MendezEnrique / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

I want to make clear this viewpoint is from a leadership perspective and NOT a political view. It has plenty to do with the decline in leadership of core moral values that has made America a great country, and Colorado and Washington great states respectively. I have been following this issue with a keen interest for some time and feel now is an appropriate time to share my thoughts. I have arrived at this conclusion largely due to Wyoming being a peripheral state to Colorado.

As many of you know Colorado and Washington have recently embraced the use of marijuana. I have no real issues with people using marijuana, but here is where the real rub comes in. Does Peyton Manning really want to be associated with retiring after the “Pot Bowl”?

Seriously now; During this time when Colorado and Washington are embracing (according to federal law) an illegal drug, for the sake of revenue, Colorado has lost to the state of Wyoming (so far) three legal revenue generating manufactures.

abcovey / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

An even deeper look at the issue of safety shows these states are lacking in judgment and are neglecting to provide their residences reasonable safety measures for a “few more dollars”. This is also indicative of a continued moral decline in leadership of both the Federal and State governments by telegraphing the message, “You don’t have to step up and be responsible, we’ll lower our standards to meet you where you are”. Meanwhile signaling danger to all who travel the highways as well.

The short term effects afforded the states are as follows:

1. Marijuana manufacturers in CO & WA cannot open bank accounts. Federal law dictates that banks who do so are in violation and can be prosecuted for money laundering (drug money).
2. Manufacturers must now deal huge amount of cash which has made them easy targets for robbery. Meanwhile Colorado has been chipping away at the Second Amendment protections forcing legal arms manufactures to seek friendlier places of business, sending the message that “drug money is better than arms to defend oneself”.
3. Marijuana manufactures in both Colorado and Washington must now be aware that they are prime targets of the Central American drug cartel because these states have “robbed” the cartel of substantial lucrative drug markets.

Due to this now mandated use of an illicit drug these states find themselves at odds with the Federal government. There is no apparent leadership in Washington DC that is willing to speak out against these mandates with all relevant data showing the obvious; marijuana is a gateway drug. I have include here for you the most recent statistics indicating the direction these states are most likely to lean with the approval of the next “street legal drug”. http://marijuanaaddictiontreatment.org/statistics-facts.html

Daniel Piotrowski / Foter.com / GNU Free Documentation License

The absence of authentic leadership from the federal government and state levels on this issue also has many businesses reeling from its effects. There is not a transportation related business in CO or WA that doesn’t have to adhere to the federal regulations of drug testing, on pre-hiring, post hiring, and a random testing basis. The absence of leadership indicates the federal and state governments have knowingly and willingly diluted the prospective transportation based employment pool. I would speculate that even these state and local governments require drug testing as well for their own employment, if not…there’s another problem!

Other long term effects to embracing drug use:

1. Declining health among states residences.
2. Requiring border states to “lower” standards used in drug enforcement.
3. Exposing both residents and law enforcement personal to increased drug related crimes.
4. Many other drug and crime related effects can be found at: http://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs44/44849/44849p.pdf

With all this in mind one would have to ask, is the federal and state governments in the early stages of dictating to transportation businesses and state governments that they MUST lower their standards to hire (known drug users) employees who are under the influence?

marsmet473a / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

What happened to people in leadership at levels of influence where the message is now given that “giving your best”, and “safety matters”, are not no longer relevant?

Is leadership today even concerned about the authenticity of the skill sets they display?
To CO & WA…how low will you really go?

Because we simply have the power to make something legal under the law does not mean it is ethically or morally right.

How much as government leaders do we contribute to the failure of the next generation?

Drug use may not affect you personally, but say nothing and do nothing long enough…it will hit home!

For more news concerning the continued decline in leadership, see the breaking news article at: www.forbes.com/sites/jacobsullum/2014/01/24/eric-holder-promises-to-reassure-banks-about-taking-marijuana-money-very-soon/