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GATEWAY TO LEGALIZING RECREATIONAL USE Medical marijuana is legal in 25


states, while recreational marijuana is legal in four: Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, along with Washington, D.C. All the states where recreational marijuana is legal started with medical marijuana legalization. That means 21 states have legal-


ized marijuana for medicinal pur- poses only and stopped – for now. New Mexico made medical marijuana legal in 2007 and allows access to the drug for patients with 20 qualifying condi- tions – pain not being one of them. And so far, it’s not a problem for the motor carrier industry there, said New Mexico Trucking Association Managing Director Johnny Johnson. He said the state’s trucking industry has not had to change its drug screening processes and has not seen a difference in applicants testing positive. There is a movement in New


Mexico to make recreational marijuana legal, but it’s not getting traction, he said, in part because the state has been paying close attention to its neighbor, Colorado. The path that Colorado has taken is


the one that opponents fear will happen in Arkansas. The state legalized medical marijuana in 2000 and then in 2012 legalized recreational marijuana. Since then, the marijuana industry


has exploded in that state, particularly in Denver. In a meeting at the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce July 22, Henny Lasley of Smart Colorado told opponents that Denver in January 2015 had more marijuana dispensaries than pharmacies, Starbucks and McDonald’s restaurants combined. As medical mari- juana has grown as an industry, its use has grown. She said that Colorado’s youth rank first in the nation for mari- juana use. Three hundred marijuana food products are for sale in her state. And because marijuana is still illegal nationally, marijuana-related companies can’t open bank accounts, meaning they are strictly cash-based businesses, which creates its own problems.


ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 5 2016


“LEGALIZATION CREATED A SENSE THAT IT WAS MORE PERMISSIBLE.”


–GREG FULTON, PRESIDENT OF THE COLORADO MOTOR CARRIERS ASSOCIATION


Greg Fulton, president of the


Colorado Motor Carriers Association, doesn’t have to travel far to see the growth of the industry. Three dispensa- ries are within two blocks of his asso- ciation’s office. Fulton said when Colorado first


passed medical marijuana, the threshold for approving use of the drug was very low. Dispensaries were open 24 hours a day and hired on-site doctors who rou- tinely would certify use. For the motor carrier industry, more drivers were fail- ing drug tests. Potential drivers would assume they could apply for driving jobs because they had a prescription. “[Medical] was the first, I’d say,


level of a legalization,” he said. His association and many business


leaders didn’t think recreational legal- ization would pass in 2012. When it did, it changed everything. “Legalization created a sense that it


was more permissible,” he said. “Really by legalizing, it almost gave the sense, to a lot of people, that this is permitted under the law. Sort of almost thinking that our various drug policies that are at the federal level and for trucking, that in some cases, the passage of this trumped it. And it didn’t.” Fulton said recreational marijuana


has been a “mixed bag” because it did create some revenue for the state. For the industry, it’s been almost


entirely negative. It’s more difficult finding drug-free drivers and other employees, and unlike alcohol, mari- juana stays in a user’s system for a while, making testing difficult. Traffic safety hasn’t been a huge issue so far, he said. However, there’s no roadside


test as with alcohol. One of his carriers would warn applicants that they would be drug-tested, and it asked them not to bother applying if they had anything in their system in order to save the applicant the trouble and the carrier the expense. Even then, it was experiencing a 70 percent failure rate. An unantici- pated problem has been much higher costs for warehouse space and terminals as the marijuana industry has gobbled up space for grow houses and storage. “These folks, the marijuana barons,


have a lot of money,” he said. “And so it’s pushed up the cost and the square footage significantly, and a number of our companies who had been in places for a number of years got pushed out.” Like any commodity, marijuana


must be transported, but Colorado trucking companies can’t do the trans- porting under federal law. He’s not even sure how it’s being moved. However, that could change in the future, so the state of Colorado has set up a task force to study the issue and make sure that transport is done responsibly as it becomes more institutionalized. That’s a point the ATA, the gov-


ernor, and other opponents hope Arkansas never reaches. In fact, Hutchinson hasn’t even started think- ing that far ahead. Asked in the press conference if he’s considering what kind of policies for state employees would be needed if one of the measures passes, he paused three seconds and said, honestly and amidst a roomful of laughter, “Now that you raise that issue, I’ll think about that one. … We’ll get back with you on that one.” ATR


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