Arkansas State Police Seize Nearly 200 Pounds of Illegal Marijuana

Marijuana
Above: ASP seized 94 lbs. of illegal marijuana during a traffic stop earlier this month.

Last week the Arkansas State Police reported that troopers recently seized nearly 200 pounds of illegal marijuana over the course of multiple traffic stops.

According to an official press release, the suspects apprehended and charged with drug possession were from Texas, Nevada, and Florida.

Stories like this one serve as a reminder that marijuana’s legalization in other states has actually fueled the black market and the drug cartels rather than weakening them.

For example, California’s Unified Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce seized nearly $162 million worth of illegal marijuana during the first half of 2023.

Oregon has been inundated by industrial scale marijuana cultivation sites operated illegally by organized crime and drug cartels. Some of these marijuana operations are tied to labor trafficking and violent crime.

If Arkansas had passed marijuana amendment Issue 4 in 2022, our marijuana laws arguably would be more lax than many states’. Fortunately, voters rejected that measure at the ballot box.

Contrary to popular belief, legalization does not decrease drug-related crime, and it does not alleviate drug abuse. If anything, it seems to make these problems worse.

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

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WSJ Highlights Dangers of Drugged Driving

Marijuana

Marijuana affects motorists longer than many realize, according to a column published Monday in the Wall Street Journal.

The story notes,

Pot affects you differently than alcohol, can linger in your system for longer, and it can be harder to figure out when it’s safe to drive. Research from the University of California, San Diego, and elsewhere suggests you should wait at least four hours before getting behind the wheel after smoking one joint. Wait even longer—at least six to eight hours—after ingesting a cannabis edible. 

The story cites multiple studies about the dangers of driving under the influence of marijuana — including a 2021 study in the American Journal of Public Health that found car crash fatalities involving marijuana rose from 9% in 2000 to 21.5% in 2018.

Nationwide, marijuana legalization has caused serious problems in other states.

Authorities in California, Oregon, and other states continue to seize marijuana grown and sold illegally on the black market.

Research from California found infants were 35% more likely to die within the first year of birth if their mothers used marijuana heavily.

Regular marijuana use has been associated with lung problems and an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. A 2022 study published in the journal of the Radiological Society of North America found marijuana smoke may actually be more harmful to lungs than cigarette smoke.

States that have legalized marijuana have seen increases in drugged driving and traffic injuries as well.

All of this 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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Arkansas Attorney General Rejects Marijuana Amendment

Marijuana,

On Monday the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office rejected an amendment legalizing marijuana in the state, citing problems and ambiguities in the measure’s language.

Among other things, the amendment would expand the list of healthcare professionals who can write notes certifying people to use “medical” marijuana, and it would let people buy and use marijuana without showing that they suffer from one of the eighteen qualifying conditions currently listed in the state constitution.

It would let people grow their own marijuana at home, and it would give current marijuana growers and sellers a monopoly over the marijuana industry in Arkansas.

Together, these changes would let people grow, buy, and use marijuana in Arkansas for practically any reason.

The amendment also contains a trigger that clearly legalizes recreational marijuana in Arkansas if the federal government reclassifies or decriminalizes marijuana as a controlled substances.

Arkansas voters soundly rejected a marijuana amendment in 2022.

Nationwide, marijuana legalization has caused serious problems in other states.

Authorities in California, Oregon, and other states continue to seize marijuana grown and sold illegally on the black market.

Research from California found infants were 35% more likely to die within the first year of birth if their mothers used marijuana heavily.

Regular marijuana use has been associated with lung problems and an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. A 2022 study published in the journal of the Radiological Society of North America found marijuana smoke may actually be more harmful to lungs than cigarette smoke.

States that have legalized marijuana have seen increases in drugged driving and traffic injuries as well.

All of this 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.

READ MORE