by Corinne Murdock | Mar 5, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
The number of Arizona children poisoned by cannabis ingestion has more than quadrupled since the state legalized recreational marijuana.
Last year, there were 394 pediatric cases of cannabis poisoning; 60 percent of those required a hospital visit. This year-over-year spike in poisonings prompted the Arizona Dispensaries Association (ADA) and the Arizona Poison Centers to create a partnership to raise awareness. One of the campaigns will work to place signs in dispensary windows containing a QR code guiding consumers to the ADA website with information and education about safe cannabis usage.
Steve Dudley, Director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center, claimed that increasing public education and encouraging safer storage of cannabis products would lead to a reduction in these types of poisonings.
“Thankfully we know that with proper education and safe storage we can dramatically reduce these exposures and hospitalizations,” said Dudley. “We must do a better job at distinguishing toxicity from regulated products purchased at dispensaries and unregulated products from the black-market including spice and delta-8 THC.”
Yet, other states to legalize marijuana in recent decades haven’t seen increased public awareness make a dent in the ever-rising number of child cannabis consumption.
Colorado has similar regulations to prevent children from consuming cannabis products: barring the manufacture of edibles in the shape of a human, animal, or fruit; requiring sales in child-resistant packaging; prohibiting the words “candy” or “candies” on cannabis product packaging; prohibiting cartoon characters in cannabis product advertising; and requiring the inclusion of the universal THC symbol on all packaging and stamped on all edible products.
Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division indirectly admitted in an interview with KHN that these regulations do little to curb the increasing number of children ingesting cannabis products.
“When asked whether the mandates are effective, [Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division spokesperson Shannon] Gray said the Marijuana Enforcement Division has ‘observed material compliance with these regulations’ among marijuana businesses,” stated KHN.
For children, marijuana results in problems walking, sitting up, and breathing; some develop seizures. The CDC declared that child marijuana poisonings have increased wherever marijuana has been legalized. Colorado’s marijuana exposures nearly doubled the year after they legalized it, 2015; these numbers reflected a five-fold increase from 2009. In 2021, the Maricopa County Poison Control Centers reported 163 pediatric cannabis poisonings, 108 of which warranted hospital admission or emergency treatment, compared with 86 reported poisonings in 2020.
The CDC warned that children are more susceptible to the brain-damaging results of marijuana: memory, learning, attention, decision-making, coordination, emotion, and reaction time.
The CDC also notes that long-term or frequent marijuana use has been linked to psychosis or schizophrenia.
According to America’s Poison Centers (APC) National Poison Data System (NPDS), the nation’s warehouse for the nation’s 55 poison centers, there were over 7,000 children under 5 exposed to cannabinoid in 2021, over 2,300 from ages 6-12, and nearly 4,700 from ages 13-19.
Arizona legalized recreational marijuana in November 2020 through Proposition 207, which included guardrails that were supposed to prevent these pediatric poisonings: requiring manufacturers and dispensaries to use child-resistant packaging and banning the sale of cannabis products in the form of gummy worms and gummy bears. Yet, the number of pediatric poisonings has steadily increased.
Ninth Circuit Court Judge Roopali Desai authored the ballot initiative summary for Prop 207 while she was a lawyer in Phoenix. The Biden administration nominated her to the court last year.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Terri Jo Neff | Feb 19, 2023 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
A new bipartisan committee has been established by Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma to help the state cultivate its international trade opportunities.
On Feb. 16, Toma announced formation of the House Committee on International Trade, which will focus on growing Arizona’s international trade presence and stature, build relationships with international partners, enhance trade and foreign investment, and strengthen border security.
“Our state has tremendous opportunity to grow our trade footprint with international partners, and that is the intention behind this new committee,” Toma said, adding that trade “fuels our state’s economic growth, generating business and job opportunities – all which is also critical for the prosperity of Arizona families.”
The Committee on International Trade members appointed by Toma are Rep. David Cook and Rep. Justin Wilmeth as chair and co-chair, respectively, along with House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci, Minority Whip Melody Hernandez, and Reps. Tim Dunn, Mariana Sandoval, and Stephanie Stahl-Hamilton.
“We’re eager to work on building Arizona’s economy while strengthening our international relations,” Hernandez said after the announcement.
According to Toma, the Committee will be responsible for organizing visits to Arizona by international dignitaries, as well as identify and work with outside organizations to strengthen Arizona’s international trade relationships. The members are also expected to hold various hearings related to foreign trade, international affairs, and border security.
Terri Jo Neff is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or send her news tips here.
by Corinne Murdock | Feb 15, 2023 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
Public schools who refuse to have armed officers on campus won’t receive grant money for school safety.
In a press release last Wednesday announcing the latest round of $80 million in funding from the School Safety Grant Program, Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Superintendent Tom Horne told schools to prioritize having armed law enforcement. Otherwise, the superintendent said that ADE wouldn’t recommend the school for funding to the State Board of Education.
“Every school should have a law enforcement officer to protect students and staff, and this should be accomplished on an urgent basis,” said Horne. “Delay in implementing this goal could leave schools more vulnerable to a tragic catastrophe. Schools that currently have no armed presence yet submit grants applications that do not request an officer will not receive a recommendation from this Department to the State Board of Education.”
Under former Superintendent Kathy Hoffman, funding from the grant program could be applied to school resource officers or counselors. One of Hoffman’s main priorities during her first term and re-election campaign was to shrink the disparity between the number of students and counselors.
Hoffman stated that her administration slashed the student-to-counselor ratio by 20 percent. However, Horne’s administration noted that school violence has increased in recent years.
The ADE cited an increase in reported incidents of school threats, real and fake weapons found on campus, and “disturbing” social media posts inferring school violence. ADE also reported numerous receiving phone calls from Phoenix-area high school teachers about fights that, in at least one instance, risked a female teacher’s safety.
Horne noted in the ADE press release that this push for schools to have armed officers wasn’t in order to exclude other school safety measures that the program funds, such as counselors. He recalled his support for counselors as far back as 1978 during his services as a school board member, when he voted against eliminating counselors from their district.
“Schools still ought to have counselors but providing a safe school atmosphere that requires an armed presence is the first priority,” said Horne.
Horne later told ABC 15 that there wasn’t any reason why schools should refuse police protection on campuses.
“I can’t understand how anybody doesn’t understand how important it is that we be sure we don’t have any massacres in Arizona,” said Horne. “The first priority has to be the safety of the students and we don’t want a situation where 20 or 30 students are killed because no one was there to defend them.”
In a tweet, ADE posed a hypothetical, asking what a school would do if an armed “maniac” invaded a school that only had counselors and no armed officers.
Several days after ADE announced its decision on school safety grants, a 13-year-old Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District student making a “kill list” was arrested; school officials determined that the student posed a credible threat.
State Rep. Jennifer Pawlik (D-LD13) called Horne’s decision “disappointing.” Pawlik also criticized the decision to make the announcement during National School Counselors Week.
The ACLU of Arizona asserted that school safety couldn’t be achieved with police presence on campus.
In addition to this funding, ADE is working with former Phoenix Police Department leaders to provide additional safety resources and procedures to schools.
Opposition to armed officers on campus often comes from concerns over a racial divide. Tensions heightened in one school district last year over discussions of funding school resource officers (SROs), about one month after the Uvalde school shooting. Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) Board Member Lindsay Love said that she and too many others, including children and parents, felt uncomfortable with having more police officers on campus.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Feb 14, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
On Monday, Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that her office would no longer investigate social credit scores imposed by banks and other financial institutions.
Mayes said in a press release that social credit scores — or, Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) rating — were “politicized” issues that don’t merit investigation.
“While my predecessor’s administration spent time and resources launching politicized investigations into the environmental sustainability efforts of major financial institutions, my administration is committed to using the tools and resources at our disposal to protect and secure the rights of Arizonans on matters that affect their daily lives,” said Mayes. “Arizonans can expect my office to be laser-focused on issues like protecting Arizona’s natural resources – including water, combating fraud and scams, and safeguarding vulnerable groups like seniors and children.”
An ESG rating reflects the long-term environmental, social, and governance impacts an individual or company may pose, which in turn informs a banking or financial institutions’ decisions regarding investments, loans, membership, and so on. Examples of what could impact ESG scoring could include a company’s reliance on fossil fuels or an individual’s gun ownership. Last September, Treasurer Kimberly Yee prohibited the use of ESG scoring when determining state investments.
Mayes also asserted in Monday’s press release that governments couldn’t dictate corporations or their investors concerning how to invest.
“Corporations should be permitted to access capital markets in ways that they feel are necessary for the advancement of their investor objectives and for society, as long as they are doing so in a lawful manner,” stated Mayes. “Corporations increasingly realize that investing in sustainability is both good for our country, our environment, and public health and good for their bottom lines. The state of Arizona is not going to stand in the way of corporations’ efforts to move in the right direction.”
Mayes had already pulled Arizona out of an investigation involving 18 other attorneys general looking into six major American banks launched last October: Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. The attorney general told KTAR News last month that this move was part of her effort to clean house of “political lawsuits,” which she said also included challenges to President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness.
Mayes gave notice at the time that her office would be pulling out of a number of lawsuits, though she didn’t clarify which ones.
“You can anticipate that there will be a number of announcements in the coming weeks of us withdrawing from these lawsuits,” said Mayes.
Mayes’ predecessor, Mark Brnovich, launched multiple investigations over the last few years into banks and other financial institutions due to their ESG practices.
Early on in her candidacy, Mayes pledged to make fighting climate change her top priority. Mayes promised to appoint a climate director on her first day in the office; if that appointment was made, it hasn’t been made public.
Mayes, who also served as an Arizona State University (ASU) energy law professor, pledged to impose stricter enforcement of water quality and pollution laws.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Feb 12, 2023 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Out of the nearly 14,000 abortions performed in 2021, at least nine babies were born alive following a botched procedure.
The data comes from the Arizona Department of Health’s (AZDHS) latest report on abortions in the state for 2021. 2020 had the exact same number of babies born alive following a botched abortion.
AZDHS issued its latest report the day after the Arizona Appeals Court ruled that the state’s near-total, pre-statehood abortion ban couldn’t be used to prosecute abortionists. The court upheld the law codified last March, which allows abortions up to 15 weeks.
State reporting on botched abortions resulting in live deliveries went into effect in August 2017. That year, the state reported at least 10 abortions that resulted in the baby delivered alive between August and December 2017. In 2018, there were 12. Then in 2019, there were 15.
The number of abortions have fluctuated slightly over the years, marking a general upward trend since 2010, when there were more abortions performed that year than in any other year since 2004: over 11,400 abortions.
2010 was the year the state began tracking abortions, due to a newly passed law at the time. The all-time high for abortions on record in one year occurred in 2011, though this year came closer to meeting that record.
In 2011, there were over 14,400 abortions; 2012, over 13,300; 2013, over 13,400; 2014, about 12,900; 2015, over 12,600; 2016, 13,300; 2017, over 12,500; 2018, over 12,400; 2019, over 13,000; and in 2020, over 13,200.
99 percent of the 2021 abortions were administered to Arizonans.
The greatest demographic of women receiving abortions were aged 20 to 24 years old (nearly 31 percent), followed by 25 to 29 years old (27 percent), 30 to 34 years old (18.6 percent), 35 to 39 years old (10 percent), 18 to 19 years old (seven percent), 40 to 44 years old (three percent), and 15 to 17 years old (nearly two percent).
READ THE REPORT: 2021 ABORTIONS IN AZ
There were 19 total abortions administered to girls under the age of 15. According to AZDHS data, that rate declined by over 63 percent since 2012, and by over 11 percent since 2020. Likewise, teen girls aged 15 to 19 declined in abortion rates by nearly 16 percent since 2012, but did increase by six percent since 2020.
There were 31 abortions administered to women at or over the age of 45.
In 2021, about 15 percent of those who obtained abortions were married. That percentage has remained stagnant over the years, reaching a brief high of 17 percent in 2012 but ultimately averaging at about 14 percent. Unmarried women have generally made up 79 to 87 percent of abortion patients.
The largest portion of missing data concerned the educational status of the women receiving abortions. About 38 percent of that data was missing.
The following were the top-five clinics that performed the most abortions in 2021, in order: Camelback Family Planning, nearly 4,000; Family Planning Associates Medical Group, over 3,500; Planned Parenthood Tempe Health Center, nearly 1,600; Planned Parenthood Glendale Health Center, nearly 1,200; and Desert Star Family Planning, over 870. The state listed 17 facilities that performed abortions.
In addition to requiring abortion providers to report on botched abortions that result in a live birth, the state requires abortionists to use “all available means and medical skills [to] promote, preserve, and maintain the life” of the baby.
Only three abortions were partially or fully paid for using state monies through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). There weren’t any abortions paid for using state monies in 2020.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
