Cuomo's marijuana mistake:
Legalizing pot is bad for young people and public health
By Dr. Kevin Sabet / New York Daily News / December 17, 2018
Just last year, Gov. Cuomo stood on the side of public health when he stated he was against legalizing marijuana because "marijuana leads to other drugs and there's a lot of proof that that's true."
Now, in a sudden about-face, he is ignoring the state medical society and has officially called for the state legislature to legalize the drug. Given the high potency rates of today's marijuana, Cuomo's new position is dangerous for our state.
In fact, studies show marijuana users are almost three times more likely to abuse harder drugs like opioids. At a time when our nation is in the throes of an immense opioid epidemic, the governor should put our youth before political expediency.
Cuomo has made this call for legalization under the guise of social justice, but marijuana legalization is no "win" for social justice. Washington, D.C., saw public consumption and distribution arrests nearly triple after legalization and a disproportionate number of those arrests occurred among African-Americans.
In Colorado, the first to legalize, the marijuana arrest rate for African-Americans was nearly double that of Caucasians in 2017. And African-American arrest rates have not slowed. To make matters worse, pot shops in the state are overwhelmingly located in the areas the industry deems as its profit centers: low income and minority communities.
Let's be clear: Legalization is not about social justice; it is about profits for a few wealthy people. That is why Altria, the Big Tobacco giant, is now trying to take over the pot business.
And pot won't bring promised revenues either: A recent Colorado study found that for every dollar raised in revenue, $4.50 must be spent to mitigate the negative impacts brought on by legalization. All the while, legalized states have seen rates of stoned driving deaths double.
Ironically, on the same day the governor announced that he supports legalization, the benchmark survey on youth drug use found that use among 10th graders has risen 10% over the last two years and vaping of the drug is up significantly among our young people.
This increase is a result of influential leaders such as Cuomo sending the message to kids that marijuana use is safe.
In reality, today's highly potent pot is harmful and severely impacts the ability of young people to learn, impairs memory, increases the risk of serious mental illness, and can even lead to a loss of IQ points. It makes our state less competitive and puts workers at risk due to workplace accidents.
The primary is over. Cuomo should return to his previous position - which was consistent with the science - and put the youth of our state ahead of short-term political points.