Category Archives: Editorial

Letters to Editor show chaos of pot shops in New York

The Issue: The issuing of the state’s first recreational-marijuana sales licenses to businesses.

Published in the New York Post, November 23, 2022

From the moment the state legalized the possession of certain amounts of pot, shops have been opening like wildfire in all neighborhoods of New York (“Yes We Cannabis,” Nov. 22).

Continue reading Letters to Editor show chaos of pot shops in New York

Medical marijuana users should not be allowed to own guns

Guns are a hot topic. This year a 21-year-old “isolated stoner “killed multiple people at the 4th of July Parade in his hometown. The most notable mass shooters in Illinois– the Highland Park Shooter and the Aurora factory shooter – were marijuana users, presumably heavy users. Both men were able to bypass FOID laws to buy or own guns.

Gary Martin, the disgruntled employee from the Henry Pratt factory in Aurora, IL, used a gun to kill five fellow employees in 2019.  When police arrived at the scene, they shot and killed him.

Martin had THC, caffeine, nicotine, and THC metabolites as the only drugs in his system when he died. *  Continue reading Medical marijuana users should not be allowed to own guns

Writers respond with letters about nationwide marijuana legalization

Kevin Sabet, PhD, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, wrote about The High Price of Federal Marijuana Legalization for the Wall Street Journal on August 25, 2021. In the letter, he signaled strong objections to Senator Schumer’s Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (CAOA).

This week two important letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal followed. Dr. Eric Voth wrote a letter published in the paper on Aug 31, followed by William Bingham’s letter on Sep. 1.

Dr. Voth’s letter:

What Proponents of Legal Marijuana Forget to Mention

There exists clear medical evidence of the harms of increasing access to weed.

     The letter supporting marijuana legalization from Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (“Decriminalizing Marijuana Doesn’t Address the Problem.” Aug 27)  completely ignores the medical consequences, suffered throughout the nation, of enhancing access to marijuana.

      There exists clear medical evidence of increased psychiatric difficulties with marijuana use, including violence, psychosis, schizophrenia, manic episodes, worsening depression and suicide.  Traffic fatalities increase with marijuana law liberalization, and now there is clear evidence for increased opiate overdoses linked to enhanced marijuana availability.

     Other medical consequences such as uncontrolled vomiting episodes (Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome) and cardiac complications are becoming recognized, as marijuana becomes far more potent than the ditch-weed of 40-to-50 years ago.  This carnage underpins a huge, well-organized marijuana industry that seeks to profit on the suffering of the public, exactly as we saw with the tobacco industry.

     I hope the federal efforts to legalize marijuana will wake people up to serious consequences of marijuana will wake people up to the serious consequences of marijuana use, and states will start rolling back or, at minimum, tightening marijuana statutes.  

                                                          Eric A. Voth,

The International Academy on the

                                                                          Science and Impact of Cannabis

                                                                                                                                Fairfax, Va.

(Read our description of Dr. Voth’s organization, IASIC)

William Bingham’s letter:

No Hiding from Marijuana After Federal Legalization

       I strongly oppose legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level.  (The “High Price of Federal Marijuana Legalization” by Kevin Sabet, op-ed, Aug. 25)   It should be treated as an opiate, such as codeine, and be made available only by prescription.  Both are mind-altering addictive drugs.

        In California, where cigarette advertising is tightly restricted, I have seen attractive billboards advertising marijuana dispensaries in plain view of underage kids riding in cars.  This creates ab awkward situation, but it is perfectly legal.  And because it is legal, companies face legal difficulties in firing employees who use marijuana on the job or at lunch breaks.  Marijuana use affects job performance because it is mind- altering. 

         If difficulties arise at the state level, a family or business can always move to another state.  If marijuana is legalized at the federal level, there will be no escape. 

                                                                    William B. Bingham, Fountain Valley, Calif.

Let us think before we leap. 

Opinion: Is Drug Use a Victimless Crime?

By Ron Cuff, originally published in the Paso Robles Daily News

Three Heritage Ranch residents were recently charged by San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow with the tragic death of a 7-month old infant due to methamphetamine and fentanyl poisoning. On June 4th in Indianapolis, Crystal Martin admitted before a court to giving her three-year-old son Johnathan Johnson two 100mg pills of Zoloft, an antidepressant drug, before leaving him unsupervised to play near a creek, where he was found face down in four feet of water. Continue reading Opinion: Is Drug Use a Victimless Crime?