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How will the legalization of marijuana for "medical" purposes affect you, your family, your community and our nation?

What everyone should know about marijuana

 

Think about these issues:

 

All About Marijuana: Research, Trends & Truth

 

Every dangerous and addictive drug was once believed to be safe and medicinal.  Cocaine, heroin and nicotine were once advertised as being good for you , or at least not harmful.  In every instance, we have learned otherwise--- the hard way.  Marijuana is the newest "safe" and "medicinal" drug to reenact this tragic drama.  Just as scientific research is documenting the unequivocal public-health and public-safety dangers of marijuana, states are moving rapidly toward legalization and decriminalization.

                 

 

If you care about academic performance in your neighborhood schools particularly middle & high schools and colleges you should oppose legalization of marijuana.

 

WHY?
  • Because marijuana use negatively effects motivation, memory, AND learning. (1)
     
  • Because youth with an average grade of D or below were more than four times as likely to have used marijuana in the past year than youth with an average grade of A. (2)
     
  • Kids with an average grade of D or below are FOUR times more likely to have used marijuana in the past year than kids with an average A.(3)

1 National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Marijuana: Facts Parents Need to Know.” 2011. Available: www.nida.nih.gov/marijbroch/parents/001.php
2 Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA’s National Household Survey on Drug Abuse Report—Marijuana Use among Youths. July 19, 2002. Available at www.samhsa.gov/oas.nhsda.htm.

3 National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Marijuana: Facts Parents Need to Know.” 2011. Available: www.nida.nih.gov/marijbroch/parents/001.php  Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA’s National Household Survey on Drug Abuse Report-Marijuana Use among Youths. July 19, 2002. Available at www.samhsa.gov/oas/nhsda.htm

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If you care about your community's environment and enjoy the benefits of organic fruits and vegetables you need to know the facts.

 

WHY?

  • Because marijuana grow sites are already having major adverse environmental impacts including: (1)
    • Vastly increasing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere, which negatively effects global warming;
    • Vastly increasing fish kills from fertilizer runoff that creates toxic aquatic conditions; and
    • Poisoning watersheds with arsenic and acaracide, used to keep rodents away from the marijuana plants.
  • Marijuana legalization will further exacerbate these environmental issues  (2)
  • Medical Marijuana Poses Serious Risk to Public Health  (view excellent video pot grown in CA)

 

1 Allen, Hezekiah, Mattole Resoration Council and Scott Greacen, Friends of the Eel River. The Ugly, the Bad and (Maybe) the Good? (April 17, 2012). Available; www.treesfoundation/org/publications/article-486     
2. Aleen, Hezekiah, Mattole Reseration Council and Scott Greacen, Friends of the Eel River. The Ugly, the Bad and (Maybe) and Good? April 17, 2012.

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If you care about the elderly and terminally ill in our country you need to know the facts.

 

“Medical” marijuana users: 

  • ›5% are elderly
  • ›Only 10% of card holders have cancer, HIV/AIDS or Glaucoma
  • 90% are registered for illnesses including headaches and athlete’s foot
  • More than 80% are young adults
  • ›Most card holders in CA and CO are white men between the ages of 17 and 35 with:
    • No history of chronic illness
    • ›History of drug and alcohol use

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If you care about employment, jobs, quality of service or own your own business in your community you need to know the facts.

 

WHY?

  • Because More than 6,000 companies nationwide, and scores of industries and professions require a pre-employment drug test.(1)
           
  • Because 6.6% of high school seniors smoke marijuana every day(2), rendering them virtually unemployable.

 1 The Definitive List of Companies that Drug Test. March 2010.   Available: www.testclear.com
 2 Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E. Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 2011. Volume I: Secondary school students. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan.Available: http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/data/10data.html#2011data-drugs

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If you care about public safety on your local roads and highways you need to read the stats and know the facts.

 

WHY?

  • Because marijuana is the most prevalent illegal drug detected in impaired drivers, fatally injured drivers, and motor vehicle crash victims.(1)
  • 20% of crashes in the U.S. are caused by drugged driving.(2)
     
  • According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, drivers who tested positive for marijuana in fatal car crashes DOUBLED between 2006 and 2010.
  • A 2007 roadside survey of weekend nighttime driver showed that 8.6% tested positive for marijuana, nearly four times the percentage of drivers with a BAC of .08 or more. (3)
     
  • In a study of seriously injured drivers admitted to a Level-1 shock trauma center, more than a quarter of all drivers tested positive for marijuana. (4)

1 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Drug Involvement of Fatally Injured Drivers. U.S. Department of Transportation Report No. DOT HS 811 415. Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2010.   
2 The Institute for Behavioral Health, “Reduce Drug Impaired Driving.” 2010. Available: http://www.ibhinc.org/dd.html     
3 Compton, R., and Berning, A. Results of the 2007 National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers. Traffic Safety Facts Research Note. 2007.   
4 Romano, E, and Voas, R. B.; Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Drug and Alcohol Involvement in Four Types of Fatal Crashes, June 2011. 

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If you care about the youth drug rate and addiction you need to know the facts.

 

WHY?

  • Because among youths age 12 to 17, marijuana usage rates were higher in states with medical marijuana laws (8.6%) compared with those without such laws (6.9%).(1)
     
  • About 10% of all people who try marijuana will become daily users
     
  • Regular marijuana use during adolescents found to increase risk 2 to 5 times of developing psychosis, schizophrenia, anxiety and depression in adulthood.  For More Information

 1 Wall, M. et al (2011). Adolescent Cannabis Use from 2002 to 2008: Higher in States with Medical Cannabis Laws, Cause Still Unclear, Annals    of epidemiology, Vol 21 issue 9 Pages 714-716.                                                                                                         (BACK TO TOP)

If you care about the economy today and in the future you need to know the facts.

 

WHY?

  • The total overall costs of substance abuse in the U.S., including productivity, health and crime- related costs, exceed $600 billion annually.
    • This includes approximately:
      $193 billion for illicit drugs(1)
      $235 billion for alcohol (2)
      $193 billion for tobacco (3)  

 

  • Federal and state alcohol taxes raise $14.5 billion, covering only about 6% of alcohol’s total cost to society.(4)
•Federal and state tobacco taxes raise $25 billion, covering only about 13% of tobacco’s total cost to society.(5)

1 US, Dept of Justice NDIC, The Economic Impact of Illicit Drug Use on American Society, 2011.
2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs—2007. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; October 2007.)
3 Rehm J, Mathers C, Popova S, Thavorncharoensap M, Teerawattananon Y, Patra J. Global burden of disease and injury and economic cost attributable to alcohol use and alcohol-use  disorders. Lancet. 2009 Jun 27;373(9682):2223-33. [Table 4]

4 Dupont, Robert M.D., Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (1973-1978), “Why We Should Not Legalize Marijuana.” April 2010.  Available:  www.cnbc.com/id/36267223/Why_We_Should_Not_Legalize_Marijuana
5 Ibid
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If you care about the safety of medicines in our country you need to know the facts.

 

WHY?

Because there is a longstanding, effective national process in place to approve the efficacy and safety of medicines through the FDA and ballot initiatives circumvent this process

•Because there is no scientific basis for using smoked marijuana as a medicine.(1)
   1 Institute of Medicine. "Front Matter." Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 1999.\

In the United States, medications imply FDA approved.  Marijuana has not.

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Can anyone in our nation deny that the prescription drug epidemic changed our neighborhoods and community shopping centers?

 

Pill Mills on every corner throughout our neighborhoods.                                          Does this look familiar?

          

Continue reading.....

If smoking medication was the safest and most efficient way to administer medicine then why aren't drug companies investing in research to produce smokeable antibiotics? or Narcotics? or sedatives.... 

If marijuana was a viable source for medication don't you think the pharmaceutical companies would be pursuing a variety of types and dosages of legal medical marijuana?   The studies have failed to meet the standards of medicine. Think about it there is a drug store on almost every corner throughout our nation!

Who are you going to believe?  National Institute of Drug Abuse(NIDA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Association(SAMHSA), Federal Department of Agriculture (FDA), American Medical Association, American Cancer Society and American Academy of Ophthalmology   or (in Florida) a personal  injury attorney who spends $45 Million per year on advertising?

 

Continue reading additional information ....

EXCELLENT RESOURCES
Marijuana- National Institute of Drug Abuse- Explores the latest research on marijuana, including the scope of marijuana use in the U.S., health consequences, its effects on every-day activities, available treatments. 
PowerPoint addressing issues of addiction, decrease in IQ, driving consequences, brain developmental changes.....

Great Article: 

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-11-19/news/fl-viewpoint-medical-marijuana-20131119_1_accepted-medical-use-medical-marijuana-marijuana-abuse

Grady Judd: Medical marijuana is a sham

 

November 19, 2013|By Grady Judd

 

If you thought the medical marijuana initiative was intended to truly help those debilitated by serious diseases, think again.  Authors of the amendment have included a truck-sized loophole in the definition of debilitating diseases, which changes the word disease into "condition." And what constitutes a valid "condition?" Any condition where the "use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health risks" of someone who claimed to be sick. This means people who alleged minor ailments such as muscle spasms, neck pain, back pain and even menstrual cramps have qualified for government sanctioned pot smoking.

The "medical marijuana" initiative is a sham and straight out of the pot legalization play book from other states. Yet I believe Floridians are smarter than these pot promoting hucksters think.

Major medical organizations — including the American Medical Association, American Cancer Society and American Academy of Ophthalmology — have all agreed that marijuana has not been proven as a safe or effective form of medicine. The Drug Enforcement Agency classification lists marijuana as a highly addictive drug bearing no proven medical value — declaring marijuana is a harmful drug.

I'm sure many of you have likely heard the recent radio commercials featuring John Morgan of the law group Morgan and Morgan, attempting to gain a sympathy vote by telling you that medical marijuana can help fight diseases such as cancer, AIDS, ALS and glaucoma — a position that is rejected by medical professionals. Who are you going to believe? Knowledgeable physicians or a personal injury attorney who stands to make millions of dollars from future lawsuits surrounding marijuana?

 

Allowing medical marijuana will generate a cycle of problems. Teens will have marijuana readily available to them creating the potential of addiction; while industrial accidents could create an increase in workers' compensation cases. Traffic crashes from drivers high on marijuana will certainly increase. Floridians could find property values decrease in areas where pot shops and production occur.

Long term continued use is associated with respiratory illness and cognitive impairment and increased crime rates since passing the legislation in states that have passed medical marijuana laws.

 

Lawmakers and law enforcement have worked tirelessly to get Florida's crime rate to its current 42-year low. Let's not roll back that progress by legalizing a drug with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Join with your Florida Sheriffs and other law enforcement agencies — those who have seen first-hand the tragedies associated with marijuana abuse, as we fight this initiative.

Grady Judd is Sheriff of Polk County and the current president of the Florida Sheriffs Association.