Protecting Our Childrens Future www.smartcolorado.org 1 About - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Protecting Our Children’s Future www.smartcolorado.org 1 ¡

About Smart Colorado Our Mission To protect the health, safety and futures of Colorado youth as marijuana becomes increasingly available and commercialized. Smart Colorado is a grassroots non-profit organization formed by concerned citizens from all different backgrounds and professions. Smart Colorado draws on the experience and resources of many leaders and experts from business, healthcare, education, interfaith and youth and community serving organizations, and government, including support from all four of Colorado’s living ex-governors. Our membership continues to grow rapidly as citizens have seen firsthand : • The overwhelming and daunting task the state faced and continues to face in creating, implementing and enforcing a new regulatory structure for a harm-producing industry • The complexity of the legal, health and safety issues involved • How health and safety of Colorado youth was ranked as last priority during initial policy making • How far-reaching decisions were made In a highly compressed timetable and research vacuum • How powerful profit driven commercialized marijuana interests served as go-to experts • How policy makers took daunting responsibilities seriously while facing a lack of definitive research and data regarding the possible public health and safety risks, dangers and uncertainties 2 ¡

Expectations vs. Reality What Colorado Was Told What Colorado Wasn’t Told Tightly Regulated & Controlled Mass Commercialization (more pot shops than Starbucks and McDonalds combined – over 900 commercialized marijuana facilities in Denver alone as of 12/31/14 Out of Kids’ Hands Hundreds of unmarked marijuana-infused foods, candies, and soda, highly potent marijuana concentrates and increasingly potent smoked marijuana strains Get Rid of Black Market Colorado becomes a global source of black market while there is yet to be one uniform, transparent, and enforceable regulatory structure Economic Windfall Tremendous costs and resources devoted to creating and implementing marijuana regulatory structure and yet enforcement remains extremely difficult with little money left for youth education, prevention, substance treatment and other important state priorities 1. Marijuana ¡Enforcement ¡Division, ¡Colorado ¡Department ¡of ¡Revenue, ¡November ¡2014. ¡ ¡ 2. ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡Healthy ¡Kids ¡Colorado ¡Survey. ¡Colorado ¡Department ¡of ¡Public ¡Health ¡and ¡Environment, ¡2013. ¡ 3 ¡ 3. ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡Ibid. ¡

Differences Between… Decriminalization Marijuana for Medicinal Purposes Legalization Commercialization ¡ ¡ 4 ¡

CO’s Five Marijuana Markets Currently, five marijuana markets exist in Colorado. There has yet to be one uniform, transparent and enforceable regulatory structure. Abuses in medical marijuana markets persist continuing to create confusion and send mixed messages for SOLD ¡ ¡ SIDE ¡BY ¡SIDE ¡ youth. IDENTICAL ¡ PRODUCTS ¡ 46% 5. ¡BLACK ¡ GRAY ¡MARKET ¡ MARKET ¡ ¡ GROWN ¡LEGALLY ¡ SOLD ¡ILLEGALLY ¡ 5 ¡

Many Forms of CO Marijuana VAPORIZING DISCREET MARIJUANA PRODUCTS FOR DABBING AND TYPES OF EDIBLES 300+ MARIJUANA HASH & CONCENTRATES 6 ¡

Hundreds of Unmarked Edibles 7 ¡

Hash Oil – Dab, Wax, Shatter Concentrates reaching up to 90 percent pure THC Kids throughout the state are reporting using and consuming such products. School officials report increased incidences of use with the ages getting younger and younger. Yet, too few Colorado kids and adults have any idea of the dangers, risks, uncertainties, and far reaching implications consuming such products can have. One ounce of concentrate = about 2,800 individual 10 mg servings of THC Enough THC to get every student in an entire high school high 8 ¡

Hidden Pot Marijuana industry claims it’s not marketing to kids 9 ¡

Hidden Pot Vape pens come in a huge variety of colors and styles and are very popular with adolescents 10 ¡

Potency of Colorado Pot *Nationally, The University of Mississippi’s Potency Monitoring program has tested smoked strains up to 36 percent THC. 11 ¡

Confusing and False Messages For years, Colorado youth have been bombarded with messages that glorify, celebrate and normalize marijuana use. There has yet to be a unified and collective message to Colorado youth on just how dangerous and unhealthy Colorado’s pot remains and what the real and serious short and long-term consequences of its use can be. Marijuana is an all-natural wellness product ; an herb that is not • harmful to youth Marijuana is a a cure-all for any discomfort • Getting high is an acceptable recreational activity for youth • All Colorado’s pot is now “safe,” “tightly regulated,” and “tested” • ¡ 12 ¡

Why Youth Perceptions Matter Studies show: As perception of harm goes down, use goes up* Among 12 th grade students nationally, the perceived risk of physical or mental harm from regular marijuana use has gone down to 39.5 percent in 2013, from 70 to 80 percent in the early 1990s** ¡ *Denver ¡Office ¡of ¡Drug ¡Strategy, ¡Proceedings ¡of ¡Denver ¡Epidemiology ¡Work ¡Group ¡3/1/11 ¡ **NIH’s ¡2013 ¡Monitoring ¡the ¡Future ¡Survey ¡ ¡ 13 ¡

Wide Youth Misconception Gap A WIDE gap exists between perceived risks and harms of Colorado’s pot versus actual risks and uncertainties and the potentially serious, long-lasting, and irreparable implications for youth health and success Among Colorado high school students throughout state: 55 percent say pot is easy to get 67 percent do not think police will catch them using marijuana 20 percent rode in a car with someone using marijuana 45 percent do not perceive regular marijuana use presents a moderate or great risk In Denver, where there’s been the most commercialization the misperception gap is even wider with reported youth use among the highest in the nation Why Potency of CO’s Pot Makes Youth Misperceptions Even More Troubling A growing number of studies conducted on smoked marijuana at much lower THC levels(two to eight percent) shows that marijuana permanently alters the structure of the developing brain, affects cognition, academic performance, and can potentially lead to a permanent decline in IQ. The concentrated levels of CO’s pot have yet to be 14 ¡ Healthy ¡Kids ¡Colorado ¡Survey, ¡Colorado ¡Department ¡of ¡Public ¡Health ¡and ¡Environment, ¡2013 ¡ researched, but the implications are troubling. .

Colorado Marijuana Use Second-highest monthly marijuana use in the nation (2012-13) United States Colorado NaNonal ¡Survey ¡on ¡Drug ¡Use ¡and ¡Health ¡Survey, ¡2014 ¡ 15 ¡

Legitimacy Equals Responsibility? If marijuana industry wants to be a “legitimate” industry, it must start with responsibility to our state’s youth. In addition to implementing regulations, rather than fighting to overturn or weaken them, marijuana manufacturers and retailers should consider the added ethical responsibilities of keeping Colorado youth safe by self- regulating and providing much needed leadership and accountability. Advertising, marketing, and methods by which the industry promotes marijuana use Type of products/ intake methods the industry promotes Health effects/youth impacts rather than solely promoting marijuana use for fun Being honest about what we know and don’t know about Colorado’s pot, the lack of research and just how unregulated, untested and unsafe much of Colorado’s marijuana remains today ¡ 16 ¡

Our Education Campaign Our ‘ Spot the Pot ’ education and product awareness campaign initiated a highly- publicized conversation about the dangers of marijuana edibles. Smart Colorado and its messages and information were shared nationally and internationally in The Today Show , USA Today , NBC Nightly News, CSPAN, Agence France-Press, The Associated Press, The Denver Post , and many more, reaching an independently-estimated audience of over 570 million potential readers and viewers. The campaign was recognized by the Public Relations Society of America Colorado Chapter with the 2015 Gold Pick Aware and 2015 Nonprofit Award for its excellence and impact. 17 ¡

Smart Colorado’s Priorities Ensuring Coloradans and particularly those under the age of 21 receive factual information about the dangers, health impacts, risks and uncertainties of consuming Colorado’s marijuana; Ensuring important data is being collected, analyzed and reported and used for policy making decisions; THC Potency limits on all forms of marijuana; Ensuring all marijuana products are clearly marked and identifiable both inside and outside packaging; Strict regulations on the types of marijuana products allowed and prohibiting products that appeal to children such as familiar candies and snacks; and One uniform, transparent and enforceable regulatory structure that is at least as strict as those for tobacco and alcohol with abuses in medical marijuana markets addressed. 18 ¡