Youth Drug Prevention Efforts Save Society $315 Million Per Year According to a New Study by McGill University and Drug Free Kids Canada Aug. 1, 2017,

The study found that the cost per youth can be quantified at $450,000, resulting in a $315 million social return on investment based on the approximately 700 youth that benefit from the prevention efforts of Drug Free Kids Canada each year. The study developed by the McGill School of Business Not-for-Profit Consulting Group was commissioned earlier this year.  It evaluated the measurable cost to society of youth addiction which includes health care, law enforcement and the loss of productivity. The study further analyzed the impact of drug education prevention messages created and disseminated by DFK Canada over the past six years.  It concluded that each year by targeting parents and encouraging them to talk to their kids about drugs, the total reduction in drug abuse by teens attributable to DFK was ~700 kids…says Drug Free Kids\’ Executive Director Marc Paris.  \”That\’s why this study is so important as it clearly shows that it is better to invest in prevention strategies up-front rather than deal with the heavy cost of addiction later.\”…\”I was very impressed by the organization which has such an impressive national impact with very limited resources —  $700 in the hands of DFK can save a teenager from a life of addiction.\” For complete article http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Youth-Drug-Prevention-Efforts-Save-Society-$315-Million-Per-Year-According-to-a-New-Study-by-McGill-University-and-Drug-Free-Kids-Canada-480014

Kate Kelland

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/marijuana-use-holds-three-fold-blood-pressure-death-risk_us_598b4b2be4b0d793738c2917

Try telling that to the children neglected by junkie parents

By Ross Clark

Next time Jonathan Dimbleby feels like mooting the idea of decriminalising hard drugs, perhaps he should take a walk beneath the stairwells of some of our inner-city housing estates.

There, he won’t find the junkies gently sneezing – as he tells us he did when he snorted a line of cocaine in the U.S. in the late Sixties.

He is more likely to find that they set on him with a knife in a state of psychotic rage.

The connection between cocaine, mental illness and violence is indisputable.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2040265/Legalise-drugs-Jonathan-Dimbleby-Tell-children-neglected-junkie-parents.html#ixzz4plsTLgQd
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Not so \’green\’ after all: Pollution from illegal California marijuana farms is forming toxic waste dumps that span thousands of acres

• In California, illegal marijuana farms are taking over thousands of acres of land as toxic wastes are increasingly corrupting ecosystems
• California is responsible for the majority of illegal U.S. marijuana farming
• New data says the state holds \’731,000 pounds of solid fertilizer, 491,000 ounces of concentrated liquid fertilizer and 200,000 ounces of toxic pesticides.\’
• The United States Environmental Protection Agency announced in 2011 its planned to ban toxic fertilizers like zinc phosphide
• Chemicals of the kind have been linked to serious health effects in both animals and humans

By Jessa Schroeder For Dailymail.com

PUBLISHED: 03:48 +10:00, 8 August 2017 | UPDATED: 08:26 +10:00, 8 August 2017

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4768664/Marijuana-farms-forming-toxic-waste-dumps-California.html#ixzz4pOgIU9n8
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Youth Drug Prevention Efforts Save Society $315 Million Per Year According to a New Study by McGill University and Drug Free Kids Canada

Aug. 1, 2017, 08:30 AM

TORONTO, Aug. 1, 2017 /CNW/ – Drug Free Kids Canada (DFK) today released the results of a study it commissioned to evaluate the lifetime cost to society of a pre-teen or teenager who suffers from drug addiction.  The study found that the cost per youth can be quantified at $450,000, resulting in a $315 million social return on investment based on the approximately 700 youth that benefit from the prevention efforts of Drug Free Kids Canada each year.

The study developed by the McGill School of Business Not-for-Profit Consulting Group was commissioned earlier this year.  It evaluated the measurable cost to society of youth addiction which includes health care, law enforcement and the loss of productivity.

The study further analyzed the impact of drug education prevention messages created and disseminated by DFK Canada over the past six years.  It concluded that each year by targeting parents and encouraging them to talk to their kids about drugs, the total reduction in drug abuse by teens attributable to DFK was ~700 kids.

\”Demonstrating the value to society of investing in prevention has always been a difficult exercise\” says Drug Free Kids\’ Executive Director Marc Paris.  \”That\’s why this study is so important as it clearly shows that it is better to invest in prevention strategies up-front rather than deal with the heavy cost of addiction later.\”

The study also revealed that Drug Free Kids Canada is a highly efficient organization.  The partnerships that it has developed over the years with their 60+ media partners, various advertising agencies and research firms has allowed them to generate $39 in in-kind services for every dollar donated.

The costs of substance use disorder (SUD) extend far beyond the measurable dollars and cents but also in the toll it takes on individuals and families.  Angie Hamilton, co-founder of Families for Addiction Recovery says, \”when a child has SUD the entire family is affected. Siblings can feel like they have become invisible as parents mourn the loss of a child who is alive but whom they no longer recognize. The whole family needs to recover together.\”

Paul Allison, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Raymond James Ltd. and DFK\’s new Chair of the board who recently replaced Dick Pound says, \”I was very impressed by the organization which has such an impressive national impact with very limited resources —  $700 in the hands of DFK can save a teenager from a life of addiction.\”  For more http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Youth-Drug-Prevention-Efforts-Save-Society-$315-Million-Per-Year-According-to-a-New-Study-by-McGill-University-and-Drug-Free-Kids-Canada-480014

AUGUST 9, 2017 EDITOR

Marijuana devastated Colorado, don’t legalize it nationally (USA TODAY)

In 2012, we were promised funds from marijuana taxes would benefit our communities, particularly schools. Dr. Harry Bull, the Superintendent of Cherry Creek Schools, one of the largest school districts in the state, said, \”So far, the only thing that the legalization of marijuana has brought to our schools has been marijuana.\”

In fiscal year 2016, marijuana tax revenue resulted in $156,701,018. The total tax revenue for Colorado was $13,327,123,798, making marijuana only 1.18% of the state\’s total tax revenue. The cost of marijuana legalization in public awareness campaigns, law enforcement, healthcare treatment, addiction recovery, and preventative work is an unknown cost to date.

Senator Booker stated his reasons for legalizing marijuana is to reduce \”marijuana arrests happening so much in our country, targeting certain communities – poor communities, minority communities.\” It\’s a noble cause to seek to reduce incarceration rates among these communities but legalizing marijuana has had the opposite effect.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Safety, arrests in Colorado of black and Latino youth for marijuana possession have increased 58% and 29% respectively after legalization. This means that Black and Latino youth are being arrested more for marijuana possession after it became legal. For complete article https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/08/07/marijuana-devastated-colorado-dont-legalize-nationally-jeff-hunt-column/536010001/

AUGUST 5, 2017

Last year Washington Governor Jay Inslee, above, called for increased funding to treat mental illness, an outgrowth of marijuana legalization.  In the US, Washington leads the states with the greatest percentage of fatal accidents involving drivers under the influence of marijuana.   (Read our previous article)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently wrote letters to Governor Jay Inslee (top), Governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado and the attorney generals of both states, asking how they propose to address their failed marijuana regulation.

United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently wrote a letter to the Governor Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson of Washington.  AG Jeff Sessions highlighted the following violations in Washington’s so-called “recreational” marijuana industry.

“[T]he medical market [for marijuana] is considered `grey’ due to the lack of regulation and oversight” and, furthermore, aspects of Washington’s regulatory structure for the “medical market” have “unintentionally led to the growth of black market enterprises”;

The “recreationally licensed” marijuana market also is incompletely regulated: the leading regulatory violation in that market has been the “failure to utilize and/or maintain traceability” of marijuana products;

“Since legalization in 2012, Washington State marijuana has been found to have been destined for 43 different states”;

90% of public safety violations of the state’s marijuana “regulatory structures” for “recreational licensees” involved minors, according to data from the first year of Washington’s “recreational marijuana” laws. Violations include, for example, sales to minors and employment of minors;

“One in five 10th grade students reported riding with a driver who had used marijuana – 9% reported driving within three hours of consumption,” according to the most recent data in the report;

“49% of young adult drivers who used marijuana in the past month had driven a car within three hours after using marijuana” and 64% of marijuana DUIs in Spokane Valley involved youth, according to data from the first year of Washington’s “recreational marijuana” laws;

“61.9% of drivers do not believe marijuana makes a difference in their driving ability” and “[d]rivers with active THC in their blood involved in a fatal driving accident have increased 133.2% from 2010 (16) to 2014 (23)”;

In 2014 alone, 17 THC extraction labs exploded; and

There was a 54% increase in the number of marijuana calls to the State Poison Center from 2012-2014.   These findings are relevant to the policy debate concerning marijuana legalization. I appreciate your offer to engage in a continuing dialogue on this important issue. To that end, please advise as to how Washington plans to address the findings in the Northwest HIDTA report, including efforts to ensure that all marijuana activity is compliant with state marijuana laws, to combat diversion of marijuana, to protect public health and safety, and to prevent marijuana use by minors.

I also am open to suggestions on marijuana policy and related matters as we work to carry out our duties to effectively and faithfully execute the laws of the United States. You may direct your response and suggestions to the Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison within the Office of Legislative Affairs, which can help coordinate any communications logistics. I look forward to your response.

Left Out of Sessions’ Letter:

• Marijuana-related suicides
• Marijuana-related violence.   For, example, a man high on marijuana killed  policeman Jake Gutierrez. He was holding his 6-year-old daughter while in a standoff with multiple police that lasted 10 hours.
• 3 deaths that occurred in hash oil labs and grow sites
• Mass murders caused by heavy marijuana users.  For example, Arcan Cetin killed 5 at the Cascades Mall and Jaylen Fryburg killed 4, plus himself, at the high school in Marysville.

Despite the incredible problems from legalizing weed,  a video from Huffington Post chooses to call reminders of these problems “Reefer Madness.”

Taken from Parents Opposed to Pot Post http://www.poppot.org/2017/08/05/state-of-washington-called-on-the-carpet-for-federal-violations/