Tag Archives: perception of risk

It’s official (still), the marijuana experiment in Colorado has failed

If there has been any doubt that the legal marijuana policy in Colorado has been a failure, new numbers from US Health and Human Services seal the deal.  The new 2013-2014 report of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows that Colorado is now 1st in the nation for past month use of marijuana […]

Bill proposal to eliminate Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey must not go forward

Earlier this month, the Maine Legislative Information Office released the list of bill titles the Legislative Council will be considering for the upcoming short session.  In all, there are 38 pages of bill proposals.  This is a big event in my world as a substance abuse prevention professional, as without fail, there are always many […]

Maine marijuana summit highlights the failures of marijuana legalization

In the face of a continued push to legalize marijuana in Maine, a full day, statewide summit on marijuana, “Marijuana in the New Millenium”, was held Wednesday.  This event was planned and coordinated through a collaboration between Bangor Public Health, Healthy Acadia, and their respective community-based substance abuse prevention task forces.  Smart Approaches to Marijuana, […]

HHS finds marijuana use up 12%, perception of harm down

This week, the Department of Health and Human Services found that marijuana use among all Americans 12 and over – especially those over 26 – significantly increased in 2014 compared to 2013. The number of 16 and 17 year-olds using marijuana in the past month also increased, (14.2% versus 15.0%). “We should not be surprised […]

Preventing youth marijuana and alcohol use is a key to heroin epidemic

Tuesday, I was fortunate to have been invited by my friends at the Bangor Public Health Substance Abuse Task Force to a meeting they organized with Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Michael Botticelli.  This followed the drug strategy round table featuring Mr. Botticelli and called together by Senator Angus King.  While the round […]

Portland City Council Was Right to Nix the Marijuana Festival

Monday, the Portland City Council voted 5-4 to reject the permit for a marijuana festival that was slated to be held in Deering Oaks Park in August.  The Portland City Council had originally approved the permit but revisited the issue when it became readily apparent that what they had originally voted on, and what the […]

Colorado Adult Marijuana Use Now Almost Double the National Average

So there was some pretty big, but sadly unsurprising news coming out of Colorado yesterday.  It was reported that a new statewide survey funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment found that 13.6% of adults in Colorado are regular users of marijuana.  This is almost double the national rate of 7.4%.  Denver, […]

Governor LePage Administration and Major Maine Health Organizations Oppose Marijuana Legalization Bills

On Wednesday, a large coalition of leading behavioral health, medical, and public health organizations testified in opposition to LD 1380 and LD 1401, bills that would legalize recreational marijuana in Maine AUGUSTA – Despite efforts of marijuana legalization advocates to spin marijuana legalization as inevitable, a large coalition of organizations joined forces to strongly oppose […]

Marijuana Bills are for the Marijuana Industry, Not Mainers

This Wednesday at 1 PM in State House 436, the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee will have hearings on two bills seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in Maine.  The bills are LD 1380 from Representative Diane Russell (D-Portland) and LD 1401 from Representative Mark Dion (D-Portland).  Both bills offer 30-some odd pages of language […]

Big Tobacco 2.0

Hello and welcome to the first proper blog entry on Smart Approaches to Public Health.  It is a happy coincidence that the unveiling and launch of this blog was on the same day as another important unveiling. Today, Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) released a video entitled “Big Tobacco 2.0”  The video draws parallels […]