Organizing and Message Development to Push Back Against Medi-pot Sue Thau CADCA Public Policy Consultant.

Organizing and Message Development to Push Back

Against Medi-pot

Sue Thau CADCA

Public Policy Consultant

The marijuana issue is where policy and politics meet

The folks pushing for “medical

marijuana,” decriminalization and/or legalization found a way to make their

issue resonate with regular Americans.

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They reframed the issue so it is about:

• Voting for compassion for the sick and dying

• Reducing our prison population and drug-related crime

• Stimulating the economy4

They secured legislative

champions at all levels and got support of grasstops leaders

5

They’ve organized

at the state level

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They’ve mobilized major grassroots and student

supporters.

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They’ve gotten the

attention of the media

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They have major donors

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They built a “Permission Structure” about the

acceptability of marijuana use with the general public.

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We are working hard to catch up, but still seem to

be one step behind.

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Why?

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Our messages have been too complicated and nuanced

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We are not sufficiently organized at the state level

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We have not raised sufficient amounts of unrestricted funds

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We have not done as good a job of engaging and getting the

public support of grasstops leaders

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We have not effectively engaged the media

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We have not cultivated enough legislative champions

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How Can We Turn This Around?

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• Develop messages that are salient, compelling and that will resonate with voters and policy makers based on facts and statistics

• Mobilize and raise the funds to get your messages out in print on radio on TV

• Do the advocacy to beat back the opponent’s position

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Know The Facts And Keep Them Simple

In 1979, after 11 states legalized marijuana, the United States saw the highest rates of marijuana use in history by

teenagers: more than 51% by high school seniors that year.1

1 U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, “Speaking Out Against Drug Legalization”. Page 15, May 2003.

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What Should Our Messages Be?

If you care about academic performance in your state, you need to oppose medi-pot

Why?• Because marijuana use negatively effects

motivation, memory, AND learning.1

• Because youth with an average grade of D or below were more than four times as likely to have used marijuana in the past year than

youth with an average grade of A.2

1 National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Marijuana: Facts Parents Need to Know.” 2011. Available: www.nida.nih.gov/marijbroch/parents/001.php

2 Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA’s National Household Survey on Drug Abuse Report—Marijuana Use among Youths. July 19, 2002. Available at www.samhsa.gov/oas.nhsda.htm.

Because early and persistent marijuana use negatively effects an IQ

• Persistent Cannabis Users Show A Significant IQ Drop between Childhood

and Midlife

1 Dx 2 Dx 3 DxNon-users Used

-7

-6

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

21

-2

-3

-6

Chart Title

Av

era

ge

Po

int

Dif

fere

nc

e i

n I

Q s

co

re

(IQ

at

ag

e 1

3 –

IQ

at

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8)

Source: Meier MH et al., PNAS Early Edition 2012

Who Will Care and Who to Mobilize:

• Students• Teachers/Teacher Unions• School Board• Principals• Faith Leaders

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• Youth Development Groups

• Colleges/Universities• Parents• Employers

If you care about jobs you need to oppose medi-pot.

Why?

Because More than 6,000 companies nationwide, and scores of industries and professions require a pre-employment drug test.1

1 The Definitive List of Companies that Drug Test. March 2010. Available: www.testclear.com

Because 6.6% of high school seniors smoke marijuana every day1,

rendering them virtually unemployable.

1 Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E. Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 2011. Volume I:

Secondary school students. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan. Available: http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/data/10data.html#2011data-drugs

Who Will Care and Who to Mobilize:

• Employers/Business Leaders• Military Members/Police/Fire Fighters• Teachers• Parents• Members of Congress/Mayors/Community County

Commissioner• Youth Looking for Jobs• Real Estate Agents

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If you care about the safety of medicines in our country, you need to oppose medi-pot.

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Why?• Because there is a longstanding, effective national

process in place to approve the efficacy and safety of medicines through the FDA and ballot initiatives circumvent this process

• Because there is no scientific basis for using smoked marijuana as a medicine.1

1 Institute of Medicine. "Front Matter." Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 1999. 32

Who Will Care and Who to Mobilize:

• Doctors• Parents• Health Officials• Patients• Parents• Citizens in General

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If you care about the environment, you need to

oppose

medi-pot.

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Why?Because marijuana grow sites are already having major adverse environmental impacts including

1:

• Vastly increasing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere, which negatively effects global warming;

• Vastly increasing fish kills from fertilizer runoff that creates toxic aquatic conditions; and

• Poisoning watersheds with arsenic and acaracide, used to keep rodents away from

the marijuana plants.

Marijuana legalization will further exacerbate these environmental issues

1 Allen, Hezekiah, Mattole Resoration Council and Scott Greacen, Friends of the Eel River. The Ugly, the Bad and (Maybe) the Good? (April 17, 2012). Available; www.treesfoundation/org/publications/article-486

Who Will Care?• Environmentalist• Animal Rights Activists• Local Businesses• Land Developers• Farmers• Real Estate Agents• Public Land Advocates

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If you care about youth drug use and addiction rates, you need

to oppose medi-pot.

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Because among youths age 12 to 17, marijuana usage rates were higher in states with medical marijuana laws (8.6%) compared with those without such laws (6.9%).1

381 Wall, M. et al (2011). Adolescent Cannabis Use from 2002 to 2008: Higher in States with Medical Cannabis Laws, Cause Still Unclear, Annals of epidemiology, Vol 21 issue 9 Pages 714-716.  

Why?

Who Will Care and Who to Mobilize:

• Parents• Teachers• Students• School Board• Religious Leaders• Employers

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• Treatment• Emergency Room

Personnel • Poison Control

Centers

According to the 2012 Monitoring the Future Survey, more 8th, 10th and 12th graders smoke marijuana than cigarettes

If you care about public safety in your state, you need to oppose medi-pot.

Why?

Because marijuana is the most prevalent illegal drug detected in impaired drivers, fatally injured drivers, and motor vehicle crash victims.1

1 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Drug Involvement of Fatally Injured Drivers. U.S. Department of Transportation Report No. DOT HS 811 415. Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2010.

• 20% of crashes in the U.S. are caused by drugged driving.1

– This translates into about 8,600 deaths, 580,000 injuries and $33 billion in damages each year.

1 The Institute for Behavioral Health, “Reduce Drug Impaired Driving.” 2010. Available: http://www.ibhinc.org/dd.html

According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, drivers who tested positive for marijuana in fatal car

crashes DOUBLED between 2006 and 2010

A 2007 roadside survey of weekend

nighttime driver showed that 8.6% tested

positive for marijuana, nearly four times

the percentage of drivers with a BAC

of .08 or more.1

1 Compton, R., and Berning, A. Results of the 2007 National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers. Traffic Safety Facts Research Note. 2007.

In a study of seriously injured

drivers admitted to a Level-1

shock trauma center, more than

a quarter of all drivers tested

positive for marijuana.1

1 Romano, E, and Voas, R. B.; Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Drug and Alcohol Involvement in Four Types of Fatal Crashes, June 2011.

Who Will Care?• Parents• Hospitals/Health Boards/Emergency

Room Personnel • Law Enforcement• School Board

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If you care about our economy, you need to oppose medi-pot.

Why?Because the total overall costs of substance abusein the U.S., including productivity, health andcrime-related costs, exceed $600 billion annually.1

This includes approximately:• $235 billion for alcohol• $193 billion for tobacco • $181 billion for illicit drugs

1 Office of National Drug Control Policy. The Economic Costs of Drug Abuse in the United States, Executive Office of the President (Publication No. 207303). 2004. Available at www.ncjrs.gov/ondcppubs/publication/pdf.economic_costs.pdf

• Federal and state alcohol taxes raise $14.5 billion, covering only about 6% of alcohol’s total cost to society.1

• Federal and state tobacco taxes raise

$25 billion, covering only about 13% of tobacco’s total cost to society.2

1 Dupont, Robert M.D., Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (1973-1978), “Why We Should Not Legalize Marijuana.” April 2010. Available: www.cnbc.com/id/36267223/Why_We_Should_Not_Legalize_Marijuana

2 Ibid

Who Will Care and Who to Mobilize:

• Businesses Groups• Members of Congress• Parents• Tax Payers• Law Enforcement• Community Groups

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