[photo] Tiffany Wigginton Carnal with her daughter Lyndi at Children's Hospital.(Photo: Provided) Tiffany Wigginton Carnal is in the fight of her life to save her daughter. Lyndi Carnal, 17, has Crohn's Disease, an inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss and malnutrition. Lyndi was diagnosed when she was 14. Since that time, she and her mother have spent three Christmases, three New Year's Days and countless other days at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. [continues 545 words]
We are in the midst of a heroin epidemic started when we cracked down on the use of legal use of pain medicine as well as the illegal usage as by restricting a doctor's ability to prescribe pain medicines. Forcing patients into the illegal market has resulted in soaring opioid use and overdose deaths with our legislators scrambling to get a hold on this self-created disaster. Overdose deaths are still in the thousands here in Kentucky, and a drop of a single death brings stories of possibly getting a drop of two deaths if we only try harder. Our lawmakers are ignoring legislation that can eliminate as much as 33 percent of these deaths. [continues 85 words]
The sheer size of Tuesday's crushing electoral defeat of marijuana legalization in the Buckeye State surprised political experts inside and out of Ohio. Despite a $20 million campaign, Issue 3 lost. Amid its smoking wreckage, six reasons emerge to explain what happened to Issue 3 - and what happens next. The business plan. "Boy, that word monopoly. It's been an ugly word in politics since Theodore Roosevelt's day," political scientist David Niven at the University of Cincinnati said Tuesday night. Issue 3 was unique in the history of the modern legalization movement in that it would have written into the Ohio Constitution provisions to limit the cultivation of the state's crop to 10 already-chosen properties. Issue 3's backers said the plan's advantage would have been to allow the state to tightly regulate marijuana at the grow source. The technical term for such an economic model is oligopoly. But the term "monopoly" got slapped on Issue 3 from the outset, and Issue 3 backers could never run it down. [continues 640 words]
As a local pediatrician, I feel I must weigh in on the legalization of marijuana. Ohio, please don't do it. Medicinal purposes are one thing, but the current issue legalizes recreational use. The bottom line is this: we know that regular marijuana use under the age of 26 lowers the IQ and that marijuana is a gateway drug. Another thing, just because you can tax something doesn't mean you should legalize it. Charles Kelly, M.D., Lakeside Park [end]
I wanted to enlighten many to the untold consequences of pot legalization that I have seen first hand at work. Moral issues aside, the legalization of pot in many states has led to an explosion (both literally and figuratively) of fire losses. In those states that have legalized pot, there is no way to prevent "legal" pot from being used to make butane hash oil (BTO). You just simply blast your "legal" pot with butane (lighter fluid), cook the left off over THC/lighter fluid mix (what could go wrong there), and smoke, eat or otherwise consume the dark sludge which is a much better high. I have been involved in 8 figure losses due to butane hash explosions and I would prefer not to handle those types of claims in Ohio too. Luckily, since I'm just a property claim's guy, I will just have to handle the property damage claim, not the fatality claims. Josh Schaad, Blue Ash [end]
Wake up, Ohio voters! Issue 3 is not about legalization of medicinal marijuana. It is snake oil being sold to the public as the legalization of medicinal marijuana. The collateral damage of Issue 3 is a few rich people get richer and our kids, schools, businesses and communities pay the price. I will go out on a limb and say that the majority of Ohio voters want medicinal marijuana legalized as it is in 23 other states and Washington, D.C. Why not let our lawmakers and medical professionals draft a bill that accomplishes this task all while not amending our state's constitution to protect private business interests? David Denoyer, Kenwood [end]
The writer of the letter to the editor on marijuana leading to cocaine and heroin abuse is woefully misinformed ("Marijuana leads to cocaine, heroin abuse" Oct. 29). Marijuana is no more a gateway drug than alcohol, and alcohol is readily available on every other corner. Often people argue against marijuana legalization by saying that people who use heroin started with marijuana. This is backwards thinking, as the question they should ask is how many people who have smoked marijuana have moved onto heroin. It is a negligible percentage. Rather, the measure of whether people will start abusing heroin is whether or not they have abused legally-or illegally-obtained prescription opiate pills. [continues 89 words]
"I feel like no one can get me - I am a zombie. I have special powers . nobody can kill me. ... They can shoot at me, but I still keep goin'. I'm powerful and can see the future." Script from a bad sci-fi movie? I only wish. This is a quote from a youth charged with felonious assault with a firearm - a crime that has become routine on my docket as I preside by Supreme Court assignment in the Hamilton County Juvenile Court. [continues 513 words]
At this very moment, a child in Lorain may be having a seizure and a cancer patient in Amherst is undoubtedly in the fight of her life. A veteran in Elyria, in the throes of depression brought on by PTSD, may be thinking the unthinkable. These people are why we need to act this November. Many chronically ill Ohioans suffer from diseases that can be effectively treated with cannabis, but this medicine is currently illegal in Ohio due to marijuana prohibition. For the first time in Ohio's history, we have a chance to end this tragically flawed policy. A yes vote on Issue 3 will end cannabis prohibition and give Ohio's patients a fighting chance at a better life. [continues 347 words]
The State Estimates Far Less in Tax Revenue Than Responsibleohio, but It Adds a Lot of Ifs About Its Own Calculations The state issued a rough estimate Friday of how much tax revenue a legal marijuana market in Ohio would raise, predicting that a full year of operation could bring in between $133 million and $293.3 million. Those figures are far lower than the $553 million estimated by ResponsibleOhio, the private investor group backing the legalization initiative, called Issue 3. [continues 538 words]
There may come a time when Ohioans will vote on a pot legalization measure that fits the state. It won't happen this year. Ballot Issue 3 is a bad idea for Ohio. Issue 3 would alter the state constitution to legalize marijuana. But the measure comes with serious additional baggage. It would award the commanding heights of this new sector of the economy the manufacturing of Ohio-legal pot to those investors who spent millions on their campaign to put the issue on the ballot. It would shield their rich reward by constitutionally enshrining their right to the market and fixing in place the tax rate they would pay. [continues 318 words]
We all know heroin use is an epidemic in our area. But what are our local leaders and institutions doing or not doing to fight it? This year the Enquirer will be focusing on accountability and solutions to the region's heroin problems. WASHINGTON - Shawn Ryan needs Congress to lift the federal cap on the number of heroin addicts he can treat, so he and other Cincinnati-area physicians don't have to turn away patients desperate to stop using. Charmaine McGuffey needs funding for a medical detox unit, so she and other officials at the Hamilton County Jail don't have to rely on flu medicine for inmates in severe withdrawal. [continues 949 words]
Despite their good intentions, Bob and Hope Taft are misguided and misinformed regarding Issue 3 ("Marijuana dangerous to kids, adults" Sept. 24). They call the amendment the "worst public policy proposal" they have seen, but their conclusion is specious when one considers the facts: Since marijuana was legalized in Colorado, traffic fatalities are down 6 percent, arrests are down 10 percent, violent crime and heroin overdose deaths are down and teen use of marijuana is down 2 percent. Bob and Hope are simply wrong that Issue 3 will legalize candies and other edibles that are "inviting to children." The third paragraph of the amendment clearly states that edibles will not be "manufactured, packaged or advertised in ways that create a substantial risk of attractiveness to children." What edibles are actually sold in Ohio will be determined by a newly created and independent Ohio Marijuana Control Commission. [continues 140 words]
I must respond to Auditor Dave Yost's pronouncement that decriminalization is good enough. Marijuana laws have been used to harass and keep the civilian population in check since they were first proposed ("Marijuana laws already lax" Sept. 2). In California, marijuana prohibition started as a way to push Mexicans back across the border because, wait for it, Mexican immigrants were crossing the border and taking American jobs during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Now where have we heard that before? Blacks and other minorities were targeted also. The first drug czar was quoted as saying that marijuana should be illegal because it makes black men think they are as good as white men. [continues 198 words]
I am appalled ResponsibleOhio would use such a mascot to promote marijuana ("Meet Buddie: Marijuana mascot" Aug. 28). We all know marijuana is a gateway drug. You are encouraging this illegal substance by using this mascot. We don't need our young ones high and going around like zombies and ruining their lives You know it is geared to our young children. You mention that in the article by sending Buddie to college campuses. This is disgusting, not creative and exciting as stated. Then it mentions creating 10 marijuana farms. The Enquirer previously mentioned the 10 farms that were bought. This should have been a lottery to keep things fair. ResponsibleOhio is the most irresponsible organization ever. Joanne Nie, Norwood [end]
One of Ohio's oldest marijuana-legalization group has kicked out its president for supporting the ResponsibleOhio effort to legalize marijuana in Ohio. Rob Ryan of Blue Ash was removed in June as leader of the Ohio chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). The decision comes amid escalating tensions among Ohio's marijuana activists over how to legalize. Ryan and others see ResponsibleOhio as an important step forward. Others see the well-financed effort as wealthy people manipulating the political system to cut out the little guy from what could be a billion-dollar industry in Ohio by 2020. [continues 861 words]
The "ick" factor is the product of decades of propaganda that is clearly demonstrated by the following quote from the father of the War on Drugs, Richard Nixon ("Marijuana support group needs new name" June 22). From the mouth of Richard Nixon: "You know it's a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish." And, "the whole problem is really the blacks." (Reference: Recorded in the White House tapes in conversations between Richard Nixon and H.R. Haldeman on May 26, 1971, at 10:03 a.m. in the Oval Office and documented in "The Haldeman Diaries," being published by G.P. Putnam's Sons). The real "ICK" factor is this drug war waged against our own people that really is the hidden tool of deep-rooted hatred and racism. Robert R. Ryan, president, Ohio NORML [end]
Victor Carman's letter ("Colorado seeing more pot overdoses, seizures" June 20) uses the old adage that 90 percent of heroin users smoked marijuana and thus it should not be considered for legalization. It is also true that 97 percent of heroin users drank milk as babies. Should we now outlaw milk? Charles Steinau, Colerain Township [end]
Will the Enquirer please tell Chris Stock ("The Road To Legalization" June 18) that his first instincts were correct. Marijuana does carry an "ick factor." About 50 years ago the doctor in charge of the drug ward of the main New York City Hospital was interview on one of the networks. This doctor reported that 95 percent of their addicted patients started with marijuana and then through need graduated to the stronger drugs. This sounds like a real "ick factor" to us. Also Enquirer, could you give the "ResponsibleOhio some sort of new moniker? Every time we read "ResponsibleOhio" it makes us ill. Maybe you could rename them "SlickAndSickOhio." Nelson Leist, Mason [end]
There are some misperceptions about how marijuana legalization has rolled out in Colorado, as shown in the op-ed "Legal pot? Look at Colorado before leaping" (May 15). Anderson Township resident John M. Kunst Jr., who spends considerable time in Colorado, makes a number of off-base claims about the situation there since the 2012 passage of an initiative legalizing marijuana. As principal author of ResponsibleOhio's ballot initiative, which if passed by Ohio voters this fall would legalize marijuana for personal and medicinal, I offer these point-by-point responses. [continues 636 words]
