BUTLER TWP — Lately, the government sure wants to talk about marijuana.

A panel of men in Butler County Community College's Succup Theater Tuesday night spent two hours talking about recreational marijuana, less than three months after Lt. Gov. John Fetterman visited Slippery Rock University to discuss the same topic. Tuesday night's crowd of about 30 was organized by a county government office and featured a federal speaker funded by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

As the participants fielded questions, all seemed to agree that they wished these conversations began sooner.

“We need more information,” said District Attorney Richard Goldinger. “We need more studies.”

The night's keynote speaker, Dale Quigley, made similar points. Quigley is the deputy coordinator for the National Marijuana Initiative for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Program.

“The research we have on marijuana today is just lacking,” Quigley said.

Jason Beckwith, the founder of Butler's Action in Recovery group, said he doesn't have a personal problem with legalization, but he offered the familiar caveat.

“I don't have a problem with it, I really don't,” Beckwith said. “I have a problem with the unraveling of something before the research is in.”

The night's panel, which was hosted by Butler County's Drug and Alcohol program, was meant to provide local citizens with an informed look at how marijuana legalization is going in Colorado since the state legalized recreational use in 2012. Quigley is a former police officer from the state.

Quigley offered a sobering look on the subject of legal weed. He noted that tax revenues aren't yet the boon they were hoped to become, and he walked the crowd through various problems that have arisen, such as misconceptions about potency and confusion with innocuous looking edible marijuana products.

Before beginning, he said in an informal interview that the talk wouldn't delve into his own opinions.

“I have my own opinion about the drug, but this isn't the place for that,” Quigley said. “My opinion doesn't matter.”

In his actual lecture, Quigley's opinion sounded clear. He complimented one study, saying its description of marijuana called it a “scourge of the Earth. It had all the right verbiage on it.” He showed a photo of one family in Colorado with marijuana plants: “This is a family that was growing. They're now divorced. How about this for a Christmas card?” On young people's perceptions of marijuana, he asked, “Where is the sense of harm?”

He showed some statistics indicating an increase in accidents since the drug was legalized in Colorado, but noted that the state's population has also increased dramatically in the time period. He showed several slides of vehicle statistics, but couched each by saying “I'm not saying that marijuana causes these accidents.”

So why all the marijuana talk, if the experts don't feel comfortable with the data? The panel painted a sense of inevitability around recreational legalization.

Before the event, Beth Ehrenfried-Neveux, the county's drug and alcohol supervisor, described the event as a way to start conversations and preparations for possible legalization efforts.

“In my opinion, it's going to happen,” Goldinger said. “And it's going to happen sooner than we want it to.”

After all, the lieutenant governor finished his listening tour last month.