WSJ Op-Ed Cites Problems with Legalizing Marijuana

Marijuana

Purple_KushToday the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed highlighting problems with legalizing marijuana in any capacity.

Among other things, the article notes:

  • Marijuana is six times more potent today than it was 30 years ago.
  • Since 2011 marijuana consumption among youth rose by 9.5% in Colorado and 3.2% in Washington even as it dropped 2.2% nationwide.
  • Marijuana businesses gravitate toward low-income and minority communities in Colorado.
  • Marijuana use during adolescence hurts IQ and increases the risk of schizophrenic.
  • Marijuana-related traffic deaths has roughly doubled in Washington and increased by a third in Colorado.

All of this underscores what we have said for years: Marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

You can read the full op-ed here.

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Don’t Be Fooled: Babies Won’t Be Helped with Issues 6 and 7

Marijuana

Kush_closeThe following blog post is by Family Council staff member Deborah Beuerman.

You may have seen the TV ad put out by those who want you to vote for legal marijuana. The ad shows a mother drawing a certain amount of liquid into a syringe and putting it in her baby’s mouth. She says the liquid comes from the marijuana plant and has made the baby’s seizures stop. She says without marijuana her baby would be lifeless in a wheelchair. Really? Why would you put a baby in a wheelchair—especially a lifeless one?

It is true that scientists and doctors are studying the marijuana derivative CBD for controlling two specific types of epileptic seizures in children. And it might turn out to be a good medicine when the studies are finished.

CBD oil appears to be what the mother is giving her baby in the ad, but the marijuana issues on our ballot are not about CBD oil or real medicine that can be measured and given to children. They are about making marijuana available for anyone to smoke, eat in candy or cookies, or drink in sodas.

Any person can claim to have pain or nausea and get a doctor’s permission slip to use marijuana. You can’t measure how much active ingredient you get in a few puffs or in a sprinkle of dried flowers.

If these ballot issues were really about giving liquid medicine to babies, why didn’t they write them that way? In the over 20 pages and 11,000 words in each measure you won’t find CBD or anything about preparing it for babies.

Don’t be fooled. VOTE AGAINST Issues 6 and 7.

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Court Removes One Bad Marijuana Measure on Technicality, Leaves Other Bad Measure on Ballot

Marijuana

The following press release is from Family Council Action Committee.

On Thursday the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Issue 7, a proposal legalizing “medical marijuana” in Arkansas, did not have enough valid petition signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Family Council Action Committee Executive Director Jerry Cox issued a statement, saying, “The court did the right thing by disqualifying Issue 7 for failing to gather enough signatures, but the court did not remove Issue 6, the other bad marijuana proposal, from the ballot. Issue 6 is just as bad as Issue 7, if not worse. Issue 6 gives a handful of businesses a powerful monopoly over the marijuana industry. It lets people buy, sell, and smoke marijuana as ‘medicine.’ It opens marijuana stores in Arkansas. Candy and soft-drinks containing marijuana will be sold as ‘medicine.’ Schools won’t be able to stop students, teachers, bus drivers, and others from using marijuana. Employers won’t be able to fire employees who test positive for marijuana. Issue 6 is a devastating proposal. Voters need to vote against Issue 6.”

Family Council Action Committee is a conservative 501(c)(4) organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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