Speakers told the Senate Criminal Justice Committee that marijuana is more potent now than ever before, creating new challenges for cops and for the citizenry writ large alike.
The anti-pot subject matter experts explained how THC concentrations beget law enforcement and public health complications. Jessica Spencer, the Director of Advocacy for the Vote No on 3 campaign against a failed adult-use legalization amendment last year, told lawmakers about an increasingly potent product on the market from an “insidious and predatory industry.”
She noted that her understanding of marijuana’s dangers has increased given “toxicity” and “high-potency products” that have come to dominate the market in the modern era.
Varietals like Sour Kush and Gorilla Glue have been bred for years to exceed 25% THC, well above the levels found in Woodstock-era weed, where the average THC concentration was said to be under 1%, per Drug Enforcement Administration data.
Vape cartridges with punny names like Dabbalicious exceed 80% THC levels, meanwhile, along with other synthesized products.
Cute names for strains don’t diminish the serious consequences from cannabis, Spencer said, which includes problems for parents whose progeny is prone to addiction, depression, schizophrenia and other mental maladies associated with cannabis addiction. One particularly infamous example of a weed-driven killer was cited: Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz.
Ranking Democrat Carlos G. Smith asked Spencer if she was drawing a correlation and she said there was “causation and correlation between cannabis use and violence” in some cases.
Daily users are of particular concern, Spencer noted, and in greatest need of “solutions” and “hope” from legislative solutions.
Yet even the young are targeted by “candies, cookies and snacks,” she warned.
Spencer advocated education about pot’s potential harms, with tough laws enacted to crack down on stoned drivers and roadside tests to discern those impaired by the increasingly ubiquitous substance.
She would also like to see a ban on intoxicating hemp products, such as delta-8 THC. The 2018 federal Farm Bill made hemp available in the retail, non-medical market.
Illustrating the complexity of the debate, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a crackdown on hemp (SB 1698) last year as he enlisted industry support against the marijuana legalization amendment that Spencer also opposed.
Meanwhile, she would like to see the prioritization of simple possession penalties, arguing that habitual users present the biggest challenges for policymakers.
Her read on the matter was supported by a presentation from Lieutenant Channing Taylor of the Florida Highway Patrol, who noted telltale signs of marijuana use to ascertain potential impairment.
These include the product’s odor and visual evidence of “shake,” a slang term for loose flower residue, along with whether people had problems opening windows or doors on their vehicles, and “their inability to follow simple directions.”
Post Views: 0
