Marijuana – Page 144 – Family Council

Researchers: Marijuana Smoke as Dangerous as Tobacco Smoke

Nov 19, 2014JerryMarijuanaMarijuana

Preliminary findings in a study on marijuana reveal secondhand marijuana smoke may be as dangerous as secondhand cigarette smoke.

Matthew Springer, associate professor of medicine at University of California San Francisco and one of the authors of this newest study, says, “Both tobacco and marijuana smoke impair blood vessel function similarly. People should avoid both, and governments who are protecting people against secondhand smoke exposure should include marijuana in those rules.”

Researchers found blood vessel function in laboratory rats was reduced by 70% following exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke–similar to levels found as a result of tobacco smoke. Reduced blood vessel function can lead to serious health complications, including heart attack.

This research raises many questions. If secondhand marijuana smoke is dangerous, how safe can firsthand marijuana smoke possibly be? And just how safe are other methods of marijuana consumption? After all, many of them have not been thoroughly researched.

These latest findings underscore, once again, that marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

Read our most popular blog post of all time, “Busting the Myth Marijuana is Harmless,” here.

Marijuana Industry Donating to Candidates

Sep 29, 2014JerryMarijuanaMarijuana

We’ve said before that that any effort to legalize marijuana is going to bring unintended consequences. One of those consequences, apparently, is campaign contributions.

According to the Associated Press, members of the marijuana industry are already funneling big dollars into campaigns for marijuana-friendly candidates and ballot measures. One marijuana store owner in Denver, Colorado, was quoted as saying, “There isn’t a week that goes by where we don’t make a political donation.”

Efforts to legalize marijuana at the ballot box are seeing millions of dollars for their campaigns. Colorado’s congressional delegation has received $20,000 from marijuana advocates. Marijuana Policy Project–the group that bankrolled the 2012 effort to legalize “medical” marijuana in Arkansas–plans to give roughly $150,000 to federal candidates around the nation as well.

A looming question that remains unanswered amid all this: What will the marijuana industry do if the U.S. Attorney General decides to enforce the federal laws against marijuana?

Under federal law, it is still 100% illegal to grow, possess, or use marijuana anywhere in the country–including states like Colorado, Washington, and California. So how are people able to grow and use marijuana in these states? The U.S. Attorney General opted not to prosecute anyone “complying with state laws” on the matter. Colorado voted to legalize marijuana, and Attorney General Holder’s Department of Justice opted not to prosecute anyone opening a marijuana farm or marijuana store in that state. To put it another way, the Attorney General is ignoring the law.

Last week Attorney General Holder announced his resignation. He will remain in office until his successor is confirmed. Whoever that person is, he or she will have a choice: Continue letting the nation’s drug laws go completely unenforced in states like Colorado, or take on an industry that appears to be slowly working to elect candidates who share its views on marijuana.

Marijuana Supporters Will Gather Signatures for 2016 Ballot

Aug 18, 2014JerryMarijuanaMarijuana

Arkansans for Responsible medicine, the same Arkansas group that pushed to legalize marijuana in 2012 and 2014, has secured approval to begin gathering signatures to place a similar measure on the ballot in 2016.

The group says they plan to launch their 2016 petition drive at a picnic in North Little Rock on September 6. The same group failed by 30,000 votes in the November 2012 election. This year they were short of the 62,000 signatures needed to place the measure on the 2014 ballot.

In 2012 the group received over $750,000, mostly from out-of-state marijuana interests. In 2014 they received little funding, so they were unable to pay large numbers of canvassers to gather signatures.

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