marijuana use to be socially acceptable, the highest percentage of all regions.
When asked whether they consider marijuana use a health risk, 51% of people overall answered yes. But, for the most part, people who’ve tried marijuana or regular users see it as less of a threat than those who never tried pot.
Among those who never smoked cannabis, 64% consider it a health risk.
Among those who tried pot at some point in their lives, just 39% view pot as a health risk.
A mere 24% of regular users see any potential health threat.
Source: Vox
Here’s where things get interesting, and you can truly see the shift in attitude about marijuana in the United States. When asked which they considered a bigger threat, regular marijuana use or regular tobacco use, 76% of respondents said tobacco is more dangerous than pot.
Among millennials, 87% consider tobacco to be riskier than pot. But marijuana continues to get a bad rep from some seniors; 47% of people age 69 and older see pot as the bigger threat. However, 73% of baby boomers (ages 51-69) point to tobacco as a bigger danger than cannabis.
Tobacco use was named as a bigger health risk than tobacco use by far in all regions of the U.S., as well as among parents of children of all ages, not to mention Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
When it comes to alcohol vs. marijuana, parents of all ages of children, both sexes, all four regions of the country, and all registered voters said regular alcohol use was more dangerous than regular marijuana use.
It appears that the nation’s opioid crisis has opened a lot of people’s eyes, as well, with all age groups but those 69 and over answering that a prescription opioid from a doctor is more of a health risk than a prescription for medical marijuana. The same was found in all regions of the country, among all levels of education, and regardless of income.
Even parents and those who practice a religion said they would trust the marijuana plant over a prescription painkiller when it comes to safely treating their ailments.
Source: Weed News
Will the Feds Crack Down on Marijuana with the New Presidency?
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who is notoriously anti-legalization, has made comments hinting that the federal government may crack down on states where marijuana is legal. Here’s what respondents think of that:
Overall, 30% of national adults believe the Trump administration should crack down harder on marijuana than the Obama administration.
Overall, 38% of national adults think the Trump administration should be not as tough as the Obama administration.
Overall, 27% of national adults say the current administration should be AS tough on marijuana as the Obama administration.
Across all regions of the country, more people answered that the Trump administration should NOT be as tough on marijuana as the Obama administration.
Finally, respondents were asked what their most significant concern was about marijuana; and, like a Cheech and Chong meme, the #1 concern among national adults is that it’s illegal. Only 14% expressed concern that pot use could lead to harder drugs, and only 7% worry about addiction.
Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.
The marijuana industry created more than 18,000 new jobs in Colorado last year, and had a $2.39 billion impact on the state, according to a new report released October 26. [1]
In a study conducted by the economic consulting firm Marijuana Policy Group (MPG), researchers looked at two years’ worth of sales numbers from Colorado and found that legalization resulted in nearly $1 billion in retail sales in 2015.
Source: WeAreChange.org
There was also an indirect economic impactfrom increased demand on local goods and services, such as growers renting warehouse space and purchasing high-tech lighting and irrigation equipment. Then there are the contractors, lawyers, bookkeepers, and other companies that cannabis retailers rely on.
Study co-author and MPG founder Adam Orens said:
“If this is done right, regulated right, taxed right, this industry can bring real economic benefits to a state.
If the state or the local governments manage, permit and enforce [marijuana regulation] in a thoughtful way, then this can have real benefits.”
According to the Marijuana Policy Group, the legal marijuana industry’s growth isn’t so much the result of new, previously untapped demand for weed, but rather from a reduction of the unregulated black market.
Orens and his co-authors wrote:
“It would be easy to confuse the rapid growth in marijuana sales with an inherent growth in marijuana demand. But that is not the case. Legal marijuana sales are increasing due to a supply shift — away from gray and black market suppliers, toward licensed suppliers.”
The black market is what keeps marijuana prices high, and what most people associate with drug-related crime. Opponents of the War on Drugs have been pushing for decriminalization for decades, partly because it reduces the black market.
In Colorado and Washington, D.C., the black market still exists, but the new study suggests it has been greatly reduced by legalization. In fact, the MPG predicts that by 2020, more than 90% of the marijuana market will be supplied by regulated, state-licensed dealers. Home growers and a small fraction of unregulated and “grey market” dealers (dealers who aren’t entirely legally legitimate) will comprise the remaining 10%.
The report states:
“Applying the marijuana impact model to Colorado, it was found that each dollar spent on retail marijuana generates $2.40 in state output. This compares favorably with general retail trade, which yields $1.88 per dollar. The more traditional (and sometimes subsidized) mining sector generates $1.79 per dollar. General manufacturing generates $1.94 per dollar, and casinos generate just $1.73 per dollar of spending.
Other industries have lower output yields because their inputs are sourced from outside of the state, or because the profits are remitted to corporate owners that exist primarily outside of the state as well.” [2]
However, Oren stresses that the report only examined the economics of marijuana legalization in Colorado, not its effects on public health or criminal justice. [1]
At that point, the MPG expects growth in the state’s cannabis industry to slow, resembling growth in other retail industries, which tend to follow population growth.
Additionally, the Marijuana Policy Group found:
Marijuana is currently bringing in tax revenue at three times the rate of the alcohol industry. MPG predicts that by 2020, pot will overtake cigarette taxes as a revenue-generator.
Marijuana taxes brought in about $121 million in revenue last year. MPG expects that number to increase to about $150 million by 2020.
And speaking of young people, a report from this past July showed that youth marijuana use stayed at about the same level post-legalization, shattering the myth that decriminalizing marijuana sends straight-A students into the depths of addiction, despair, and destroyed futures.
Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.
