Before legalizing marijuana, I would invite Illinois legislative members to visit the state of Colorado to see the impact of five years of legal marijuana use.

Jo McGuire, Colorado native and chairman of the Board of National Drug and Screening Association, has described the human toll and cost of legal marijuana. She uses data from “The Legalization of Marijuana in Colorado: The Impact, Volume 5.”

Some hospitals have seen an increase in pregnant women testing positive for marijuana (THC positive). Marijuana crosses the placenta boundaries and has been found to be excreted in breast milk. These babies can have smaller head sizes and other struggles; who knows how that will manifest as they grow up?

Secondly, in 2014 one in five marijuana users in Colorado reported driving after using marijuana.

Colorado State Patrol reported in 2016 that 76 percent of total DUI incidents involve marijuana. Also, 38 percent of the state’s DUIs that year involved marijuana only. This rate is increasing.

I ask each Illinois legislator: Do you want to be remembered as one who brought this harm into our state?

H. Bryan Brooksbank
Williamsville, Illinois