Recreational Marijuana Discussed; Many Facets Remain Unknown

SWAINTON – With legalization of recreational marijuana looming on the state legislative agenda, representatives from the government, medical field, police, and a substance abuse prevention and treatment agency got together Sept. 25 to provide a community perspective on the issue.
Sponsored by Cape Assist, a substance abuse and treatment agency serving communities throughout Cape May County, and the Cape May County Healthy Community Coalition, a community initiative of Cape Assist, the event was held at the Avalon Links Restaurant.
About 80 attendees heard how the present cannabis business “no longer is about Reefer Madness, roach clips, Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones” they may recall from their youth.
“It resembles the tobacco and alcohol business, big pharma,” according to Kevin Sabet, who co-founded Smart Approaches to Marijuana in Denver, Colo. in 2013.
Six speakers echoed Sabet’s video message. They shared personal stories amidst statistics, effects and potential impacts should the Legislature and governor authorize recreational marijuana for adults across the state.
Heroin, Opiates, Now Marijuana
“You’re on the front lines,” noted Stephen Reid, mayor of Point Pleasant and executive director of New Jersey Responsible Approaches to Marijuana Policy (NJ-RAMP). “We’re already dealing with a growing problem of opiates and heroin, and now they want to legalize recreational marijuana? It’s crazy.”
Reid told how his borough wanted to keep it “family friendly” and banned any business from selling medical or recreational marijuana.
He also said the bill before legislators was still being changed, with consideration being given to the establishment of a home delivery system and smoking lounges.
In his role with NJ-RAMP, Reid said he “sits with legislators to explain the problems legalizing recreational marijuana can cause. With the state, it’s all about the money,” he said. “With us, it’s about the children…and smoking it and the edibles.
“Recreational marijuana is a $55 billion cash industry,” Reid added. “For comparison, McDonald’s is $8 billion.
“Younger kids are smoking and eating marijuana and vaping it,” he said. “It’s more than just a joint.”
Multiple Effects
Registered Nurse Susan Ellis, the patient care coordinator for Cape Regional Physicians Associates, pointed out that Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis and it is significantly higher in today’s marijuana compared to that of 25 years ago.
Cannabis users are more likely to become psychotic and to have a first psychotic episode at an earlier age than those who don’t use cannabis.
Although she said, high school and middle schoolers tend to think of marijuana as a “benign” drug, one in 10 teen users will become addicted to drugs starting with marijuana. Many start before they are 18.
“THC enters the bloodstream more quickly if the marijuana is smoked. However, the effects take longer to feel when you eat it so you’ll eat more of the edible,” Ellis said.
Increased likelihood of drug addiction is predicted, in part, due to the increased concentration of THC in marijuana that is available.
“We still don’t know the long-term effects,” she added.
Marijuana negatively affects memory, learning, reaction time, depression and anxiety, Ellis said.
Edible marijuana exposures are increasing and leading to severe respiratory problems. Mental health problems can also increase, including depression, bipolar and social isolation, leading to an increase in suicides.
She told a personal story about her cousin’s brother who started with marijuana and shared it with his 15-year-old nephew and friends. After getting high, her nephew wanted to “car surf” in his Philadelphia neighborhood in February, lost control, fell and hit his head.
His friends left him outside in the cold, returning home. When they went to find him in the morning, he was alive.
“The only good part of this story is that my nephew was an organ donor,” Ellis said. “After his death, my cousin’s brother’s drug use escalated into heroin. In six months, the uncle was dead. My cousin lost her brother and son.”
Comparing Marijuana to Tobacco Industry
“The idea with cigarettes was to hook them young, hook them for life,” pointed out Joe Faldetta, Cape Assist’s substance use navigator. “THC levels 25 years ago might have been 6 percent. Now edibles are 90 percent if not more. They could reach 100 percent. Why?
“One in four youth will become dependent on drugs when starting on marijuana,” he said. “Their brains are still developing, so its use will increase what is already the middle of a mental health crisis in our country. We are selling out our youth.
“Ninety percent of cigarette smokers started before the legal age,” he added, telling about a youth-directed anti-smoking program that ran successfully for 10 years because of the “tireless energy behind it. Our kids are worth protecting, they’re our future, their potential is priceless.”
Decriminalization vs. Legalization
Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner, who was speaking in his role as first vice president of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, said the association is against the legalization of recreational marijuana and believes there needs to be some sort of decriminalization for those arrested.
He explained that, currently, if a police officer makes an arrest for marijuana, the individual is handcuffed, put into a police car, taken to the police department and photographed, fingerprinted, and potentially can be convicted.
The information is entered into the criminal databases, and a criminal record will appear for job searches.
If the marijuana laws are decriminalized, the event would be handled like a traffic stop. “There is no criminal arrest record,” Leusner said. “The penalties would be minimal, and the emphasis is on awareness and education.”
If recreational marijuana is legalized, Leusner said the association is concerned about road safety, citing one in five car crashes in Colorado (where recreational and medical marijuana are legal) are related to marijuana use.
“We have a scientific acceptance level of blood alcohol content for driving while intoxicated, but we don’t have agreement on what’s the proper THC levels to indicate intoxication,” Leusner said.
Leusner said the association is also concerned about edibles, where the THC levels get higher and higher yearly. “The exposure to pediatrics is a real concern,” he said. “Already kids are ingesting edibles in the lunchrooms. The serving size might be an eighth of a cookie, but what teen is going to eat an eighth of a cookie? They’ll eat more and end up in the emergency room.”
Black Market Won’t Disappear
He and Reid agreed that the black market, the underground economy that has some aspect of illegality, will not disappear should recreational marijuana be legalized.
“You’ll see illegal shops from the drug cartels growing marijuana and selling it, or selling other products,” Reid noted.
From a police perspective, Leusner said resources would be diverted toward the illegal activity.
“If a business is legal, they pay fees, permits and other requirements and those costs are part of the final product cost,” he explained. “In the black market, they are not going to have those costs so their product will be cheaper. People will come to the police department asking for investigations that will take us away from investigating other activities such as car crashes and burglaries.”
Assemblyman Explains Positions
Assemblyman Robert Andrzejczak (D-1st) said he was at the symposium to speak and be educated. He said he was not in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana, but was in favor of decriminalization and expanding the medical marijuana industry.
Andrzejczak said the state might receive more money through taxes on the drug and products, but the local municipalities might see an increase in costs because of increased traffic, crime and visitors who are users.
From a decriminalization perspective, he believes costs would decrease because fewer people would go through the court and jail systems.
Andrzejczak said the bill was still changing, and one form of it allows medical marijuana to be treated as recreational. “I believe we need to separate medical marijuana from recreational,” he said.
“We barely have a medical marijuana industry here,” he pointed out, “and I believe there is plenty of room for expansion. There are many forms marijuana can take in the medical industry besides smoking it.”
Patients Need to be Educated
The advent of the medical marijuana industry is causing local doctors to become better educated on the issue, according to Dr. Shirlene Moten, medical director of outpatient physician practices at Cape Regional Medical Center.
“In preparing to speak here today, we found we are ill-prepared to handle an expanding marijuana business,” Moten admitted. “We need the tools to properly educate our patients so they can make informed decisions, especially with the increase in the use of medical marijuana and increase in opiate and heroin deaths.”
Moten said research doesn’t show the full impact of marijuana on the health care system. “We know that alcohol is the number one drug abused,” she said, “and there’s a $300 billion yearly cost to medical expenses and decreased production.
“Marijuana is a gateway drug, and once it is legalized, only then will we see its true impact,” she stressed. “As you’ve heard, car accidents would likely increase because reaction times are slower with use. Users experience hallucinations and delusions, but what drug does that sound like? LSD, not marijuana. There will be an increase in social anxiety and other issues.
“We need to properly educate physicians, especially about medical marijuana, because we are just beginning to see its impacts,” the physician added.
Attendees’ Concerns
A symposium attendee, Pastor James Jacob, of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Wildwood, said he has been a recovering heroin addict for 24 years. “I started with marijuana,” he said. “The other day my teenage son said ‘All drugs are bad, Dad, right? Except for marijuana.’ I tell my kids everything so they know the bad parts, so I had to give him my story again. We have to stop this.”
Freeholder Jeffrey Pierson, who attended the event, said the county had taken a stand against recreational marijuana and “might take another look at the bill when it’s signed.”
Another audience member, Lower Township Councilman Thomas Conrad said, “We’re at a loss of what to do. We don’t want to ban it, but we don’t trust the state when it says we’ll get all this money. We have enough issues in our town. We need to educate our residents.”
Reid suggested, “You have to ask yourself if it will make your community better. This is the new big tobacco.”
To contact Karen Knight, email kknight@cmcherald.com.