February 27, 2014 4:15PM # Drug Warrior Stumbles During Marijuana Legalization Hearing By [Tim Lynch](https://www.cato.org/people/tim-lynch) --- SHARE From the [*Washington Post*](http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/like-wow-police-chief-is-hoaxed-on-pot-perils/2014/02/25/42bd0592-9e94-11e3-9ba6-800d1192d08b_story.html): > Annapolis Police Chief Michael A. Pristoop thought he came prepared when he testified before a Maryland State Senate panel on Tuesday about the perils of legalizing marijuana. > > > In researching his testimony against two bills before the Judicial Proceedings Committee, Pristoop said, he had found a news article to illustrate the risks of legalization: 37 people in Colorado, he said, had died of marijuana overdoses on the very day that the state legalized pot.… > > > Trouble is, the facts were about as close to the truth as oregano is to pot. After a quick Google search on his laptop, \[State Senator Jamin\] Raskin—the sponsor of the legalization bill that was the[ subject of the Senate hearing](http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/marylanders-pack-state-senate-committee-hearing-to-debate-measures-to-legalize-pot/2014/02/25/1855019a-9e69-11e3-b8d8-94577ff66b28_story.html)—advised the chief that the Colorado overdose story, despite its deadpan delivery, had been made up for laughs by [The Daily Currant](http://dailycurrant.com/2014/01/02/marijuana-overdoses-kill-37-in-colorado-on-first-day-of-legalization/), an online comedy magazine. Ouch! For more on the momentum of marijuana law reform, check out today’s [*New York Times*](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/us/momentum-is-seen-as-more-states-consider-legalizing-marijuana.html?ref=us&_r=2). ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).