As States Legalize Marijuana, Law Enforcement is Struggling to Address Drugged Driving

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As states around the country legalize marijuana, law enforcement agencies are wrestling with drugged driving.

A recent story in The Wall Street Journal highlights how the growing use of marijuana among drivers is raising concerns about road safety.

New data suggests marijuana legalization may contribute to over 1,400 additional traffic fatalities annually in the U.S.

Many drivers remain unaware of the risks of driving while high — with only 70% recognizing the danger of driving after using marijuana, compared to 94% for alcohol.

Law enforcement agencies are grappling with the challenge of detecting marijuana impairment. Current testing methods like saliva swabs can indicate recent use but not impairment levels. Unlike alcohol, where blood concentration correlates with impairment, THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis, behaves differently in the body — making it difficult for law enforcement to determine which drivers should not be on the road.

All of this comes as Arkansans wrestle with whether or not to expand marijuana in the state.

Right now the group Arkansans for Patient Access is working to pass a marijuana amendment in Arkansas.

Under this measure, marijuana users would no longer need to show they suffer from a specific medical condition listed in state law — making it easier to use marijuana recreationally.

The amendment would give free marijuana cards to immigrants and out-of-state residents who come to Arkansas to use marijuana.

The amendment would guarantee marijuana growers and sellers a monopoly over the state’s marijuana industry.

The measure also fails to limit the amount of THC in marijuana products, and it repeals restrictions designed to protect children from marijuana advertising.

All of this would lead to more marijuana in Arkansas. Family Council Action Committee has materials available regarding the marijuana amendment:

You can learn more at FamilyCouncilActionCommittee.com.

Drugged driving is a serious public safety problem, and it underscores what we have said for years: Marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Illegal Marijuana Continues to Plague California, Oklahoma

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Above: Authorities in California seized more than 2,000 illegal marijuana plants during a raid on a massive grow operation.

Despite legalization, black market marijuana continues to plague states like California and Oklahoma.

Since January, authorities in California have confiscated more than $120 million worth of illegal marijuana — including nearly 123,000 illegal plants.

For example, on August 23, California’s Merced County Sheriff’s Office reportedly seized more than 2,000 marijuana plants and 300 pounds of marijuana at a massive, illegal grow site.

Earlier this month California’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce announced it had seized more than 2.2 million packages of illegal marijuana in Los Angeles. Many of the packages reportedly contained food and candy laced with marijuana — which has a strong appeal to children.

Above: Examples of some of the illegal marijuana seized in Los Angeles.

On Tuesday, Oklahoma’s Moore Police Department issued a statement saying its officers seized more than 150 pounds of illegal marijuana at an Airbnb.

The marijuana appeared be vacuum sealed in packaging for illegal distribution.

Above: Illegal marijuana seized at an Oklahoma Airbnb.

News outlets have reported repeatedly how legalization of marijuana has actually fueled black market operations rather than reducing them — emboldening drug cartels that operate industrial scale marijuana cultivation sites. Some of these marijuana operations are tied to labor trafficking and violent crime.

A CBS News segment last year highlighted how Chinese investment is driving illegal marijuana production across the U.S., and CBN reported last October that Chinese investors with “suitcases full of cash” are buying U.S. farmland to grow black market marijuana.

Right now the group Arkansans for Patient Access is working to pass an amendment drastically expanding marijuana in Arkansas.

Under this measure, marijuana users would no longer need to show they suffer from a specific medical condition listed in state law — making it easier to use marijuana recreationally.

The amendment would give free marijuana cards to immigrants and out-of-state residents who come to Arkansas to use marijuana.

The amendment would guarantee marijuana growers and sellers a monopoly over the state’s marijuana industry.

The measure also fails to limit the amount of THC in marijuana products, and it repeals restrictions designed to protect children from marijuana advertising.

All of this would lead to more marijuana in Arkansas. Family Council Action Committee has materials available for volunteers and churches regarding the marijuana amendment:

You can learn more at FamilyCouncilActionCommittee.com.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Here’s How Pro-Life Efforts Helped Thwart the Arkansas Abortion Amendment

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Last week the Arkansas Supreme Court blocked the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 from appearing on the November ballot.

The decision came after the court determined the measure’s sponsors, Arkansans for Limited Government, failed to comply with state law governing the use of paid petition canvassers.

However, the measure might have moved forward in spite of the court ruling had it not been for pro-life efforts against the abortion amendment. Here’s how:

As we have written before, the Arkansas Abortion Amendment would prevent the State of Arkansas from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy — which is more extreme than Roe v. Wade and likely would lead to thousands of elective abortions on healthy women and unborn children every year.

The measure would automatically nullify state laws that conflict with the amendment — jeopardizing basic abortion regulations like parental-consent and informed-consent requirements and paving the way for taxpayer-funded abortion in Arkansas.

The amendment does not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion, and it does not require abortions to be performed by a physician or in a licensed medical facility.

The measure also contains various exceptions that would permit abortion up to birth in many cases.

Pro-lifers in Arkansas have worked for months to share this information and oppose the abortion amendment.

Placing an amendment on the ballot in Arkansas requires 90,704 valid petition signatures from registered voters. Arkansans for Limited Government utilized petition canvassers across the state — including some 265 paid-canvassers — to gather signatures in support of the amendment. However, pro-lifers have been active in every county across Arkansas, encouraging voters not to sign petitions for the abortion amendment.

On July 5, Arkansans for Limited Government submitted petition signatures to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the ballot.

By law, when a ballot initiative’s sponsor submits the petitions, the sponsor also must file a sworn statement confirming that each paid-canvasser was employed in accordance with state law. Arkansans for Limited Government failed to file this affidavit when they submitted the petitions for the abortion amendment.

Because the sponsors failed to comply with state law, Secretary of State John Thurston rejected all of the petitions for the abortion amendment.

That prompted Arkansans for Limited Government to file a lawsuit against Secretary of State Thurston.

The Arkansas Supreme Court’s decision last Thursday agreed that Arkansans for Limited Government failed to comply with state law and that the Secretary of State was right to disqualify the petition signatures gathered by paid-canvassers.

However, the court’s decision indicated the Secretary of State was wrong to reject the signatures collected by volunteers.

Arkansans for Limited Government’s volunteers collected 87,675 signatures — which is short of the 90,704 required to qualify for the ballot. But had the group’s volunteers gathered more signatures, their abortion amendment might have advanced to the next step certification process.

All of this underscores the success of the pro-life efforts against the amendment.

Pro-life Arkansans mobilized to educate voters about the abortion amendment. They spread the truth, and Arkansans chose not to sign the petitions to place the abortion amendment on the ballot. Without those efforts, the the abortion amendment might have garnered enough support to move forward in spite of the state supreme court’s decision last week.

It’s a testimony to the hard work and dedication of the many pro-life groups and individuals in Arkansas who are committed to spreading the truth about abortion.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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