(Second in a series on Oregon) Measure 91 to tax and regulate marijuana is not so much a vote about legalizing marijuana as it is a vote to commercialize it. Oregon decriminalized marijuana in 1973!
“Commercialization’s goal is to privatize profit and socialize the costs,” explained one of our members in Colorado.
“Marijuana legalization rakes in another $800,000 from big out-of-state donors” was the headline in today’s Oregonian. The money will fund a $2.3 million advertising campaign.
As of October 17, the out-of-state PACs and donors have given over $4 million — 24 x the amount Vote No on 91 has raised. Yes on 91 asks Oregonians to expand its pot industry and allow recreational pot shops. — quite a stretch for the only coastal state that doesn’t commercialize its beaches. (Medical marijuana sellers who recruit so-called patients along Venice beach in California wouldn’t find it as easy in Oregon.)
No on 91 is led by conviction, not money. As the Register-Guard reports, almost all of its money is from in-state, and there’s a large group of volunteers. Oregon residents and voters tend to be independent and less corporate, so they may not follow the pack.
Moms Against 91 held a press conference in on Friday, October 17, in Lake Oswego, OR
Big Money Pushes Legalization Ballot; Monsanto Gives to GMO Opposition
Vote No on 91 has received most of its $168,200 from in-state sources. (Oregon has another ballot issue that is also being watched nationwide, Measure 92, which would require labels on genetically-modified (GMO) foods. Wealthy donors and corporate interests from both sides of that issue have donated millions. Most recently, Monsanto gave 2.5 million in opposition to Measure 92. Oregon Right to Know, in favor of Measure 92, has raised over $5.4 million, while the opposition has raised $15 million. Dr. Mercola, Ben & Gerry’s Ice Cream are amongst the supporters. )
Unlike the GMO issue, the forces against marijuana legalization have no corporate donors. Marijuana legalization advocates often claim that pharmaceutical companies fuel the opposition to legalization. It’s a false notion, because the opposition comes from the public, the prevention community and parents.
Most of the money to fund marijuana originates in the deep pockets of hedge fund billionaire George Soros, donor of Drug Policy Action, and the family of Progressive Insurance founder, Peter Lewis. Mr. Lewis died in November, but his children have continued the donations. They aren’t Oregon residents.
While Oregon’s 2 gubernatorial candidates, Gov. John Kitzenhaber and Dennis Richardson , support GMO labels, they adamantly oppose Measure 91. Gov. Kitzenhaber is a physician.
Thinking people of Oregon, please think deeply about this issue.
“I’ve seen far more examples of propaganda and unfair marketing practices than I have of reasoned arguments. Worst of all, this kind of marketing targets kids, teenagers, and college students. If we want to make progress in substance use issues, we will need facts and reason, not ploys to grab the attention of our nation’s youth.” Wharton School of Business student research analyst Theodore Caputi, recently wrote in an article,Is Pro-Marijuana Pro-Propaganda? He’d like to hear more true debate without hype.
Social Media Uses Kids, Teens, Young Adults
How did the push for marijuana legalization come about so rapidly? The answer lies in a social media campaign by a rich pro-marijuana lobby aimed at changing opinion. The Pied Piper has become the Pot Piper. Young people use social media much more than middle-aged adults and senior citizens. The largest pro-marijuana Twitter site sends out an average of 11 pro-marijuana messages per day, according to a study by Washington University psychiatry professor, Patricia Cavazo-Rehg. Cavazo-Rehg also found that the tweeters targeted Black and Hispanic youth disproportionately, much more frequently than Caucasians.
While Twitter and Facebook have been growing so much over the last decade, the federal government’s funding for substance abuse education and prevention programs has been reduced by 48% during the same time period. It doesn’t help that a national merchant, Urban Outfitters, has continuously made clothing to glorify marijuana, pill abuse, drinking and now depression.
Surveys of teens indicate they would use more frequently, if marijuana is legalized. Marijuana lobbyists say they do not advocate for usage under age 21. There’s never been a marijuana legalization initiative that would allow users under age 21. Yet, while NORML and the Marijuana Policy Project “officially” declare it’s not for children, they’ve targeted the youth who wouldn’t be allowed usage under their laws.
Studies show that children and teens have gained the false perception that pot is harmless; this change of perception began in 2005 and grew stronger after 2009, corresponding to the growth in social media over that time.
As the perceived risk in marijuana goes down, teen usage goes up, according to recently-published findings from 2013. Only Adderall, an ADHD medication, is also trending upward, and it’s being used by those without a prescription. Cigarette smoking is going down, as is adult smoking, and alcohol use is declining among teens.
Marijuana usage by children and teens has steadily grown along with the push to legalize marijuana and/or expand medical marijuana into more states. College students use more than ever, probably reflecting this trend, also.
According to the 2013 Monitoring the Future Survey findings, five-year trends show a significant increase in current marijuana use among 8th, 10th and 12th graders. For example, from 2008 to 2013, reported past-month use increased from 5.8% to 7.0% among 8th graders, from 13.8% to 18.0% among 10th graders, and from 19.4 % to 22.7% among 12th graders surveyed. Alarmingly, the survey noted that this trend coincides with a decrease in the perceived risk of harm of marijuana use among the same group of students. The annual Monitoring the Future study surveys 6th, 8th 10th and 12th grade students for daily marijuana use, past month use and lifetime use.
Of the top 23 states for teen marijuana usage, 21 of them were in states that had legalized medical marijuana.
How ironic legalization advocates would use ideas like building schools or funding early childhood education by legalizing and taxing a bad habit and dangerous substance like marijuana. As Washington and Colorado are learning, their states suddenly need to spend money to offset a new problem set of problems. Taxpayers have to pay for the unnecessary hash oil explosions that have gotten out of hand this year.
Colorado found it necessary to fund public service announcements to warn against stoned driving and against marijuana usage by those under age 21. The state has decided to spend $2 million on the “Don’t be a Lab Rat” campaign.
Create a Problem to Solve a Problem
Legalizing marijuana to collect taxes and fund drug prevention is the way to create a problem — or make a problem worse — in order to solve the problem. Taxes collected from Washington’s legalization program are supposed to go fund drug prevention programs. Already taxes in Colorado run far behind what was expected.
States that have had recent problems with pill addiction, cocaine and heroin, had greater percentages of marijuana usage in youth, in 2010-2011. They tend to have higher alcohol usage, too. When asked, Barbara Cimiglio, deputy commissioner for substance abuse in Vermont’s health department linked the heroin epidemic in Vermont to higher youth usage of marijuana. “I think what drives this up tends to be the higher use of marijuana, and if you look at the states [with high illicit drug use], they tend to be the states that have decriminalized or have more favorable attitudes toward use of marijuana,” she said.
Marijuana use in the young often creates a-motivational syndrome and apathy, in addition to and apart from the affects of addiction. It becomes more challenging for many students to keep their educational options open, get jobs and achieve their goals.
There is a connection to regular marijuana usage, gaps in college education and dropping out of high school, which often hinders future success. “Chronic/heavy marijuana users are twice as likely to experience gaps in college enrollment as minimal users, ” according to Dr. Robert DuPont, Director of the Institute for Behavior and Health, in Rockville, MD.
Researchers at Northwestern University recently published their studies indicating the changes on specific parts of the brain, and the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) has written about some of those findings.
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry warns about marijuana and young minds: “Marijuana’s deleterious effects on adolescent brain development, cognition, and social functioning may have immediate and long-term implications, including increased risk of motor vehicle accidents, sexual victimization, academic failure, lasting decline in intelligence measures, psychopathology, addiction, and psychosocial and occupational impairment.”
Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell should speak out against the growing usage of marijuana at younger ages. The current spike in middle school and high school students using marijuana means that the time is now!
This 4-1/2-minute video by Heather Sells of CBN News, Clearing the Smoke: The Real Costs of Legal Pot, exposes what legalizing means for the children of Colorado.
Twice as many 8th graders in Denver use pot than elsewhere in the country. Tax revenue is less than expected. Wake up Americans to the hidden costs of marijuana legalization. It is a great video to show if your politicians are promoting legalization.
Here’s the web article, published with the video in April 2014.
Two Is Enough D. C. has formed to fight off marijuana legalization in the District of Columbia this fall. Although it has taken years to reduce the smell and litter of cigarettes, the public health benefit could be erased and replaced with the widespread infiltration of marijuana smoke.
Polls show that DC voters favor legalization, but they need to look at what has happened in Colorado and Washington state. One wonders how, after seeing what alcohol and tobacco do to health, voters can want a third vice. The answer appears to be the huge amount of money backing full legalization.
The Money Behind Marijuana
The change of public opinion has gone hand-in-hand with the large influx of money to fund marijuana legalization. Since the early 1990s, money-fund manager George Soros has been providing financial backing to groups such as the Marijuana Policy Project. Together Soros and the late Peter Lewis donated approximately 100 million dollars to legalization and medical marijuana campaigns. The well-organized marijuana lobby has gained some backers in Congress: Dana Rohrabacher of California, Jared Polis of Colorado, Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Stephen Cohen of Tennessee.
Laws revolving around marijuana have gradually changed. Support is especially strong in the western states, where politics involves personal freedom and individual rights. A movie released in 2011, Guns and Weed, reflects the views of many who have advocated for this freedom. Unfortunately, the freedom issue has become stronger than protecting children. Legalization legitimizes a vice and promotes the greed of both dealers and governments, at the expense of future generations.
The normal course for changing marijuana laws has been decriminalization, followed by introducing medical marijuana and finally allowing voters to tax and regulate. About a year ago, medical marijuana was implemented in the district. This spring the city council voted to decriminalize pot, with a $25 fine.
Only one city council member in Washington, DC, Yvette Alexander, stood firm against the measure. The fine for kids smoking marijuana in public is now less than the fine for smoking cigarettes. It is likely that the marijuana lobbyists, such as NORML and Drug Policy Action Committee, have worked long and hard to gain the support of politicians in Washington, DC.
Typically voters don’t even notice what is happening because these lobbying groups talk only from the side people going to jail or the inefficiency of drug wars and suggest that drug money could go to governments instead of criminals. The first medical marijuana initiative passed in California back in 1996. California voters rejected full legalization in 2010, despite being outspent 10 to 1.
How Congress Can Respond
One member of Congress, Andy Harris of Maryland, a physician, has tried to stall the implementation of decriminalized marijuana in Washington, citing the negative effects it has on children. The marijuana lobby waged an expensive, negative advertising campaign against Harris and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who has also stood firm against the pot lobby.
Congress has the ability to slow legislation in the district. A House budget bill passed last month included a provision to block not only a legalization effort but the decriminalization bill that is now in effect. Rep. Harris argued that the law has no drug-treatment component, even for minors, and that the fine for a young teen who is caught with a joint would be half that of the city’s $50 ticket for underage smoking of a cigarette.
A three-member D.C. Board of Elections voted unanimously today to approve the ballot initiative. Malik Burnett, leader of the D.C. Cannabis Coalition, turned in more than 57,000 signatures to get the referendum on the November ballot. However, he was not sure how Congress would ultimately react to this legalization effort, but he said that the vote “will send a message that D.C. is serious about reforming its marijuana laws.”
