Paul LePage Warns Maine Against ‘Deadly’ Marijuana Legalization In Over-The-Top Video

America’s most ignorant governor is at it again.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) released a false and misleading video on Thursday in an attempt to convince residents to vote “no” on “Question 1,” a marijuana legalization referendum on the state’s ballot in November.

“Question 1 is not just bad for Maine, it can be deadly,” LePage warns, before claiming traffic fatalities have gone up in Colorado since the state legalized recreational pot.

In the video, LePage also asserts that marijuana is three times stronger than it was several decades ago. He then links the drug to the state’s serious heroin and opioid epidemic, alleging that “people addicted to marijuana are three times more likely to be addicted to heroin.”

He goes on to describe a dystopian future in which children and pets die from accidentally consuming “marijuana snacks,” and in which drug culture impinges on “schools, daycare centers and churches.”

“They will smoke weed and sell pot at state fairs,” he adds. “Businesses could not fire employees for using marijuana.”

In fact, marijuana has not had a noticeable effect on traffic deaths in either Colorado or Washington state, according to a new report from the Drug Policy Alliance, which advocates progressive drug policy reforms. The report found, however, that legal marijuana has generated $500 million in tax revenue for Colorado. It also resulted in Colorado making 46 percent fewer marijuana-related arrests from 2012 to 2014.

LePage is correct that marijuana is stronger than it used to be, but that change occurred while the drug was still illegal, so it’s not clear how continued criminalization will address that concern.

And the availability of marijuana has actually proven to reduce opioid deaths. In the 23 states where medical marijuana was legal in 2014, there were nearly 25 percent fewer deaths from opioid overdoses, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Maine State Rep. Diane Russell (D) of Portland, who supports a “yes” vote on “Question 1,” believes that LePage’s video could actually help the campaign for legalization.