Community seminar reveals lots of issues with marijuana usage

Panel members (L-R) Sunnyside Police Commander Scott Bailey, Dave Wilson of MERIT Resources, Steve Freng of Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Paul Nagle-McNaughton of Comprehensive Mental Health and local lawyer Alex Newhouse talk to the audience at Thursday night’s Marijuana 101 workshop sponsored by Sunnyside United-Unidos. Photo by Tim Graff.

By Laura Gjovaag

Marijuana is not a stimulant nor a depressant, but it can still get adults fired from jobs and is illegal for anyone under 21 years old, despite initiative 502 and medical marijuana laws.

Several experts on marijuana and the laws surrounding it were available at Thursday night’s Marijuana 101 workshop sponsored by Sunnyside United-Unidos. They spoke to a crowd worried about the impact the legalization of the drug will have on the city and workplaces.

The main speaker for the evening was Dr. Steven Freng, the prevention and treatment manager for the Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. Freng first explained that a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area is a geographical area that gets grants to fight specific types of drug trafficking.

The grants are designed to get different agencies to communicate and work together. Originally the idea was to get federal agencies talking with one another, but adding in state and local agencies made the effort more successful.

“Miami Vice was true,” said Freng, as he described the origins of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area in Florida.

He said the efforts were successful, and so the program was applied in other areas. The Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area includes every county on the I-5 corridor along with Yakima, Spokane and a handful of other counties.

The focus of the collective effort includes prevention and treatment along with enforcement, making it unique in the program. Freng said the Northwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area started in 1998 with 61 law enforcement agencies and grew to 156 agencies in 2013.

Freng then covered the origins of marijuana, noting that hemp was apparently cultivated as long as 10,000 years ago. The drug originated in China and spread to India around 1,000 B.C. Hemp was a common crop due to its usefulness in making rope.

Freng said drugs were rampant in the United States before the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, which required labeling for alcohol, opiates, cocaine, cannabis and other drugs.

“There’s a reason Coca-Cola has that name,” said Freng.

By the 1920s there were widespread restrictions and bans on cannabis, and in 1930 the Federal Bureau of Narcotics worked to ban hemp. According to Freng, the head of the bureau had connections with DuPont and the reason for banning hemp was to promote nylon ropes.

Freng told the audience that the drug is not classified as a stimulant or a depressant, and that its effects differ depending on the person taking it and the dose taken. He said it causes cognitive impairment, affects dreaming, interferes with maturation, can cause “irreversible immaturity” and can lead to tolerance and dependence.

#He said the THC levels in marijuana today range from 15 to 20 percent. In the 1980s, by contrast, THC levels tended to be lower than 4 percent.

He said that medical marijuana can be prescribed by various medical professionals and not just doctors. He also noted that in Washington state there is no registry of people who have “green cards” that allow them to buy or grow medical marijuana.

Freng then talked about the effects of I-502, including the number of stores and the suspected amount of users in the state (750,000 according to a study). He said the liquor control board has set a production limit at 80 tons annually, but it would require between 135-225 tons to meet the demand in the state.

He said that King, Pierce and Snohomish counties account for more than half of the users in the state.

Freng also noted that marijuana can be eaten as well as smoked. The problem for people new to the drug is that the effects of eating it take longer to notice than if it is inhaled.

In a case in Colorado, an underage exchange student ate a cookie laced with THC. Freng said the cookie contained six doses, but the boy apparently ate the whole cookie when his first bite didn’t take effect immediately. The boy then jumped off a hotel balcony to his death.

Freng also noted that there are two types of THC. Carboxy-THC stays in the body for weeks after and can be detected up to two months after the person uses marijuana. Active THC stays in the blood for only a short time.

Freng also talked about the dangers of taking drugs in combinations, describing the multiplying effect some drugs can have when combined.

After Freng’s presentation, a panel made up of Freng, Sunnyside Police Commander Scott Bailey, Dave Wilson of MERIT Resources, Paul Nagle-McNaughton of Comprehensive Mental Health and local lawyer Alex Newhouse took questions from the crowd.

In response to a question of what the panel foresees for the future of marijuana based on the history of alcohol after prohibition, Freng noted that prohibition did lower the amount of drinking in the nation. He said the country did not get back up to pre-prohibition levels of drinking until the 1970s, long after prohibition ended.

Freng said that today about 85 percent of the population drinks alcohol, and he wouldn’t be surprised if marijuana eventually reaches that level.

“The price point is going to be the big thing,” he said.

Freng said if the price is too high, people will simply turn back to the black market. If the price is too low, it will be too easy for children to get it.

“Price is going to be everything,” he said.

Concerning a question about THC levels, Newhouse responded that the law includes a limit by single serving.

Freng said that officials from Britain visiting Washington and Colorado to see the impact of the legalization were shocked that there is not an upper limit on the potency of marijuana.

An employer in the audience asked about the legal issues of not hiring people who smoke marijuana. Nagle-McNaughton said that employers have the right to set their own restrictions.

“Employers will not hire people who smoke,” he said. “Yes, people have a right to choose to use marijuana, but there are consequences.”

The panelists discussed how marijuana use, in the short term at least, may severely limit the employment choices of users. They emphasized that children need to know that employers are absolutely allowed to fire or not hire users of marijuana.

Freng said that the lack of messaging of the consequences of marijuana use is causing some concern. Newhouse countered that messaging is written into the law, but until sales start and money comes in, there is nothing to pay for that messaging.

“It’s part of the reason 502 was set up the way it was,” said Newhouse. “It won’t destroy the black market, but it will take some of that funding away from it and put that money to good use.”

Newhouse said that he wants to keep marijuana out of the hands of children as much as anyone else, but everyone has different ideas about how to proceed.

A question about marijuana cultivation using a lot of water came up, and Bailey said that one reason the large marijuana grows in vineyards was found was due to extreme water usage.

Nagle-McNaughton mentioned that indoor grows also take a lot of electricity.

It has a huge carbon footprint,” he noted.

The topic turned to law enforcement and how a blood draw for a DUI works. Bailey said the costs are higher and cities will need to address the higher costs in the future.

“The whole situation is in flux until things come to a head,” he said.

Newhouse noted that blood draws in law enforcement are increasing due to changes in the law.

The discussion then turned to drug tests for employment. While Newhouse said that a no tolerance policy is totally legal for employers, employers in the audience were concerned about a workforce shortage.

Newhouse said that eventually employers may only test for active THC.

“If someone is drunk on the job, they will be fired,” he said. “The same will be true for marijuana.”

Nagle-McNaughton noted that weekend users might avoid being fired by those standards, but could also be suffering from withdrawal symptoms at work on Monday, making them less effective employees.

Employers were also assured that a medical marijuana card is not protection for employees.

“A green card is a recommendation and not a prescription,” said Freng.

The laws surrounding medical marijuana give no protection to users as far as employment is concerned, according to Newhouse.

“You don’t have to hire someone who smokes marijuana,” he said.

As the panel was out of time, the meeting broke up. However, many people spoke to panelists individually.

In addition, representatives from Sunnyside Community Hospital and Heritage University were at the informational meeting, which was part of a program that Sunnyside United-Unidos refers to as the Making Sunnyside Better Series. The goal is to have meetings on topics of interest to citizens to keep the populace informed.