"Everyone likes to talk about the assumed revenue that marijuana legalization would bring to a state, but no one likes to discuss the costs affiliated with such policy measures," said Kevin A. Sabet, a former Obama Administration drug policy adviser who is now head of the anti-legalization group
Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM)
.
"This
report
will hopefully give lawmakers in Connecticut reason to pause and consider the implications
of such policies."
CT SAM was formed in response to the Connecticut legislature passing a medical marijuana law in 2012.
CT SAM spokesperson Bo Huhn states, "Both state and national data demonstrate that our kids have increased access to marijuana as a result of laws allowing legal marijuana in our communities. And with the latest research on marijuana demonstrating the cognitive and social, emotional and psychological damage to the developing adolescent brain, we should be concerned! This new SAM report, using data from our own CT Office of Fiscal Analysis, demonstrates that CT taxpayers and businesses will bear the ensuing financial burden of this misguided policy in which costs will far outweigh any income."
Deepak Cyril D' Souza, MD, MBBS, Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, stated, "By legalizing cannabis in CT, we will undoubtedly see an increase in adolescent cannabis use with many negative consequences years later. Is this what we want for our children and future adults?"
Adolescents who start using cannabis are more prone to a number of negative outcomes including lower IQ, memory and attentional problems that persist even if they stop using cannabis. Currently, rates among 12-17 year olds are among the highest levels nationally in states that have legalized some form of marijuana.
Sabet continued: "Marijuana legalization will lead to a new version of a Big Tobacco industry dedicated to profits that will increase addiction and undermine our youth and the
vulnerable."