Before reading this post, I feel it's necessary for me to make my views on marijuana clear.
Do I want to see marijuana legalized? Yes. Medicinally and recreationally.
Do I believe marijuana has medicinal properties? No, but I also won't ignore the fact there are people who clearly benefit from the responsible use of marijuana. Marijuana is not medicine, but I believe it does serve a purpose in modern day health care.
Marijuana is not a drug.
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A friend of mine shared an article on Facebook.
The article talks about Alabama gubernatorial candidate Scott Dawson's legislation, which, proposes to drug test High School students.
Read the article here.
"I'm tired of drug addiction holding an entire generation hostage." - Scott Dawson
Mr. Dawson, if you were truly upset by drug addiction holding an entire generation hostage, you wouldn't propose legislation against those who are not addicted to drugs.
America has a drug crisis with opioids, not marijuana.
The use of illicit drugs other than marijuana is at an all-time low amongst High School students and has been declining for almost a decade.
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| This graph is directly from the NIH (National Institutes of Health) |
Mr. Dawson wants to waste taxpayers' money when it could be spent on research, development, and legislating sensible solutions to the opioid crisis.
This kind of ideology is just Conservative pandering, which, is getting really old.
"I've talked to enough business owners who can't get enough employees to pass a drug test." - Scott Dawson
Mr. Dawson, you're now talking about a completely different problem altogether. Is the drug problem with High School student-athletes, or adult citizens of Alabama who have turned to drugs for many other reasons?
Here are some earlier posts I've written about the current state of employment in Alabama.
J-O-B
Entry Level
Here are some stories from other sources worth reading.
Inside Alabama's Auto Jobs Boom; (this story went viral around the time of its release)
"I haven't seen this in the first world."
The problem with jobs in Alabama is not a rampant use of drugs. It's far greater and far more complex than going around and slapping teenagers on the wrist for smoking marijuana after school.
This kind of legislation is becoming bolder and much more acceptable.
Why?
I would say it has a lot to do with Jeff Sessions making it all the way to Washington D.C., and becoming the acting Attorney General.
Remember, Jeff Sessions was a staunch supporter of "The War on Drugs", a large counterdrug task force, largely defining the Reagan-era.
What concerns are raised by passing this kind of legislation?
As my friend, Jim mentioned, "As long as schools don't use the drug tests to put these kids in jail..."
There's one of the larger problems.
Somebody will, at some point, turn this into a full-fledged database in "their research program" and of course guess who it's going to blowback on in the end?
The parents of kids who test positive.
If their kids are testing positive for drugs, where did they get the drugs from in the first place?
If they didn't get drugs from their parents, then the next step is to turn High School kids into "rats" for street-level dealers.
Either way, it wouldn't end well.
What might actually have an impact on the opioid crisis? I don't know, try regulating pharmaceutical companies in a more meaningful way, create legitimate rehabilitation programs, maybe even help with the proliferation of medicinal marijuana.
Or, how about this "new" idea? A universal health care system.
The opioid crisis in America is a full-blown trickle-down effect of the highest "Big Pharma" offenses.
When post-operational persons needed pain medication, they were overprescribed on every level. The medication itself, the dosage, and the quantities, for years.
Fast forward a few years later, some people could no longer afford those medications for many different reasons. They turned to illegally acquiring the same medication or turning to street drugs.
The opioid crisis is the same drug problem, only with a different drug name.
The National Institute of Drug Addiction, which, operates within the NIH, can't even hide their own campaign of misinformation on marijuana.
From the NIH's own website:
"Marijuana (cannabis) is the most commonly used illicit substance."
A few lines later;
"Although many have called for the nationwide legalization of marijuana to treat medical conditions, the scientific evidence to date is not sufficient for the marijuana plant to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, for two main reasons.
First, there have not been enough clinical trials showing that marijuana’s benefits outweigh its health risks. The FDA requires carefully conducted studies in large numbers of patients (hundreds to thousands) to accurately assess the benefits and risks of a potential medication.
Second, to be considered a legitimate medicine, a substance must have well-defined and measureable ingredients that are consistent from one unit to the next (such as a pill or injection). This consistency allows doctors to determine the dose and frequency. As the marijuana plant contains hundreds of chemical compounds that may have different effects and that vary from plant to plant, its use as a medicine is difficult to evaluate."
And a federal government institution even has a typo to boot with all of this. I'm going to leave it in there, just for comedic effect.
Here's the NIH's current list of addictive drugs:
- Alcohol
- Ayahuasca
- Central Nervous System Depressants
- Cocaine
- DMT
- GHB
- Hallucinogens
- Heroin
- Inhalants
- Ketamine
- Khat
- Kratom
- LSD
- Marijuana (Cannabis)
- MDMA (Ecstasy/Molly)
- Mescaline (Peyote)
- Methamphetamine
- Over-the-Counter Medicines--Dextromethorphan (DXM)
- Over-the-Counter Medicines--Loperamide
- PCP
- Prescription Opioids
- Prescription Stimulants
- Psilocybin
- Rohypnol® (Flunitrazepam)
- Salvia
- Steroids (Anabolic)
- Synthetic Cannabinoids
- Synthetic Cathinones (Bath Salts)
- Tobacco
With the current drug crisis involving opioids, why isn't opioids on this list by now?
I know what you're thinking, "Opioid isn't a drug...".
Then why is the NIH looking into ayahuasca versus mescaline/peyote? Hallucinogens versus LSD, MDMA, PCP, or Salvia? Where are the other forms of Methamphetamines? Why are synthetic cannabinoids and cathinones on the addictive drug list but, the NIH doesn't even care to test cannabis by their own admission?
Here's some information on the effects marijuana has in the fight against the opioid crisis.
The Biology of Cannabis vs. Opioids for Pain Relief
And because there isn't any other marijuana "source" to turn to half the time:
Pot vs. Pills: Will Cannabis Help End the Opioid-Abuse Epidemic?
For those who oppose medicinal marijuana without having any authentic scientific research to back up claims of "Reefer Madness" and also, for those who oppose universal healthcare, I want you to think about the facts.
Again, the opioid crisis is a problem caused by "Big Pharma" and the Capitalist ideology behind, "market control".
If "The Right" truly believes drugs are such a big problem, why are they leaving all the major decisions to the companies and people who have been making them for decades, without any additional legislation, oversight, or regulation?
There's a clear line connecting prescription opioid painkillers, medical professionals, pharmaceutical companies, and "market control", to the current opioid crisis. The facts acknowledge the cause of the symptoms, we should treat the cause instead.
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