Gabrielle Antolovich interviewed Kenneth Vereschagin MD [a pediatrician in SJ] and Carla Lowe on a TV show she hosts called Perspectives on Healthy Living. Visit StopPot2010 on Youtube for more information.
Marijuana
Marijuana - Permanent Damage to the Brain
For most of history, scientists believed that the human brain was fully developed by the time a child reached age 10. We now know it isn’t fully developed until the mid-twenties, or later, and until it is it is much more vulnerable to harm and addiction.
California City and County Listings of Illegal Store Front Ordinances
To date, hundreds of California cities have banned, or established a moratoria against illegal store fronts (pot shops), while far fewer cities have created ordinances allowing for illegal store fronts.
Marijuana Legalization Proposition is a Train wreck
From the 1996 Prop 215 that brought us so-called medical marijuana (nothing medical about it), allowing anybody to smoke pot who has 150 bucks in their pocket and claims any alignment, to today’s all out far-left agenda of overall drug legalization, comes Proposition 19 – another train wreck for disaster California.
Marijuana, Lets Just Talk Insanity
California Governor Schwarzenegger opened Pandora’s Box when he asked that we look at the experience of other countries to see if California should legalize marijuana to help fix the budget. He should have access to the best scientific evidence available which would obviate the need to even pose the question.
Marijuana, It's Not Medicine!
Smoked marijuana has no accepted medicinal value. Research continues with THC, the main psychoactive element in marijuana. But according to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), the agency that America has used since 1906 to determine the safety and efficacy of medicines, smoked marijuana offers no medicinal value.
Taxing Marijuana won't help the budget.
The National Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University reports that for every $1 in tax revenues collected for alcohol and tobacco equates to $8.95 in social costs...
Prop 215, Medical Marijuana Hoax
The term “medical marijuana” was coined in 1979 by Keith Stroup, Founder of NORML as a “red herring” to give marijuana a good name, as a first step toward legalization for recreational use.
Marijuana Relief Doesn't Mean It's Medicine
The recent $8.6 million study by UC San Diego which was orchestrated by Senators Vasconcellos and Leno was a waste of money. We knew pot could provide relief. But that doesn’t mean it is medicine, harmless or should be smoked for any reason.
Marijuana Adversly Affects Young People
America has the highest high school drop out rate of all industrialized nations (President Obama). Nationally, one-third (1.2 million kids) drop out. Preventing abuse of alcohol, tobacco and drugs is no longer an option, but a necessity, if we are to retain our standing as a nation.
Impact On Public Health
THC, the active psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, has increased from 1 to 3% percent in the early 1970’s to an average of 10.4% today ranging as high as 37%. The result? Over 120,000 emergency room visits a year where marijuana was the only cause, and 300,000 where it was a cause. 62% of people in treatment are there for addiction to marijuana than for alcohol and all other drugs combined.
Marijuana Impacts Every Aspect of Public Safety
Because marijuana is fat soluble it stays one’s system for up to thirty days, and impairs memory, judgment and motor functions for up to 24 hours after one joint. A pilot in a simulator couldn’t safely land an airplane 24 hours after one joint with THC content of 1 to 4%. (Leirer VO et.al.) Today pot is 2 to 15 times stronger.
Illegal Pot Plantations Destroy Our Forests
Mexican cartels and criminals are causing incredible ecological and environmental devastation in our National Parks and Forests.. No one is safe, neither man nor beast. To protect their valuable crop they kill anything that can eat, steal or destroy the crop including deer, bear and other wildlife …. even people who haphazardly trip across the plantations.
Regulation, Tax and Control Won't Work
Legalizing marijuana, even if it were possible by federal law, would do nothing to dissuade the Mexican cartels, and it would encourage the masses to grow marijuana plants at home. Why not? If you have a green thumb, a little garden and are a baby boomer or unemployed, this would be very appealing. One couple recently interviewed in San Francisco was making $120,000 a year on their tiny patio.
States Are Not Soverign Powers
States are not sovereign nations. It is folly to think that any state could legalize the production, distribution and sale of marijuana without inviting the full wrath of the federal government, including economic sanctions.
Prevention is The Key to Economic Recovery
Alcohol, tobacco and drugs (ATOD) are the root cause of almost all the social and economic problems of California, yet they are largely ignored. Currently, the state spends 1/3rd of 1% on prevention and the balance shoveling up the damage. This is horrible economic and social policy, and a travesty when the underlying cause is a preventable disease.
Marijuana, Major Cause of Injury Accidents
Marijuana is the illicit drug used most often (70%) by drivers who drove after drug use and is a major factor why motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for American young people (NHTSA, 2000)