EDUCATE 

Legal marijuana is the fastest-growing industry in the United States and if the trend toward legalization spreads to all 50 states, marijuana could become larger than the organic food industry, according to a new report obtained by The Huffington Post.

Researchers from The ArcView Group, a cannabis industry investment and research firm based in Oakland, California, found that the U.S. market for legal cannabis grew 74 percent in 2014 to $2.7 billion, up from $1.5 billion in 2013.

The group surveyed hundreds of medical and recreational marijuana retailers in states where sales are legal, as well as ancillary business operators and independent cultivators of the plant, over the course of seven months during 2013 and 2014. ArcView also compiled data from state agencies, nonprofit organizations and private companies in the marijuana industry for a more complete look at the marketplace.

“In the last year, the rise of the cannabis industry went from an interesting cocktail conversation to being taken seriously as the fastest growing industry in America,” Troy Dayton, CEO of The ArcView Group and publisher of the third edition of the State of Legal Marijuana Markets, said in the executive summary of the report. “At this point, it’s hard to imagine that any serious businessperson who is paying attention hasn’t spent some time thinking about the possibilities in this market.”

Graph courtesy of ArcView Market Research.

The report also projects a strong year for legal marijuana in 2015 and projects 32 percent growth in the market. Dayton said that places “cannabis in the top spot” when compared with other fast-growing industries.

Over the next five years, the marijuana industry is expected to continue to grow, with ArcView predicting that 14 more states will legalize recreational marijuana and two more states will legalize medical marijuana. At least 10 states are already considering legalizing recreational marijuana in just the next two years through ballot measures or state legislatures.

To date, four states — Colorado, Washington, Alaska and Oregon — have legalized retail marijuana. Washington, D.C., voters also legalized recreational marijuana use, but sales currently remain banned. Twenty-three states have legalized medical cannabis. Still, marijuana remains illegal at the federal level.

The report projects that, by 2019, all of the state-legal marijuana markets combined will make for a potential overall market worth almost $11 billion annually.

Graph courtesy of ArcView Market Research.

The report also breaks out some interesting marijuana trends from around the nation. California still has the largest legal cannabis market in the U.S., at $1.3 billion. Arizona was found to have the fastest-growing major marijuana market in 2014, expanding to $155 million, up more than $120 million from the previous year. Medical marijuana is already legal in Arizona and California and recreational legalization measures are likely to appear on the 2016 ballots in both states.

More than 1.5 million shoppers purchased legal marijuana from a dispensary, either medical or recreational, in 2014. Five states now boast marijuana markets that are larger than $100 million, and in Colorado and Washington — the first states to open retail marijuana shops in the U.S. — consumers bought $370 million in marijuana products last year.

Oregon and Alaska are expected to add a combined $275 million in retail marijuana sales in their first year of operation, the report projects. And while D.C. has also legalized recreational marijuana use, ArcView couldn’t project a market size in the District because of an ongoing attempt by congressional Republicans to block the new law.

Graph courtesy of ArcView Market Research.

The huge growth potential of the industry appears to be limited only by the possibility of states rejecting the loosening of their drug laws. The report projects a marijuana industry that could be more valuable than the entire organic food industry — that is, if the legalization trend continues to the point that all 50 states legalize recreational marijuana. The total market value of all states legalizing marijuana would top $36.8 billion — more than $3 billion larger than the organic food industry.

“These are exciting times,” Dayton said in the executive summary, “and new millionaires and possibly billionaires are about to be made, while simultaneously society will become safer and freer.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/25/marijuana-industry-fastest-growing_n_6540166.html

SJIPC-Letter-to-Parents-on-Marijuana.pages

January 2015

Dear Parent and/or Guardian,

As you know, you are the most powerful influence in your child’s life.  As this new year gets under way, our thoughts turn to sustaining a healthy community and keeping our children safe as they grow into their full potential.

Today, we come to you with concerns regarding the recent passage and implementation of Initiative 502 (I-502), the Legalization of Marijuana for Recreational Use.  It is important that we, as parents and community members, fully understand the health and legal issues associated with underage use of marijuana.

We have enclosed a brochure with clear and concise insights into many of the issues associated with underage use of marijuana.  Please read it and keep it in a prominent place for easy reference and talk about it with your son(s) and daughter(s).

It’s our job to keep our kids safe.  Let’s all work together to end underage use of marijuana in our community.

Brad Fincher, Chair, Adult Probation, San Juan County District Court

Michael Baird, Treasurer , Compass Health

Boyd Pratt, Recording Secretary, Citizen, Civic Organizations

Gail Leschine-Seitz, Corresponding Sec., WSU-4H, Parent Friday Harbor Middle School

Sam Leigh, Trustee, Right of Way Driving School

Joyce Sobel, Trustee , Northwest Early Learning Consortium

Mark Tompkins, Trustee, Health & Community Services, Director

Amara Zee, Trustee. Counselor, Friday Harbor Middle School

The above Trustees are the Executive Board

Court Bell, Trustee, Retired SJISD Principal, Consultant

Sammy Finch, Trustee, Helping Out Teen Society, FHHS, Youth

Ron Krebs, Trustee, Sheriff, San Juan County

Rick Thompson, Trustee, San Juan Island School District, Superintendent

Sally Thomsen, Trustee, San Juan Island Parks and Rec, Director

Carrie Unpingco, Trustee, San Juan Island Community Foundation

Rita Weisbrod, Trustee, Evaluator

Staff

Cynthia Stark-Wickman, M. Ed       Executive Coordinator                  Office located at 520 Spring St.

The mission of San Juan Island Prevention Coalition is to strengthen community collaboration to prevent and reduce substance abuse among youth.

Choosing Health, Love Yourself:)

The San Juan Island Prevention Coalition has been continuing their work on various Youth Leadership Programs and working closely with our local schools with our Prevention Intervention Specialist at FHMS and FHHS…Continuing the messages of Love Yourself…Choose Health, an extension of Red Ribbon Week last October, the symbol of a heart, is the theme the youth connected with and we’ll be featuring more of this year.

This image above was taken by FHHS students and they captured beautifully, what we hope to focus on this year in prevention… Love Yourself! By loving yourself, you can choose to be healthy, make choices that help you to be your best self... So, when you see more of these images of youth and their “healthy hearts”, please help support their efforts to be drug-free… Thank you!

New for 2015, MADD is expanding its mission to take on the deadly effects of drugged driving. While we know that we still have our work cut out for us when it comes to eliminating drunk driving, we knew it was time to take that experience and apply it to the issues surrounding drugged driving. MADD has provided victim services to those impacted by drugged driving for many years. Now we can provide those families with hope – much like we have to victims of drunk driving for the past 35 years.

New National President Colleen Sheehey-Church’s son Dustin drowned after the car he was riding in, driven by a teen with alcohol and drugs in her system, crashed into a river, trapping Dustin in the vehicle. (Read their story here.) But her story is far from unique.

A 2009 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study found that 18 percent of drivers killed in car crashes tested positive for one or more prescription, over-the-counter, or illicit drugs. Even the smallest amount of a drug can interfere with coordination, reaction time, perception and judgment. Mixing drugs with alcohol can worsen impairment and increase the risk of crashing.

However, since this is an emerging issue, there are a number of challenges that must be overcome and issues that must be addressed before the problem can be solved:

• Drugs include both the legal and illegal variety, causing confusion among the public as to what qualifies as drugged driving.
• No drug-specific fatality numbers or arrest data currently being uniformly collected.
• No impairment levels defined for each drug and the mere presence of drugs does not equal impairment.
• Testing for drug impairment and specialized law enforcement training programs to detect impairment costly.

These are precisely the areas that MADD plans to address first.

Because there is a common overlap between drunk and drugged driving issues, laws and initiatives, we feel this expansion of our mission is natural and hope to apply our learnings from the fight to stop drunk driving to aid the prevention of drugged driving.

Click here to take the pledge to show your support for MADD’s drugged driving prevention efforts.

Here’s some good science regarding marijuana…