BANGOR, Maine — In response to two petition campaigns seeking to put the question of legalizing recreational marijuana on the November 2016 ballot, Bangor Public Health and Healthy Acadia will give a presentation this week about the pitfalls of legalization.
The event, titled Marijuana in the New Millennium, is scheduled for Wednesday at The Gracie Theater at Husson University. A reception will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the program beginning at 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The evening’s keynote speaker comes from Colorado, where the first state-regulated recreational marijuana stores opened in January 2014.
Thomas J. Gorman is director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a drug-prohibition program run by the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy.
A longtime narcotics officer who served 10 years as an undercover agent, he is an outspoken critic of marijuana legalization. As keynote speaker, Gorman will discuss the effect of legalizing marijuana in Colorado.
According to Patty Hamilton, director of Bangor Public Health and Community Services, the state has seen increases in fatal car crashes related to marijuana use, higher rates of emergency room visits because of children consuming marijuana, and increased use of marijuana in schools since recreational marijuana was introduced.
“One red flag for me was that 71 percent of the communities in Colorado are banning dispensaries locating in their communities,” Hamilton said. “That means almost three quarters of the communities that actually wanted legalized recreational marijuana are now sort of changing their minds about how it’s distributed in their communities.”
Hamilton’s statistic suggests that voters in Colorado are pushing back against recreational marijuana because of negative impacts.
However, a poll conducted in February by researchers at Quinnipiac University found that 58 percent of voters supported the decision to legalize recreational marijuana while 38 percent opposed it and the rest were unsure.
In 2012, Colorado voters approved recreational marijuana for adults by a vote of 55 percent to 45 percent.
A panel presentation will follow, featuring local experts from law enforcement, public health, substance abuse treatment and health care fields.
Questions for the panelists were gathered in advance of the event, and Hamilton said she does not believe there will be time for the audience to ask questions during the event.
Bangor Public Health and Community Services is a department of the city of Bangor, and Healthy Acadia is a nonprofit organization that works to address health priorities across the Down East Acadia region through public and private funding.
The program is presented in partnership with Bangor Public Health and Community Services’ Substance Abuse Task Force, part of the Bangor Region Public Health Advisory Board.
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter at @evanbelanger.