Page 80 - Occupational Health & Safety, September 2017

Drug &Alcohol Testing
Get Out Your Checkbook:
What Legalized Marijuana is Going to Cost
With such overwhelming support, one could assume that legalization has clear benefits for everyone. That assumption is not only costly, it coTuld prove to be dead wrong.
BY NINA M. FRENCH
his year is shaping up to be one of activism and opinion like few before. The nightly news, social media, and even the dinner table are alive with debate about legislation,
politics, and the role of government.
Although it may have taken a back seat during
Washington’s recent change in administration, the le- galization of marijuana remains a topic about which people are willing to parley. Proponents of legalization often support their position with evidence of suffer- ing that has been alleviated by marijuana. The “middle of the line” supporters generally adopt a more laissez faire attitude: that adults should be able to make their own decisions; that smoking marijuana is no different than having a cocktail; or that the government should not be involved in the regulations of such things.
Opponents, however, are often deemed overly con- servative, overly cautious, backwards thinkers. In an October 2016 Gallup poll, over 60 percent of Ameri- cans polled supported the legalization of marijuana. That is the highest approval rating in the poll’s 47-year history. The approval is spread across all groups, too: millennials to baby boomers, urbanites to ruralists, the so-called “1 percent,” and those living below the poverty line. With such overwhelming support, one could assume that legalization has clear benefits for everyone. That assumption is not only costly, it could prove to be dead wrong.
Many people fail to realize that alcohol, although legal, costs employers and taxpayers millions of dol- lars each year. In 2010, the cost of excessive alcohol use in the United States reached $249 billion, and two out of every five dollars of those costs were paid by federal, state, and local governments—all funded by the taxpayer. In fact, of this $249 billion drain on the American economy, $179 billion is directly associated to workplace productivity, and an additional $28 bil- lion to health care costs. It is fair to assume that, as marijuana continues to be legalized, its costs will be- gin to equal or even surpass those of alcohol.1
As legalization continues to expand, more statis- tics are highlighting the negative impact of marijuana. From 2012 to 2013, positive tests for marijuana in the workplace increased 6.2 percent nationally, according to Quest Diagnostics. After marijuana was legalized in Colorado and Washington state, positive marijuana drug test results increased to 20 and 23 percent, re- spectively. And, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, “Drugged driving accounted for more than 28 percent of traffic deaths in 2010, up from just over 16 percent in 1999. Marijuana proved to be the main drug involved in the increase, contributing to 12 percent of 2010 crashes compared with 4 percent in 1999.”2
Marijuana is not just impacting driving and posi- tive drug tests. “Based on data from the Seattle Police Department, property crime rates within Seattle (e.g., burglary, motor vehicle theft, and larceny) have been rising at a precipitous pace since possessing an ounce or less of marijuana became legal on Dec. 6, 2012. In 2012, the number of property crimes documented by the Seattle Police Department was a little over 32,000. By 2013, the number of property crime reports rose to 36,815. Last year, property crimes in Seattle jumped once more to 40,666 incidents. All told, property crimes have increased by more than a quarter in the two years following the legalization of marijuana, with motor vehicle theft witnessing the biggest increase— up more than 50 percent in two years.”3
In 2012, Denver County documented 56,522 total crimes. In 2013, after the November 2012 legaliza- tion of recreational marijuana, the county reported a 29 percent increase in total crimes, to 72,644, and another jump of 15 percent—making the total crime incidents 83,730, in 2014. Crime is a complicated is- sue, but it is impossible to ignore these numbers.
In addition, marijuana has a yet-undefined impact on health care. We know that smoking one joint is as
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), marijuana is the second-most abused drug in the United States, after alcohol.
68 Occupational Health & Safety | SEPTEMBER 2017
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