By Roger Morgan, Take Back America Campaign #Stoppot2016
Passage of Prop 215, The Compassionate Use Act, in 1996 was a result of a propaganda campaign financed by three out of state billionaires, with George Soros at the helm. It is hard to even describe what one means by “medical marijuana.” The potency (i.e. THC) has escalated from 4 to 6% in 1996 to as high as 40% in smoked form, and 96% as Butane Honey Oil (BHO). Cannibidiol (CBD), the one component that may have therapeutic potential, has been largely bio-engineered out of the plant in favor of THC, because “patients” just want to get high.
Undeterred by the fact that manufacturing BHO is a felony, amateurs are routinely blowing up houses and apartments, killing some, badly burning others, including their kids. Survivors are filling up burn centers throughout the state, costing taxpayers millions of dollars for skin grafts and long hospital stays.
According to the California Drug Endangered Children Training and Advocacy Center (DEC-TAC), from December 2010 until April 5, 2015, 441 BHO extraction laboratories were located in California; 291 in 2014, and 53 during the first 3 months of this year. DEC-TAC reports children were present at 72 THC extraction laboratories found during this 4.5 year period, resulting in deaths of 3 children and the injury of 12 children. During the same period, 41 adults died and 140 adults were injured. The fact that it is a felony to manufacture BHO from marijuana hasn’t stopped these people.
Last year in Rancho Cordova, 146 residents were displaced because of a BHO fire. In Walnut Creek, residents of 8 apartment units were forced out of their apartments. Usually the residents who are displaced cannot readily afford a new place to live, and homeless shelters can’t handle the overflow of people.
In the meantime, dispensaries, which are nothing more than retail illicit drug outlets, sell a full range of BHO with little or no oversight or enforcement. If it’s illegal to make, or import, how can they sell it?
The impacts of marijuana on mankind have been enormous. For adolescents, and potentially anyone under age 25, marijuana can cause permanent brain damage and loss of IQ by as much as 8 points. 17% of adolescent users will become addicted; 9% of adults. Marijuana is a causal factor for mental illness, including schizophrenia and paranoia. As well, it is causing psychotic breaks leading to violent acts including mass murders and suicides. In Sacramento, 59% of arrestees test positive for marijuana; 83% for any drug.
Environmental Devastation
Aside from the human toll, California now has an estimated 53,000 cultivation sites which are destroying our ecosystems and obliterating our beautiful forest lands. By diverting water they are drying up streams to feed plants that consume 6 gallons of water per day, killing everything downstream. Pesticides, fertilizers and rodent poisons are contaminating the earth and water tables, killing wildlife and all that feed on their remains.
As the green rush compels others to come to our lawless state, quality urban and rural environments are becoming unsafe. Air quality is suffering because of the repugnant smell of pot. Residents are being threatened psychically for pushing back, trying to reclaim their right to a peaceful existence. One thing is clear. Citizens don’t want this junk in their neighborhoods, or the people that come with it. The revolt has begun and is growing.
There are several bills winding through the legislature trying to legitimatize and commercialize the cultivation and distribution of pot, and no less than 5 ballot measures calling for full legalization in 2016. Since 83% of California communities have already established bans or moratoriums on dispensaries or cultivation, it’s unlikely that legalization will pass, no matter what polls suggest. The task at hand is to enlighten people on the true harms of today’s nuclear powered pot. Most people who know the truth won’t vote for it.
California legislators and the administration openly admit that the three counties in the Emerald Triangle (Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity) produce $32 billion of marijuana under the pretense of medicine, then capture 60% of the entire US market for recreational use. That’s obviously not medicine, nor legal. Instead of fulfilling their oath of office and putting a stop to it, they are actively working on ways to tax it more effectively with no regard for the people or planet that they were elected to protect.
California has become the nation’s biggest cartel, similar to those we spent $1 trillion and 40 years trying to stop. The only difference is decapitating the competition isn’t in vogue, yet. But I wouldn’t count it out. Claiming marijuana use was a state’s right, and pot was necessary for the chronically ill, was simply a foot in the door for full legalization, the true intent of those who pushed it. The result has been a disaster for California and the nation.