September 27, 2014
Saturday PM

A USA Today/ Suffolk University survey released Friday (9/19/2014) reports only 46% of Colorado’s likely voters now support the constitutional amendment that legalized and commercialized recreational marijuana in that state. More than 50% oppose the amendment entirely. That is a considerable point drop from the 55% of voters who supported the measure on Election Day in 2013. Further, only 42% of those questioned approved of the way the state of Colorado is managing recreational marijuana. (Click here pdf page 7 # 35 A-B)

Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police president, Chief John Jackson has publically voiced concerns about abuses in Colorado’s medical cannabis system and the unfunded mandates for law enforcement in the state’s efforts to implement experimental regulations to govern the cannabis industry. Colorado’s law enforcement community is expressing a wide range of concerns, including keeping roads safe from stoned drivers, keeping marijuana out of the hands of youth, combatting organized crime, preventing diversion and managing unregulated home-grow operations. Says Jackson, “We have done a pathetic job of training our law enforcement in getting out in front of this to the point where we can teach those law-enforcement officers how to do what they need to do.”(Click Here ) 

Coinciding with the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado, overall crime in Denver has increased about 4.1 percent in the first eight months of 2014 compared to the same 8 month period last year. (Click Here a pdf )

Crimes against people in Denver County increased more than 13.5 percent. Under this category: 

• Simple assault increased 28.4 percent, from 2408 reports to 3093.
• Reports of intimidation jumped 29.1 percent, from 556 reports to 718.

Criminal offenses reported under the category of crimes against society increased 18.8 percent. Under this category: 

• Drug/Narcotics Violations increased 16.4 percent, from 1,508 reports to 1,755 reports.
• Weapon law violations jumped 42.5 percent from 301 reports to 429 reports.

Criminal offenses falling under the category titled “all other offenses,” increased 57.3 percent. Under this category: 

• Reports of disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace skyrocketed 98.8 percent from 506 reports in the first eight months of 2013 to 1006 reports in the same period of this year.
• Family offenses considered nonviolent jumped 20.6 percent from 257 to 310 reports.
• Criminal trespassing is also up 90.2 percent from 518 reports to 985.
• Liquor law and drunkenness violations were up 92.5 percent from 67 reported offenses to 129.

Arapahoe House, a Denver detox facility reported in June that 15% of their patients arrested for driving under the influence between January and May 2014 were driving under the influence of marijuana, up from 8% in the same time period in 2013.(Click Here) "This percentage increase is significant because recreational marijuana legalization is in its infancy, and there has clearly already been an impact on public safety," Art Schut, president and CEO of Arapahoe House said. He hoped releasing the information would create awareness and keep Coloradans who chose to use marijuana from irresponsibly getting behind the wheel.

Homeless advocates report that the Colorado homeless rate is also up this year. (Click Here ) "Of the new kids we're seeing, the majority are saying they're here because of the weed," said Kendall Rames, deputy director of Urban Peak, a nonprofit providing food, shelter and other services to young people in Denver and Colorado Springs. The Salvation Army shelter in Denver also reports bed counts are 25% higher than last year, and according to its director, Melinda Patterson, Father Woody's Haven of Hope shelter in Denver got 923 new people in just 3 months this summer—up considerably from their normal summer rise of 50 people per month.

While there is no direct cause and effect that can be identified at this time, anecdotal key indicators and upticks in some preliminary crime and law enforcement data certainly correlate with the legalization of marijuana and give support to public safety concerns. Definitive and reliable CO and WA data likely won’t be quantified for over a year yet.

The Alaska Association of Chiefs of Police (AACOP) believes that the early data coming out of CO and the reversal in many Coloradoans opinion of legalization indicates the CO experiment may be going badly. They are concerned that if passed in Alaska, this ballot measure may bring unexpected consequences. “Voters need to be properly informed and think carefully before casting a vote for legalization,” says Kalie Klaysmat, executive director of AACOP. “If ballot measure #2 passes here, and our experience is like what seems to be occurring in CO, we will have to live with it. The measure, if passed, cannot repealed for at least 2 years.”

Kalie Klaysmat, Executive Director
The Alaska Association of Chiefs of Police
aacop@aacop.org
Anchorage, Alaska

Received September 24, 2014 - Published September 27, 2014

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