The Drug Policy Alliance, a group that has received millions of dollars from international banker George Soros, takes credit for "creating cutting-edge policies that have fundamentally transformed the direction of drug policy in the U.S."
This claim is true. The alliance has been instrumental in legalizing marijuana in 11 states and Washington, D.C. The promised benefits of marijuana legalization, however, have failed to materialize, leaving hundreds of communities with more addiction, death, and chaos.
A DEBT LIMIT WIN FOR THE GOP
Contrary to what propagandists at the Drug Policy Alliance tell you, marijuana is not a benign substance with medicinal properties. Marijuana is addictive, particularly for young users. Its habitual consumption is linked to schizophrenia and permanent brain damage, particularly in the frontal cortex. As the strength of marijuana has increased in recent years, it has become more addictive and more damaging.
Just as the end of prohibition greatly increased national alcohol consumption, marijuana use and abuse have grown wherever it has been legalized. This means whenever the Drug Policy Alliance succeeds, there are more addicts, more brain damage, and more ruined families.
What about all the supposed benefits of legalization? Has crime decreased now that it's legal to buy, sell, and possess marijuana? Are states that legalized marijuana rolling in new tax revenues? Are fewer people taking opioids and fentanyl now that marijuana is a legal option?
The answers are no, no, and no.
Marijuana legalization has clearly increased crime. Strict regulations and taxes placed on legal marijuana sellers have created a vast illicit market that easily undercuts the legal market on price. And because possession is legal, it is virtually impossible to crack down on the illegal market.
This has left rural communities that never experienced drug violence before vulnerable because small county sheriffs don't have the budgets, staff, or laws to defeat illegal marijuana farms. This has brought drug-related shootouts, robberies, kidnappings, and killings to communities that never had them before.
With the illegal market roughly double the size of the legal one, estimated tax revenues from legal marijuana sales have fallen far short of expectations, leaving states stuck with massive bills for increased drug addiction services but without the extra revenue to pay them.
Recent research confirms that marijuana legalization is also associated with higher opioid use and mortality. Instead of acting as a substitute for more harmful drugs, legal marijuana is a gateway to their increased use.
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Soros does not have to worry about any of the addiction and crime his marijuana legalization advocacy causes. As a billionaire, he can afford to insulate himself from these outcomes.
But the rest of us are not so lucky, and the remaining states should learn to push back hard when the Drug Policy Alliance starts trying to legalize marijuana in their state.
Tags: Editorials, Marijuana, George Soros, Crime, Death, Opinion
Original Author: Washington Examiner
Original Location: How George Soros is spreading addiction, death, and chaos across the US