Americans are using more cannabis on a daily basis than they consume alcohol on a daily basis, according to a new study published in the journal Addiction. And the pot they are consuming is vastly more potent than what was available 30 years ago.
In 1992, only 8 million Americans reported using marijuana within the past month, in an overall population of 250 million, about 3.2%.
By 2022, the number using pot within the past month had ballooned to 42 million out of the population of 333.3 million Americans, for a total of 12.6% of the population using pot in the past month.
The study measured daily or near-daily use of marijuana between 2008 and 2022, since the first legalization in a state occurred in 2012 (Washington and Colorado). Between 2008 and 2022, daily or near-daily use of marijuana grew by 269%, as laws prohibiting use and sales of cannabis became more prevalent.
Even more striking is the surge in daily or near-daily use when compared to the daily use of alcohol. In the mid-1990s, only about one out of eight marijuana users said they consumed the pot daily or near-daily, comparable to the roughly one in 10 alcohol users.
Today, more than 40% of marijuana users report daily or near-daily consumption, higher than those who use alcohol on a daily or near-daily basis (17.7 million vs. 14.7 million).
The movement toward legalization has also led to an explosion in the potency of the cannabis consumed.
Until it became legal in some states to grow and sell cannabis, the average potency rarely exceeded 5% THC, the primary psychoactive component. Back in those days, pot was coming over the border from Mexico or was being grown on outlaw farms in the United States. Today’s cannabis buds sold commercially range between 20-25% THC. Extract-based oils and dabs exceed 60% THC. Much of it is grown in controlled greenhouse environments and is being quickly changed through hybrids.
Thus, more consumers are not only using pot on a daily basis, they’re getting a lot more bang. Today’s daily users consume more than 300 milligrams of THC per day, the study shows. That level of THC is linked with onset of psychosis.
The Biden Administration plans to reschedule marijuana from a Class I to a Class III drug, which puts it in the category of ketamine, testosterone, and anabolic steroids. As of February, 24 states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for recreational or medical use.
Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley said the organization stands “firm in our mission,” to deliver greater freedom and opportunity, no matter the terroristic tactics some may use against the party.
He made the statement after an evacuation of the RNC headquarters in Washington, DC, due to someone sending two vials of blood to the building.
“Today, vials of blood were sent to RNC Headquarters in DC. We are thankful to law enforcement, who responded quickly and ensured everyone’s safety. The lockdown has been cleared and staff has resumed their office duties because we remain unintimidated and undeterred in our efforts to elect President Trump to the White House,” Whatley said in the statement.
“This revolting attack comes on the heels of pro-Hamas protestors violently demonstrating on college campuses and deranged Biden supporters physically attacking our campaign volunteers for supporting President Trump,” Whatley said.
“While Republicans fight to strengthen our economy, secure our southern border, and halt the violent crime in our communities, the fringe-left is wreaking havoc, sowing fear, and lying to the public in a bad-faith effort to divide Americans and sway an election. No matter what violent tactics Biden’s extreme left supporters try next, we stand firm in our mission to deliver greater freedom and opportunity for all Americans, and we won’t back down.”
In January of 2021, a pipe bomb was found planted at the RNC headquarters and was destroyed by law enforcement. Another pipe bomb was placed at the Democratic National Committeeheadquarters at around the same time.
A school consolidation plan announced by the Juneau School District (JSD) has drawn fire from a dissident group calling themselves Community Advocates for Responsible Education (CARE). They are sponsoring petitions to recall two JSD Board members and mounting a full-blown campaign blitz urging the board to reverse its decision to merge Juneau’s two high schools.
Some may applaud their activism, but, in resorting to an expensive special recall election and character assassination, CARE is anything but responsible or caring.
Declining enrollment in Juneau and some school districts in Alaska (Matsu is a notable exception) isn’t unique. It’s being mirrored nationally, mostly in urban areas where student populations have plummeted and are expected to continue to fall.
A recent Wall Street Journal article about what Los Angeles schools are facing, and many other school districts across the country, illustrates a difficult-to-sustain dynamic: too many schools for too few students. Los Angeles is down to 413,800 students across 800 schools, from nearly 750,000 students in 2003.
A recent article in The Seattle Times discusses how school officials there could eventually close more than a quarter of the district’s nearly 70 elementary schools.
The irony facing administrators and school board officials is that as per-pupil costs continue to rise at under-populated schools, the quality of education, breadth of curriculum, and resources at those schools diminish.
Merging schools has the opposite effect. Per-pupil costs go down while programs and resources expand.
That some parents and students might focus on other aspects of school consolidations such as longer commutes, different teachers, and unfamiliar surroundings is understandable. Change is always hard and it’s a natural and emotional reaction.
But the positive aspects shouldn’t be overlooked.
More importantly, delaying needed consolidation ignores the district’s structural deficit, further strains school budgets, and prolongs necessary acceptance by parents, students, and teachers of what eventually must happen.
JSD demographic studies confirm an additional 1,200 student loss in Juneau is expected within the next 10 years.
CARE’s brochure being distributed at petition-signing events misrepresents the process and the facts behind the JSD board’s consolidation decision. Irrelevant assertions designed to provoke emotional reactions are featured including the economic impact of students’ Valley shopping, availability of student parking, and playing sports in a different athletic league, none of which determine educational outcomes.
The contention that Juneau’s public process was flawed is belied by the facts. JSD held dozens of public meetings. Input was solicited through multiple community and staff engagement meetings and a JSD Budget Survey. A budget newsletter supplementing public announcements was featured on the district web page and social media. Superintendent Hauser was available at all public meetings to answer questions.
In a letter to the Assembly, Juneau Empire, and School Board, CARE claims they want their issues “addressed as a form of goodwill to begin rebuilding a climate of trust and cooperation between the community and the Board.”
But blaming current school board members for poor decision-making by past boards and administrators is neither fair nor responsible. Mounting a petition drive to recall them is petty, spiteful, and only sows further division and distrust.
Most recently, a CARE group leader, in an Empire My Turn, attempted to vilify JSD Superintendent Frank Hauser by claiming he “ has shown no respect, compassion, or courtesy to staff, students, or parents”, implying that ”another agenda [was] at play”, and finally, the district was ”being dismantled by a superintendent whose primary residence is listed in Anchorage.”
None of that is true. It certainly won’t foster the “trust and cooperation” CARE professes to desire given that respect is a two-way street.
It took many years for JSD to reach the point where the board was forced to act. Not everyone will agree with the consolidation model that was chosen. However, it preserved the most programs and ensured the district a solid financial footing going forward.
Signing petitions to recall school board members and spending over $100,000 of taxpayer dollars for a pointless recall election isn’t a solution.
Nor is smearing people’s reputations and misrepresenting the facts. In doing so, CARE has forfeited any legitimacy and credibility it may have had.
After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.
Opening the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge and National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska — if there is one issue Alaskans agree on, this is it.
In poll after poll, an overwhelming majority of Alaskans – nearly 80% – say they support opening more of Alaska’s North Slope. Ted Stevens, Don Young, Frank Murkowski, and every governor of Alaska in recent memory –- all have gone on record supporting exploration and development of ANWR. It’s hard to think of an Alaskan issue that would have stronger bipartisan support.
Alaskans support it because we see it as a necessary next step in the development of our resources and the strengthening of our economy, only for it to be blocked by Outside environmental activists and the national Democrats who are beholden to them.
Alaskans realize that these Outside interests want to lock Alaska up and prevent us from having a prosperous future. We need representation who will stand for us, not stand with those who would block our potential.
But for Mary Peltola, this is apparently optional. We saw that clearly earlier this month when the question of opening ANWR and NPR-A came to the House floor in the form of the “Alaska’s Right to Produce Act.”
You may remember that when President Trump’s tax cuts passed Congress, they included provisions for lease sales in ANWR -– a stunning victory for Alaska resource development and the culmination of decades of work by our congressional delegation. But on his first day in office, President Joe Biden issued sweeping executive actions that suspended the ANWR leases and closed ANWR to further development. In what would become a pattern, Biden continued a relentless campaign against Alaskan development; the count of his unilateral actions locking up Alaska is now up to 63.
The Alaska’s Right to Produce Act rejects Biden’s closure of ANWR and would restart lease sales. One would think that our lone member of Congress would be an easy “yes” vote – and indeed, Peltola co-sponsored it when it was introduced last year.
But Mary Peltola first urged her colleagues to vote against it, voted to kill the bill, then voted “present” on it. Since only “yes” votes count toward passage, a “present” vote has the same effect as a “no” vote.
Why the flip-flop? She claims that there is a poison pill in the bill that somehow pits ANWR development against fish. The provision she cites doesn’t actually do that -– and it was in the bill when she co-sponsored it. When it was just a bipartisan bill with a catchy title, she co-sponsored it, with not a poison pill to be found.
But now that she’s in a serious fight for re-election, and needs support from Outside environmental interests, suddenly the bill doesn’t pass muster.
She’s scrambling to cover her actions, but one thing is clear: when Alaskan development is truly on the line, Mary doesn’t stand with us. In the battle between partisan politics and doing what’s right for Alaska, Mary Peltola has chosen the wrong side.
Peltola claims to be carrying the mantle of the late Congressman Don Young. But it is impossible to imagine Don Young voting “present” on a bill to open ANWR for exploration and drilling, a goal he promoted tirelessly for decades.
The “Alaska’s Right to Produce Act” did pass the U.S. House, and the vote was bipartisan. Five Democrats voted to open Alaska for resource development. If only Mary Peltola had been one of them.
If I’m elected to serve as your representative, my commitment is clear. I will advocate tirelessly for ANWR’s development, ensuring that Alaska remains at the forefront of America’s energy future. I will stand against those who seek to lock up our resources, denying us the prosperity that is rightfully ours.
I will be the voice in Congress that says “Yes” to Alaskan development, “Yes” to our economic future, and “Yes” to the enduring spirit of our great state.
Nick Begich is the leading Republican candidate for Alaska’s at-large seat in the U. S. Congress. To find out more about Nick, visit his campaign website.
After speaking to a group at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., former presidential candidate Nikki Haley said she will vote for Donald Trump for president.
The former U.N. Ambassador for Trump and former South Carolina governor dropped from the GOP presidential slate after Super Tuesday in March, having run a campaign that was highly critical of Trump.
But on Wednesday, she said that even though Trump “has not been perfect on these policies [holding enemies to account and securing the border], I’ve made that clear many, many times,” President Joe Biden “has been a catastrophe.
BREAKING: Nikki Haley says she will vote for Trump in November.
“Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me, and not assume that they’re just going to be with him. And I genuinely hope he does that,” she said.
Many Haley supporters are moderate Republicans or “never-Trumpers.”
In this episode of the Must Read Alaska Show, host John Quick sits down with Mark Frohnmayer, who is a software and electric vehicle entrepreneur, as well as a pioneering advocate for electoral reform.
Mark shares his fascinating journey from being in the game development industry to sustainable transportation entrepreneurship and election science. With a degree in electrical engineering and computer science from University of California Berkeley, Mark’s innovative spirit has led him to create solutions across various fields.
We delve into Mark’s background, exploring some of his favorite memories and milestones, including his time as the lead programmer of popular games like Starsiege: Tribes and Tribes 2, and his pivotal role in founding the electric vehicle company, Arcimoto. Mark provides insights into the challenges and triumphs of launching a sustainable transportation startup and his experiences serving on the Oregon Transportation Commission.
The conversation takes a deep dive into electoral reform as Mark discusses the inception of the Equal Vote Coalition and the creation of the STAR voting system.
He explains why he believes STAR voting is far superior to the rank-choice voting system, emphasizing its core criteria of Equality, Honesty, Accuracy, Expressiveness, and Simplicity.
Here’s how STAR voting works:
– Voters score each candidate on a scale of zero to five.
– The candidate you like the most is the one you score highest.
– The two candidates who receive the most of the highest scores become finalists and enter an automatic runoff.
– During the automatic runoff, a ballot counts as one vote for the finalists that the voter scored higher.
STAR voting was recently given to voters as an option to use in the future. On the ballot in Eugene, Ore. this month, it was rejected. It is criticized by those the big players who promote ranked-choice voting and is viewed by them as unwelcome competition with RCV. Learn more about STAR voting at this link.
While host John Quick remains critical of both STAR and ranked-choice voting systems, Quick recognizes the importance of having a dialogue with those who have different views.
Tune in for an enlightening and thought-provoking discussion with Mark Frohnmayer, as we explore the intersections of technology, entrepreneurship, and the quest for a more informed electoral process.
Whether you’re interested in gaming, electric vehicles, or election reform, this episode offers something for you.
The Must Read Alaska Show, Alaska’s No. 1 podcast, is found at any podcasting platform that you may use, or check it out here at Podbean.
Business groups are pushing back against a new Biden administration rule that would allow third-parties, including union representatives, to accompany federal inspectors of job sites.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the final rule earlier this year, but critics say the rule goes beyond safety needs and panders to unions and their recruitment efforts. The rule would apply even to job sites where workers have not unionized.
The National Federation of Independent Businesses, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, are helping lead the charge against the new “walkaround” rule, which takes effect May 31 of this year.
“Small businesses want to create a safe work environment for their employees, and they understand the necessity of reasonable mandates and inspections to this end,” Beth Milito, executive director of NFIB’s Small Business Legal Center, said in a statement. “But the final rule issued by OSHA goes beyond ‘reasonable’. This rule will allow unlimited third-party individuals to initiate and then join an inspection of a private workplace under the guise of representing the employees. Not only does this violate a small business owner’s private property rights, it will not advance worker safety. It only makes small businesses susceptible to harassment from competitors, union representatives, and other parties intending to cause harm.”
President Joe Biden has called himself the most pro-union president in history and has taken several actions to bolster union membership and recruiting efforts, often at taxpayer expense.
Those actions have been welcomed by unions and criticized by others, who point out that taxpayers fund these efforts to benefit unions, who mostly give political donations to Democrats.
OSHA has argued that the rule is consistent with past OSHA practices and will help make inspections more thorough.
“The rule is in part a response to a 2017 court decision ruling that the agency’s existing regulation, 29 CFR 1903.8(c), only permitted employees of the employer to be authorized as representatives,” the agency said in a news release earlier this year. “However, the court acknowledged that the OSH Act does not limit who can serve as an employee representative and that OSHA’s historic practice was a “persuasive and valid construction” of the OSH Act. Today’s final rule is the culmination of notice and comment rulemaking that clarifies OSHA’s inspection regulation and aligns with OSHA’s longstanding construction of the act.”
A coalition of business groups filed a lawsuit challenging the rule on Tuesday. The legal filing argues that the rule violates business owners private property rights and asked that its enforcement be delayed or vacated altogether.
“OSHA upended over 50 years of precedent by dramatically expanding the type of third parties allowed to accompany inspectors during walkarounds,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in its announcement of the lawsuit.
The chamber also pointed to a news release where the American Federation of Government Employees suggested that the new rule would help unions organize in new territories.
“OSHA’s new walkaround rule is the Administration’s latest regulation to take a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to promoting unionization at all costs,” Marc Freedman, vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Employment Policy Division, said in a statement. “OSHA claims this rule is about workplace safety, but as some union organizers have publicly admitted, this rule is about gaining access to nonunionized workplaces to advance their organizing campaigns.”
The Anchorage Assembly received leaked copies of alleged text messages that were on an internal team communication app known as “Slack” between members of the contract company Henning, Inc., which appear to show people who are in charge of managing the homeless shelters joking about using cigarettes, coffee, and bus passes to incentivize their homeless clients to vote. There was also some idle chatter about having a Glock firearm handy and boxing gloves.
During the Assembly meeting Tuesday, members of the Assembly all had copies of the text messages that Chairman Chris Constant entered into the record and the agenda. The copies of the text messages were provided by the Anchorage Clerk, who works for the Assembly, but the source of the messages was not revealed on the record. The packet was an “Assembly Informational Memo” submitted for the Assembly to discuss by Chairman Constant was not revealed by the Assembly.
Some of the text messages were posted on X.com by a member of the Anchorage community. They are clearly out of context:
Assemblyman Daniel Volland said that reviewing the messages gave him further doubts about whether Henning should ever be awarded another bid, due to these communications and other complaints the city has received.
However the contract with Henning was extended or the 56th Street operation by a vote of 10-0, with member Meg Zaletel recused and Scott Meyers absent.Henning manages homeless operations on 56th Street, at the Golden Lion hotel, and has managed some of the operations at the Alex Hotel and Aviator Hotel during the cold-weather months of operation.
Some of the text messages that the Assembly found disturbing were between Henning employees and Alexis Johnson, who is the Anchorage Health Department housing services division manager.
The Assembly generally concluded that personnel and contract matters like this should begin with the department itself and that they would circle back to the matter if no action was taken by the city. Mayor Dave Bronson did not attend the meeting on Tuesday to respond.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski celebrated her birthday in style on Wednesday. Students from Thorne Bay, Alaska, were in the nation’s capital and sang her “Happy Birthday,” along with Sen. Tim Scott, of South Carolina.
Scott has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate for Donald Trump. But Trump and Murkowski are sworn enemies. Murkowski has hinted she will leave the Republican Party if he is elected. Scott being caught in the middle of those two can only mean one thing: He won’t be the vice presidential nominee for Trump.
Murkowski was born May 22, 1957, making her now 67 years old. Born in Ketchikan three years before Statehood, she has spent the past 24 years in the U.S. Senate — more than one-third of her life as a senator. She is 14th in seniority in the Senate and her current term ends Jan, 3, 2029.
