Pubdate: Mon, 21 Mar 2016
Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2016 The Modesto Bee
Contact:  http://www.modbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/271
Author: Roger Morgan
Note: Roger Morgan is founder of the Take Back America Campaign and a 
20-year anti-drug activist. He owns Steelheart International LLC and 
has served on the boards of the San Diego Prevention Coalition and 
the National Coalition for Student Drug Testing.

NO GOOD COMES FROM LEGALIZING RECREATIONAL WEED

Thousands of Studies Have Proven That Marijuana Should Remain a Narcotic

California Medical Association Is Dead Wrong in Giving Its Blessing 
to Weed Legalization

Be Prepared for More Psychosis, Depression, Violence and Suicides

There is money in drugs; the cartels proved that. But drug dealers 
aren't encumbered with the societal costs, which are nine to 10 times 
greater than any public revenues they generate.

That's been our experience with alcohol and tobacco, and that doesn't 
count human misery.

Adding a third legal drug would be disastrous. Prevention is the 
answer, not more drugs.

Since Proposition 215 passed in 1996, the potency of marijuana has 
escalated from the 4-to-6-percent tetrahydrocannabinol range to as 
high as 96 percent in butane hash oil or extracts used in edibles and vaping.

Under the guise of medicine, dispensaries are selling Gummy Bears, 
Heavenly Brownies and other poorly packaged and labeled products  in 
potencies that have proven poisonous  that have not been tested 
properly for contaminants.

Yet, there is a rush to legalize this drug for "recreational use."

In the last 50 years there have been more than 12,000 studies, all 
leading to the same conclusion: Marijuana is a Schedule I narcotic 
because it has no accepted medical application, can't be administered 
safety and has the potential for abuse and to do harm.

There is likely to be at least one proposition on California's 
November ballot asking voters to legalize marijuana for recreational 
use. Voters will see many names endorsing passage  including the 
California Medical Association. But there is a glitch in the CMA's thinking.

Whatever the organization's motive, its call for legalizing 
recreational marijuana so its efficacy as a medicine can be studied 
is, frankly, bizarre. It flies in the face of the Hippocratic oath: 
"First do no harm." It's also inconsistent with the position of the 
American Medical Association and all other credible medical organizations.

The AMA has called for more research, with the caveat that this 
"should not be viewed as an endorsement of state-based medical 
cannabis programs, the legalization of marijuana, or that scientific 
evidence on the therapeutic use of cannabis meets the current 
standards for a prescription drug product."

The AMA believes that cannabis is a dangerous drug and, as such, is a 
public health concern; it believes the sale of cannabis shouldn't be legal.

The idea of legalizing pot so it can be regulated and controlled 
ignores California's deplorable history of regulating "medical 
marijuana." After 19 years of legal medicinal marijuana, we have over 
50,000 cultivation sites destroying our environment, illegally 
supplying 60 percent of the U.S. market.

The CMA's support for taxing pot so we have enough money to teach 
young people not to use it is ridiculous. Experience in Colorado has 
shown the black market doesn't go away - and it doesn't pay taxes.

We agree with the CMA that there is need for education and prevention 
- - something completely lacking now. But legalization isn't necessary 
to do that.

The CMA's close relationship with the Drug Policy Alliance - whose 
board includes major Democratic Party donor George Soros - is 
discomforting, considering that Soros is at the helm of hoodwinking 
voters on this issue nationwide.

The CMA says physicians, rather than the Food and Drug 
Administration, are the best "gatekeepers' for determining whether to 
recommend marijuana.

The FDA isn't perfect, but it has set the gold standard for 
separating snake oil from real medicines for over 100 years. Its 
inspectors and scientists are the real "gatekeepers."

Physicians who recommend "medical marijuana" are on a perilous path 
for personal injury lawsuits. While isolated components of the plant 
such as cannabidiol appear to have medicinal benefits and are under 
fast-track studies by the FDA, the reality is high-THC-content 
marijuana is a dangerous drug.

The harm chronic use can cause includes permanent brain damage, loss 
of IQ, mental illness, psychotic breaks leading to violence, suicidal 
depression, addiction, birth defects, a doubling of traffic deaths 
and myriad physical problems.

For public health and safety, and to "do no harm," the CMA needs to 
change its position. And voters need to resist the temptation to 
approve recreational use of marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom