Colorado’s treatment centers have seen a trend toward heavier marijuana use among patients in the years after the state legalized the drug, according to from the Colorado Department of Public Safety.
In 2014, more than a third of patients in treatment reported near-daily use of marijuana. In 2007, less than a quarter of patients reported such frequency of use.
Overall, though, the number of people seeking treatment for marijuana has dropped since Colorado voters made it legal to use and possess small amounts of marijuana. The decrease is likely due to fewer people being court ordered to undergo treatment as part of a conviction for a marijuana-related crime.
Year in Review: 2015
NEW: of The Cannabist Show.
The finding is among that marijuana legalization has led to for at least some marijuana consumers. And that is just one insight from the new report, which is the state’s first comprehensive attempt at measuring and tracking the consequences of legalization.
The 143-page report looks at everything from tax revenue to impacts on public health to effects on youth.
Among its findings is a steady increase in marijuana use in Colorado since 2006, well before the late-2000s boom in medical marijuana dispensaries. The report documents a sharp rise related to marijuana. It notes a dramatic decline in arrests or citations for marijuana-related crimes, though there remains a racial disparity in arrest rates.
But the report, which was written by statistical analyst Jack Reed, also isn’t meant as a final statement on legalization’s impact. Because Colorado’s data-tracking efforts , the report is more of a starting point.
“[I]t is too early to draw any conclusions about the potential effects of marijuana legalization or commercialization on public safety, public health, or youth outcomes,” Reed writes, “and this may always be difficult due to the lack of historical data.”
It’s not just the lack of data from past years that complicates the report. Reed also notes that legalization may have changed people’s willingness to admit to marijuana use — leading to what appear to be jumps in use or hospital visits that are really just increases in truth-telling.
State and local agencies are also still struggling to standardize their marijuana data-collection systems. For instance, Reed’s original report noted an explosive increase in marijuana arrests and citations in Denver, up 404 percent from 2012 to 2014. Much of that increase, however, was due to the inclusion of civil citations for public marijuana consumption — which is a petty offense, not a crime — in Denver’s numbers. Denver then provided revised numbers that show a 75 percent decrease in marijuana arrests and citations.
But, despite its challenges, the report identifies problems that policymakers will need to watch, said Andrew Freedman, who is the coordinator for Gov. John Hickenlooper’s marijuana policy efforts.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or @johningold
