Back in 2012, Colorado’s do-gooder crowd sold the sheeple on Amendment 64 like it was the second coming of freedom. “Free the adults, fill the coffers, no harm no foul,” they crowed. Fast forward to 2026, and the Rocky Mountain high is looking more like a nosedive into hell. What started as a supposed libertarian utopia has morphed into a taxpayer-funded freak show of addiction spikes, carnage on the highways, and kids paying the price for adult stupidity. Too many states jumped on this bandwagon without a clue, and now the bill’s coming due. We’re talking real consequences, not the feel-good fairy tales from the granola set. Let’s peel back the haze and see what this “experiment” has really wrought.
The Promise vs. the Poison: What Went Wrong
Colorado kicked off recreational sales in 2014, after medical weed got the green light way back in 2000. The pitch? Billions in tax revenue – and yeah, they’ve raked in over $2.5 billion since. But that’s chump change compared to the human wreckage. Adult use has climbed, with past-month rates for those 18 and up hitting 21% in recent surveys, up from pre-legalization days. And potency? Forget the ditch weed of yesteryear; today’s concentrates are packing THC levels north of 90%, turning casual puffs into rocket rides to dependency. Emergency rooms and hospitals are the canaries in this coal mine, with marijuana-related visits ballooning thanks to edibles and vapes that hit like a freight train. The libs said it’d be safe and regulated – instead, it’s a Wild West of black-market holdouts and homegrown horrors.
Addiction’s Ugly Surge: From Casual to Crisis
Don’t buy the bunk that legalization tamed the beast – it’s fed it. Hospitalizations tied to marijuana jumped during the medical commercialization phase, doubling from 963.5 per 100,000 in 2009 to 1,780.9 by 2013. Post-2014, rates climbed further before a COVID dip, landing at 3,259 per 100,000 in 2022. Emergency department visits followed suit, peaking at 1,171 per 100,000 in 2018 before sliding to 672 in 2021 – but that’s still a 52% hike from early days. Poison control calls? Exploded from 45 in 2006 to 310 in 2021, with edibles driving a 75% spike in kid exposures from 2017 to 2021. Treatment admissions for marijuana as the primary drug dipped post-2020 to 5,323 in 2022, but that’s cold comfort when severity’s shifting – average use days in the past month climbed from 7.6 in 2012 to 13.4 in 2022. And suicides testing positive for weed? Up from 11.8% in 2012 to 23.3% in 2021. This ain’t freedom; it’s a gateway to government-funded rehabs and wrecked lives.
Roads to Ruin: High Drivers, Higher Body Counts
If you thought drunk driving was bad, wait till you see the stoned slaughter. Traffic deaths involving drivers positive for marijuana skyrocketed 138% since 2013, from 55 to 131 in 2020, while overall fatalities rose just 29%. By 2022, cannabinoid-positive drivers in fatal crashes hit 29%, up from 16% in 2013 – a 240% leap in absolute numbers to 187. Colorado State Patrol citations for marijuana DUIs peaked at 1,508 in 2020, a 120% jump from 684 in 2014. And get this: 75% of those THC-positive cases involve other drugs, with 59% booze – polydrug mayhem on the interstate. Recent years show some dip, with cannabis-impaired fatalities dropping from 82 in 2021 to 45 in 2024, but that’s after years of unnecessary bloodshed. Self-reported driving after use among adults hovers at 16-22% for past-month users, proving the “don’t drive high” campaigns are as effective as a screen door on a submarine. Colorado’s roads are now roulette wheels, courtesy of the pot lobby.
Growing up in Colorado, I watched the state fundamentally change its culture after marijuana was legalized in 2012.
It is utterly unrecognizable today, and is not a place I would currently feel comfortable raising my daughter.
From 2013 to 2021 in Colorado:
• Traffic deaths…
— Isabel Brown (@theisabelb) February 11, 2026
Kids Caught in the Crossfire: From Candy to Chaos
The real gut-punch? What this mess means for the next generation. Youth poison calls shot up from 49 in 2012 to 237 in 2021, with 49% involving kids under 5 – mostly unintentional munchies on THC gummies that look like candy. Under-5 exposures jumped to 151 in 2021, 64% accidental. Teen use? High school past-30-day rates dipped from 19.7% in 2013 to 13.3% in 2021, but that’s no win when methods shift to dabbing (up from 28% in 2015 to 49.2% in 2021) and vaporizing (21.8% to 39.1%). And disparities hit hard: American Indian/Alaska Native kids at 18.3%, bisexual youth at 24.3%. School suspensions for weed rose 74% from 2016-2017 to 2022-2023. Driving after use among high schoolers fell from 10.9% to 5.5%, but that’s small potatoes when overall access eased – perceived ease among teens climbed from 46.5% to 52.1% right after sales started. Child abuse? No spike in reports, but with pot in the mix, it’s a ticking bomb for neglect.
Mind Over Marijuana: The Psychosis Plague
Here’s the kicker that keeps getting buried – the brain fry. Post-legalization, psychosis hospitalizations for youth 10-29 rose from 21.9 per 100,000 pre-2009 to 32.3 post-2012, a 47% gut-wrencher. Cases tied to cannabis use disorder? Blasted from 2.0 to 8.5 per 100,000 – that’s a 325% apocalypse. The monthly ramp-up accelerated five-fold after recreational go-time. Suicidal behavior and psychosis are spiking in this high-potency era, with young adults ditching joints for dabs that scramble synapses. Vaping lung injuries, pregnancy use up – it’s a full-spectrum assault on sanity. Colorado’s “experience” screams warning: Legal weed isn’t liberation; it’s lunacy.
Time to Pull the Plug on This Pot Pipe Dream
Colorado’s grand gamble has cashed out in catastrophe – addiction entrenched, roads bloodied, kids corrupted, minds mangled. States copying this clown show better wake up before their treasuries turn toxic. America First means protecting families from this green greed, not peddling poison for pennies. The numbers don’t lie: This experiment failed, hard. Time to sober up and shut it down.