Four potential ballot initiatives
completely legalizing marijuana are in the works for California’s next
general election, with pot advocates yet to choose the variation that
will get their concerted push.
But
one thing for sure: Whichever one they send out for signature gathering
will say nothing about the detrimental effects of the mild-altering
weed, well known a proven demotivating factor for heavy users.
The eventual pot legalization initiative (its official name is yet to
be determined) will likely tax pot producers and dealers just like other
businesses. And it will contain rules against anyone under 21 obtaining
it, like measures adopted in Colorado and Washington.
There will also be no nonsense about doctors’ recommendations, now
required for medical marijuana use under Proposition 215, the
Compassionate Use Act of 1996. Those recommendations, often faked, now
facilitate cannabis use for plenty of folks with no discernible medical
problem.
This, of course, does not change the fact marijuana has helped
plenty of cancer patients and others who need their pain alleviated, as
well as helping vision problems and other ailments marijuana often
eases.
Essentially, all this means
there is no longer much, if any, stigma attached to using marijuana.
Entrepreneurs all over California are already gearing up to market
everything from bongs to cannabis-laced fudge the moment legalization
arrives.
Acceptance of pot is so widespread that two of California’s most conservative Republican congressmen, Tom McClintock of Roseville and Dana Rohrabacher of Orange County, along with liberal Democrat Sam Farr of Monterey County, are now pushing to prevent any federal interference with legalizing the weed.
But as acceptance of marijuana has increased, both nationally and in
California, the dangers also have risen. A 2014 study in the medical
journal Current Addiction Reports (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs40429-014-0019-6)
found that using pot only once a week can lead to cognitive decline,
lower IQ and memory problems. Other studies published in the New England
Journal of Medicine and other peer-reviewed medical magazines report a
link between recreational pot use and brain abnormalities in young
adults. Some law enforcement officials report more serious problems,
too.
Not to worry, say legalization
advocates, because the age limit will keep marijuana away from
teenagers. The identical rule, of course, applies to alcohol, and how
successful is that in preventing teenage and college drinking?
Acceptance of pot is so widespread that two of California’s most
conservative Republican congressmen, Tom McClintock of Roseville and
Dana Rohrabacher of Orange County, along with liberal Democrat Sam Farr
of Monterey County, are now pushing to prevent any federal interference
with legalizing the weed.
The GOP
dominated House of Representatives passed the so-called Rohrabacher-Farr
Amendment earlier this year on a non-partisan vote, seeking to prevent
the federal Justice Department from stopping legalization anywhere. And a
McClintock-sponsored amendment that barely failed in the House would
have forbidden federal prosecution of pot dealers and users anyplace
where state laws allow recreational marijuana.
All this ignores the sometimes fatal effects of pot use reported in a
new study from the Arizona Department of Health Services. Examining all
deaths of Arizona children under age 18, the department concluded 128
fatalities in 2014 resulted from substance abuse. Marijuana was the most
prevalent substance associated with child deaths, linked to 62, far
more than alcohol or methamphetamine. This, when just 7.5 percent of
Arizonans use marijuana regularly, compared with 52 percent who use
alcohol. So there’s little doubt pot is a more serious problem for
youngsters who use it than beer or liquor.
Translate the Arizona numbers to California, six times as large but
with no similar tracking of teenage deaths, and the likelihood is that
more than 300 youthful fatalities here were tied to pot use last year.
Says Sheila Polk, county attorney for Yavapai County, Ariz., northwest
of Phoenix, “Legalizing an addictive drug that is linked to … increased
psychosis and suicidal ideas, lowered IQ, memory loss, impaired learning
and academic failure means more damaged lives and lost opportunities
for our youth. It’s unconscionable to experiment this way.”
Wrote Republican William Bennett, the nation’s first drug czar and a
former secretary of education, “Overseeing or encouraging more marijuana
use is just about the last thing a government trying to elevate (living
conditions) would do. At stake is the safety of our youth.”
Sadly, it’s unlikely voters will hear anything much like this when the
drumbeat for legalization begins in earnest late next year.
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