Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business
The marijuana sellers who wrote Proposition 207 had the marketing all figured out. This time, they would give the ballot proposition a respectable sounding name, tweak a couple of details without really limiting their potential market, and spread the word that this recreational marijuana proposition was “Smart and Safe.”
Polling indicated their ploy was working. Polls consistently showed Arizona voters would likely support such a measure. Then, the details began to emerge. Voters learned Prop 207 does far more than decriminalize recreational marijuana. The 17-pages of changes to Arizona laws would affect drivers, teens, kids, employees and employers, landlords, HOAs, neighborhoods and more. Suddenly, this is no longer about just smoking weed and minding your own business.
The latest polling shows a significant drop in support for Prop 207. One poll shows support at just one-percentage point above opposition, at 46% and 45% respectively. Another poll puts likely voter support at just 47%.
The marijuana industry wrote a self-serving proposition that puts kids and teens in harms way by allowing THC-laced candies, gummies, cookies, and other snacks. Then, gave themselves the ability to market those items on all platforms that teens frequent, including social media.
They put a deceptive limit on candies and snacks that appeal to kids, while still packing a full 10 servings in one candy bar. Other forms have no limit at all. For example, concentrates used in vape pens can contain up to 100% THC.
Lisa James
Prop 207 legalizes recreational marijuana for adults only. Every state that legalized it, did so for adults only, and still, a lot more teens use it.
We know what marijuana use can do to a teen’s brain. It inhibits brain development , causing permanent IQ loss, and it hinders learning, attention, and emotional responses. It can lead to long-term dependence, especially if they use the high potency marijuana concentrates, like that in vape pens.
Perhaps much of the decline in support for Prop 207 comes from the clear increased danger on the roads. The proposition eliminates current law prohibiting driving with impairing THC in one’s system. Without replacing that standard with any other clear line of impairment, it’s left to police and courts to hash out. Prop 207 makes using marijuana a statutory right, making it more difficult to prosecute marijuana impaired drivers.
The proposition also doesn’t address the immediate risk to others on the road, because there is still no reliable roadside test for marijuana impairment like there is for alcohol. Breathalyzer tests can gauge alcohol levels and quickly determine if the driver reaches the clear standard of impairment set by state officials. Police can then remove the drunk driver from the road before someone gets killed. That level of precaution is alarmingly missing from Prop 207.
States that passed similar initiatives to legalize recreational marijuana experienced a significant increase in marijuana related fatal crashes. In Colorado, the number doubled. That isn’t surprising when nearly 70% of marijuana users there admit to driving stoned, and almost a third, daily.
Prop 207 protects the marijuana industry, while setting up other employers for costly lawsuits, high turnover, and dangerous working conditions. Under the proposition, employers cannot take adverse action against employees because they exercise their right to use marijuana. And, although they can prohibit marijuana use at work, there is nothing stopping employees from using off-site, and then going to work at a daycare, elderly care facility, or worksite.
The measure also ties the hands of landlords and HOAs, rendering them powerless against the new right to grow and use marijuana. There is no recourse for a homeowner or renter when a next-door neighbor grows as many as 12, 12-foot tall marijuana plants. There is no recourse when a bag of high potency marijuana is delivered to the porch next-door as your children play outside.
Under the guise of economic benefit to the state, marijuana sellers whet the appetites of many underfunded programs. But, Prop 207 caps the tax at 16%, regardless of the cost to the state, meaning it will not pay for itself, much less make the state money. Colorado pays $4.50 for every one dollar in marijuana revenue.
Prop 207 is not a moneymaker. It allocates no funds to k-12 education. It would bring more danger to our roads, harm to our kids, cost and headache to our employers, and Arizona’s Voter Protection Act would prevent lawmakers from fixing any problems that arise. As voters learn all this, it is no surprise Prop 207 is sinking in the polls.
Lisa James is the Chair of Arizonans for Health and Public Safety. Their website is www.no207az.com.
I wonder how many people reading this know that this article is complete bullshit, especially the statistics and studies done. The endocannabinoid system doesn’t permanently stop IQ development(you can’t even measure that) or that the whole bit about candies is bs as well. You do realize that OG Zonka bars exist, right? Or how about that it literally says Landlords/HOA can actually fully stop people from growing at home? Cities can’t. But landlords/HOA’s can. Have you even read the bill? Have you ever researched cannabis in your life? I have. For 15yrs. This article is nothing more than bullshit propaganda.
This is a very deceptive article considering only one poll from a month ago is the only one showing it as close and everything else since is showing it with increasing support.
So you published an article from someone who is the chair of http://www.no207az.com? Why not just present the unbiased facts?
I think you missed the point on not making P207 go through. How many more young individuals need to have a marijuana record that will follow them the rest of their lives. Prop. 207 will eliminate this. Face it, young people and old alike will continue to use marijuana. Why make them criminals?
Lol this is biased as ****. Get left behind on the wrong side of history
Why do you feel the need to re-post this same piece to multiple news sites when there are massive holes in your argument – let alone your headline? To say that something is “losing” support implies there is a comparison, yet I see no reference to a previous poll that showed support for Prop 207 to be higher in an earlier poll. The polls that you have cited are quite biased towards suburban Maricopa over other Arizona counties. There are a plethora of polls out right now that actually show Prop 207 with a significant gain over the opposition, so I’m curious as to where these numbers are coming from.
Your claims about dangerous workplace conditions and high employee turnover should require citation, as you are painting a doomsday scenario without substantial evidence to back it up. There is specific language written into Prop 207 wherein employers reserve the right to maintain a drug-free workplace.
I find your appeal to parents to be pandering and, frankly, manipulative. There are far greater issues facing America’s youth – the pandemic, the climate crisis, gun violence, etc (the list goes on). Keeping kids away from pot before they are of-age is a responsibility of the parents – the same can be said about alcohol, yet alcohol permeates basically ever social function and I don’t hear you complaining about that.
Finally, every time I read something you’ve written against Prop 207, you conveniently fail to mention the expungement of former marijuana offenses. You clearly come from a place of privilege that is largely unaffected by this massively unsuccessful war on drugs. Expungement of previous offenses would right a historical wrong. Mending the law in this way would also alleviate an unnecessary strain on state law enforcement – allowing police to focus on more serious crimes than waste efforts on pot-related offenses.
To focus your energies on keeping recreational cannabis illegal is really just an uninformed and outdated exercise in virtue signaling
You published this article 2 days ago (10-26). You’re citing OH Predictive Insights and Monmouth polls from early-mid September as your basis for “207 is losing support” as of 2 days ago. BOTH pollsters have published new polls since then (OH- Oct. 4-8, Monmouth Oct. 9-13), showing support of 207 ahead of oppose 55-37 (OH) and 56-36 (Monmouth).
All of this information is readily available and can be found in 30 seconds. So you’re either woefully bad at performing factual research, or you’re intentionally publishing misleading/false information to push your narrative. My guess is the latter.
Regardless of your stance on the matter, it’s shameful that you chose to ignore factual information for your own benefit. In this age of disinformation it is extremely dangerous. I imagine you already know all of this, but you don’t care. You know people will see the headline and assume it’s true without reading the article or realizing that you have a clear bias. Pathetic.
Did you just watch Reefer Madness?! It won’t be legal for teens, it’s 21 and over. Why don’t you campaign against legal alcohol if you are so concerned with impaired driving? Prop 207 will pass, and we can stop wasting money on jailing people for smoking a plant.
What a waste of an article. You could have made a much better argument rather than resorting to scare tactics and arguments that are in bad faith. Cite sources and statistics for each of your claims and use appropriate data. The only good thing that came from this article was getting a chance to read the comments and seeing that people are no longer falling for this kind of misinformation.
Your analytical skills are quite poor, or your a propagandist or both. You mention, “One poll shows support at just one-percentage point above opposition, at 46% and 45% respectively. Another poll puts likely voter support at just 47%” Your title also indicates that in this article you will illustrate how support is waning. Let’s look at the data you conveniently linked to. The first poll was conducted September 13th. That ‘other’ poll was the Monmouth one which was conducted on September 17th. I clicked the links and read them. The second and more recent poll clearly states that there is a 49% to 43% advantage in support of prop 207 in a high-turnout scenario which this election certainly is. In short, support is gaining, not diminishing. Wishing something is true does not make it so. If you’re going to misrepresent data, don’t link to it. The best way to overcome fear of something is to get to know it. I’d suggest you try a gummy.
They already do what they do, its just know they don’t have to worry about be prosecuted for something, frankly behind closed doors, is no ones freaking business. Alcohol has proven time and again to be way more harmful, yet its legal and nobody has to test for that. And your wrong about the science, it has never been proven in mass human clinical trials, George w made sure of that.
An opinion piece opposing the proposition by a lobbying group taking money to oppose the proposition. Really?
This is bullshit. Minors are not included in this bill. Brain development is usually over at 18 there for this law impacts users over 21. Everyone is already smoking it so make it legal and it won’t overcrowd are jails. How many times do we have to keep putting this on the ballet before it passes. Like I say what goes behind closed doors is no one’s business. We could really use the revenue in this state.
Such BS where is the data to support any of these outlandish claims/lies.
When you know you don’t have the moral high ground just lie! This isn’t about any real poll, just this “authors” fiction and made up numbers to support her fear mongering propaganda. 207 is going to pass and lying like this in a public forum will haunt you shamefully the rest of your life. Criminalization of cannabis hasn’t just always been stupid, it has always been evil!
If it’s so bad, why is the firefighters supporting it? The person that wrote this is very uninformed and really stupid.
“Colorado pays $4.50 for every one dollar in marijuana revenue.”
I recall when the piece by Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University was ripped to threads when they presented this nonsense.
So Colorado pays 4.5 Billion dollars to “clean up” the so-called mess of cannabis consumption?
Why repost this bias nonsense now?
Also, as it relates to traffic incidents, even the DOT has admitted many drivers have tested positive for a trace amount of THC in their systems, allowing the label of marijuana-induced, when in fact, they were 100% sober or even intoxicated by other substances including alcohol.
Everyone on here that thinks marijuana is horrible you are brain dead alcohol has proven to a more addictive drug and has been legal for many many years go back to the sixties yah ****** jack asses
This article aged well. Great work Lisa James.
Brilliant article. Looks like your propaganda news article failed..
Lol…..the prop passed! Power to the people. Articles like this are the true fake news.
This is the funniest thing I have seen in a while. Can’t wait to blow smoke in your stupid ******* faces!!!!
Haha ho we win!
Prop 207 passes so much for it “losing support” 60% in favor 40% appose goes to show articles and writers of such articles are part of the propaganda machine but the people win this one
Obviously the author of this article put their emotions into it and made it completely bias. Well i hope this author is now crying in the corner knowing it has passed.