"Radical" Russ Belville's List: Drug War Research

• REFORMING MARIJUANA LAWS: WHICH APPROACHBESTREDUCESTHE HARMS OF CRIMINALIZATION?A FIVE-STATE ANALYSIS
• Shouldmarijuanabe decriminalized or legalized?Should it berestricted topeople 21 and older? Advocates of the latter strategy often argue their efforts are intended to protect youth
• it is difficult to see how continued criminalization of marijuana use by persons under 21 protects the young.Currently, people under 21 make up lessthan one-third of marijuana users, yet half of all marijuana possession arrests
• Two types of reforms are evaluated: all-ages decriminalization(California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts), and 21-and-olderlegalization(Colorado and Washington).
• States that decriminalized marijuana for all agesexperienced the largest drops in marijuana arrests or cases, led by substantial drops among young peopleand for low-level possession
• Law enforcement appears to be responding to reforms with reduced attention to marijuana acrossthe board, from minor infractions to felonies. Colorado’s law, which establisheda state licensing and sales framework,mayfurther reduce marijuana felonies in the future.
• ese data suggest that the most effective way to reduce arrests and collateral damage is through proactive reform of marijuana laws.
• Reforming marijuana laws does not reduce staggeringracial disparities.
• African Americans were more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession afterlegalization or decriminalization than were people of all other races while marijuana possession was still criminalized
• Decriminalizing marijuana for youthhas not led to increasedrisk behavior.
• Table 1. California’s marijuana reform was followed by improvements in 15-19 year-olds’ risk indexes, both absolutely and compared to teenagers elsewhere in the country
• Under-21 Washingtonians face particularly serious consequences for low-level marijuana possession, including jailing for up to 90 days, fines of up to $1,000, revoked driving privileges, permanent loss of student loans, and potential "out of pocket expenses total[ing] more than $5,000"(MARP,2012).Under-21 Coloradans face considerably lighter penalties, but low-level possession remains a petty offense that can result in a criminal record, which risks additional sanctions such as loss of student loans. These punishmentsbuttress claims that for most users, getting arrested is more harmful than the drug itself.

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• Law enforcement officials in small Nebraska communities near the Colorado border are struggling to keep up with the amount of marijuana crossing the state line as drug arrests climb and county budgets are strained.

  In Sidney, Nebraska, a small city of less than 7,000 people located 10 miles from the Colorado border, officers made the same number of marijuana arrests in the first five months of this year as all of last year, Police Chief B.J. Wilkinson said. Five of every 10 traffic stops results in a marijuana arrest, he told KHAS-TV in Hastings, Nebraska
• The department ran through their overtime budget within six months, most of it to pay officers overtime to go to court for prosecutions.

• Deule County Sheriff Adam Hayward complains the county is getting so many felony drug cases stemming from Colorado marijuana that it is draining resources to house those arrested in the jail and to pay defense attorneys.

  Cheyenne County made 60 marijuana arrests last year, up from 45 in 2010 and just 15 in 2009.

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• A kid who starts experimenting with alcohol or marijuana suddenly decides, ‘Hey, nothing bad has happened to me yet. I’ll take this pill.’ And then they might find, ‘Wow!’ A lot of kids will have the light bulb come on, ‘Where has this feeling been my whole life?’ At least 70 percent of the young adults I treat found their way to heroin and opiods through experimenting with alcohol, nicotine and marijuana. So it’s not the marijuana itself, it’s the risk taking behavior that is so common in young adults.
• not everybody who uses marijuana will become addicted to it but people who like to do something and repeat doing something are more likely to become addicted than people who aren’t triggering their brain’s reward system in that manner.
• The survey also found 1 in 10 teens surveyed reported being high at school.
• Dr. Andrew Mendenhall, the outpatient medical director at Hazelden in Beaverton, said cannabis dependence is the most common addiction among people 14 to 24 years old seeking treatment at the Beaverton clinic.
• cannabis dependence is the most common addiction among people 14 to 24 years old seeking treatment at the Beaverton clinic.
• the long term risk is that their brain won’t let them forget that reward-based experience and the behavior of marijuana use will become more central in their life experience, specifically to cope with the challenges of being a young adult in America today.
• the risk of drugs is that your brain will get really attached to them and that the attachment is actually damage in and of itself and as a result what might look like being cool or what might be popular among other people is really false because that is just people experiencing a false control over how they feel using a substance. In truth, the damage is in the imprint of the reward, meaning if you like it, your brain might not let you forget it and suddenly it becomes a much deeper priority in the life of a young adult and unfortunately -- I am not going to use the word gateway -- but young adults who self-select and choose to engage in marijuana are more likely to engage in other drugs.
• In truth, the damage is in the imprint of the reward, meaning if you like it, your brain might not let you forget it and suddenly it becomes a much deeper priority in the life of a young adult and unfortunately -- I am not going to use the word gateway -- but young adults who self-select and choose to engage in marijuana are more likely to engage in other drugs.
• A kid who starts experimenting with alcohol or marijuana suddenly decides, ‘Hey, nothing bad has happened to me yet. I’ll take this pill.’ And then they might find, ‘Wow!’ A lot of kids will have the light bulb come on, ‘Where has this feeling been my whole life?’ At least 70 percent of the young adults I treat found their way to heroin and opiods through experimenting with alcohol, nicotine and marijuana. So it’s not the marijuana itself, it’s the risk taking behavior that is so common in young adults.
• I don’t think there is a safe level of marijuana consumption.
• Mendenhall: I don’t think there is a safe level of marijuana consumption.
• not everybody who uses marijuana will become addicted to it but people who like to do something and repeat doing something are more likely to become addicted than people who aren’t triggering their brain’s reward system in that manner.

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• Workforce Drug Test Positivity Rate Increases for the First Time in 10 Years
• The percentage of positive drug tests among American workers has increased for the first time in more than a decade, fueled by a rise in marijuana and amphetamines, according to an analysis of 8.5 million urine, oral fluid and hair workplace drug test results released today by Quest Diagnostics
• the positivity rate for 7.6 million urine drug tests in the combined U.S. workforce increased to 3.7 percent in 2013, compared to 3.5 percent in 2012.
• "After years of declines, the prevalence of positive workforce drug tests is increasing," said Dr. Barry Sample
• Marijuana Positivity Increases 6.2 Percent Nationally in Urine Drug Tests, but by Double Digits in Colorado and Washington
• Marijuana positivity in the combined U.S. workforce increased 6.2 percent, to 1.7 percent in 2013 compared to 1.6 percent in 2012.
• An analysis of urine drug test data for the combined U.S. workforce from the two states with "recreational" use laws – Colorado and Washington – showed marijuana positivity rates increased 20 and 23 percent, respectively, in the general workforce between 2012 and 2013, compared to the 5 percent average increase among the U.S. general workforce in all fifty states.
• The DTI data also reported declines for prescription opiates positivity in urine drug tests. Prescription opiates refer to drugs used for pain management, such as hydrocodone and oxycodones. The current data shows oxycodones positivity declined 8.3 percent (0.88% vs. 0.96%) between 2013 and 2012 and 12.7 percent (0.96% vs. 1.1%) between 2012 and 2011 in the combined U.S. workforce.

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• Colorado is missing $21.5 million in pot taxes.
• Pot smokers are still buying on the black market: The state thought more people would migrate out of the black market. But only 60% of people who want pot in Colorado this year will buy it through legal channels
• Legal retail marijuana is taxed more than 27%, so it's easily cheaper on the black market.

• Some are likely procuring it under the table from medical marijuana patients who buy it on the up-and-up and then resell it illegally -- depriving the state of tax revenue.

  Plus, any Coloradan over 21 can grow up to six plants for personal use. If they are selling it on the black market, that's even more tax revenue the state's missing out on.

• Medical marijuana is taxed far less than recreational pot, to the tune of 2.9%. On average one ounce of medical marijuana costs $200, while the price of an ounce sold for recreational use is $220, but prices vary widely.

  And while Coloradans must visit a doctor to get a medical marijuana card, that currently costs just $15. About 23% of the estimated marijuana users in Colorado (or 2% of the state population) have medical cards, according to the Marijuana Policy Group.
• Lawmakers were too optimistic in their revenue forecasts: State law requires the government to refund taxpayers if it collects more than expected.

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• Medical Marijuana is Still the Best Deal on Pot in Colorado
• Four months into legal recreational marijuana in Colorado, the market for medical cannabis is still by far the most cost-effective way to purchase pot in the state, a FiveThirtyEight analysis has found.
• The data set comprises 19,484 cannabis flower prices from 814 Colorado medical dispensaries starting in February 2013 and 1,940 cannabis flower prices from 104 Colorado recreational dispensaries, which opened Jan. 1, 2014.
• Below are the median prices of medical and recreational marijuana in Colorado. At smaller quantities, the price difference is stark: An eighth of an ounce of recreational cannabis is about 50 percent more expensive than an eighth of an ounce of medical cannabis.
• Looking at the unit price, we observe that the median per-gram price is substantially lower for medical cannabis. For quantities larger than a gram, the median recreational price per gram ranges between $7.00 and $8.50, while the median medical price per gram is consistently about $5.60.
• Kayvan Khalatbari, co-founder of Denver Relief, a marijuana dispensary. Khalatbari is also a principal at Denver Relief Consulting, which advises new and existing marijuana businesses in both the medical and recreational markets.
• Medical marijuana sold in Denver carries a sales tax of 7.72 percent. Recreational marijuana carries that tax plus a 10 percent marijuana state sales tax and 3.5 percent marijuana sales tax from the City and County of Denver applied at the point of sale. And that’s on top of a 15 percent excise tax applied when a wholesaler sells cannabis in bulk to a retailer.
• ince the sales taxes are applied at the point of sale, we would only expect that 15 percent excise tax to make a difference between the medical price and the recreational price in this data. Yet we see a price difference of upwards of 30 percent across the board.
• ottleneck in the recreational market.
• 300 licenses for recreational businesses, only about 15 to 20 percent have received the necessary local approval.
• some marijuana-growing facilities are expanding up to 100,000 square feet in size — have seen delays, coupled with the six-month lead time for cultivating the plants.
• here are many different qualities and brands available at many different price points, and a large segment of the consumer population has acquired a taste for a product of a certain quality
• The medical market has a lower and tighter price curve than the brand-new recreational market.
• alf-ounce level, the 10th percentile price is 40 percent cheaper than the median price, whereas the 90th percentile price is a whopping 90 percent more expensive than the median price. What gives?
• emand for high-quality recreational cannabis is currently exceeding the supply.
• utomated their production process. When that happens, he said, “you’re going to see a degradation in product,”
• Some might wonder whether the recreational marijuana is just better than the medical marijuana
• Sour Diesel, a popular strain of cannabis essentially around the 75th price percentile on both the recreational and medical side
• We’re starting to see more people go and get their medical cards back,” Khalatbari said. “A lot of people ditched them at the end of last year and said, ‘I’m not going to renew, recreational will be here and all will be well,’ but then they’re seeing these higher prices and the lack of product availability.”
• $45 and $75 for a doctor’s visit and $15 for the Colorado application fee — but these costs can be made back quickly when factoring in the additional taxes and general price hikes on recreational marijuana.
• Colorado lowered its medical marijuana application fee from $35 to $15 in mid-December.

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• America’s New Drug Policy Landscape

• Alphabetical Order 
• DEA Drug Code Number
• Section 812 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. §801 et seq.) (CSA) lists substances which were controlled in 1970 when the law was enacted. Since then, approximately 160 substances have been added, removed, or transferred from one schedule to another.
• These lists are intended as general references and are not comprehensive listings of all controlled substances. Please note that a substance need not be listed as a controlled substance to be treated as a Schedule I substance for criminal prosecution. A controlled substance analogue is a substance which is intended for human consumption and is structurally or pharmacologically substantially similar to or is represented as being similar to a Schedule I or Schedule II substance and is not an approved medication in the United States.
• Schedule I Controlled Substances
• no currently accepted medical use in the United States
• high potential for abuse.
• lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision
• heroin
• peyote
• methaqualone
• (LSD)
• marijuana
• Ecstasy
• Schedule II Controlled Substances
• high potential for abuse which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.
• methadone
• Dilaudid
• fentanyl
• OxyContin
• Demerol
• Percocet
• morphine
• opium
• codeine
• Dexedrine
• Adderall
• methamphetamine
• Ritalin
• Schedule III Controlled Substances
• a potential for abuse less than substances in Schedules I or II and abuse may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence.
• Vicodin
• Tylenol with Codeine
• ketamine
• anabolic steroids
• Schedule IV Controlled Substances
• low potential for abuse relative to substances in Schedule III.
• Xanax
• Klonopin
• Valium
• Ativan
• Halcion
• Schedule V Controlled Substances
• low potential for abuse relative to substances listed in Schedule IV and consist primarily of preparations containing limited quantities of certain narcotics.
• Robitussin AC
• Phenergan with Codeine

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