Prosecutors Use Report To Lobby Against Marijuana Legalization

By Dennis Lambert
Published: Friday, October 31, 2014 - 8:16am

Prosecutors in three Arizona counties are using new figures on where teens get marijuana to lobby against a proposal to legalize the drug for all adults. 

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery says a report from the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission says nearly 11 percent of 8th graders who used pot in the last 30 days got it from a legal medical marijuana user.

Two years ago that figure was 8.5 percent. But the report also shows the percentage of kids in grades 8 and 10, who used marijuana in the last 30 days is lower than in either 2010 or 2012. Montgomery says other data on what teens said about their attitudes on marijuana is telling.

“They perceive the risk of smoking marijuana once or twice a week less than the use of prescription drugs that are not prescribed to them,” Montgomery said.

He says that’s a good indicator of future use.

Montgomery and his counterparts in Pima and Yavapai counties hope to defeat plans to have Arizona voters adopt a California-style law on recreational pot use in 2016.