Legalized Cannabis and Costs to the Community

As the Alameda City Council considers how to regulate cannabis sales, cultivation, testing, and manufacturing -- and whether to permit which or any of them to allow, it is important to consider what has been learned from other states, and the known impacts of alcohol and tobacco use. The article What Legalized Marijuana is Going to Cost from the on-line magazine Occupational Health and Safety highlights correlations between legalization and traffic accidents and an increase in crime in two states, bearing in mind that there may be other factors that caused the increase -- since causation has not, as yet, been proven.

What we do know is that the two existing addictive substances that are legal do pose a significant cost to society. The cost of excessive alcohol use and the cost of tobacco use to society has been estimated in the billions annually. Out of the $35 billion that excessive alcohol use costs California, 40% of that cost is borne by taxpayers. For tobacco, the cost to California is $13.29 billion per year. Each California household pays an average of $727 a year in taxes to cover the cost of MediCal and Medicare expenses to treat tobacco-related illnesses.

Public health and substance abuse prevention advocates have established best practices for regulations that reduce the negative impacts of tobacco and alcohol and it would behoove our city leaders to establish similar protections ahead of time -- before this ship launches.

One of issues is the possible suitable locations of dispensaries. The city has recently released a map that shows what a 1,000 feet buffer zone from schools would look like. Also included in this article is the originally proposed 600 feet buffer zone map.

Another issue is secondhand marijuana smoke including vaporized emissions which is prohibited wherever the state prohibits tobacco smoke. Since the City of Alameda has a comprehensive set of local protections above and beyond state law, the City does need to include marijuana smoke in its ordinance.

Additional resources from the California Department of Public Health: Marijuana and Tobacco Use, a comprehensive fact sheet on health risks including to youth and from secondhand exposure; Let's Talk Cannabis which includes fact sheets on what's legal, youth, and how parents can talk with youth about use.