BALLOT INITIATIVES

SAFE AND DRUG-FREE COMMUNITY ACT

Since Prop 215 (The Compassionate Use Act) was enacted in 1996, California has devolved into de facto legalization. Over 50,000 cultivation sites grow marijuana under the guise of medicine, then illegally sell it to 60% of the United States market for recreational use. In the meantime, they are using massive quantities of our precious water while destroying our natural resources and ruining the quality of life in once fine communities. The potency of marijuana has escalated to the point that it is causing death and destroying the brains of our youth. If we continue to allow this for the 8% of people who want to get high, or make money off those who do, our youth and natural resources have no future, nor do we as a nation. The Safe and Drug-Free Community Act addresses these issues as follows:

  • Keeps marijuana illegal for recreational use. Today’s high potency marijuana is known to cause brain damage, mental illness, psychotic breaks, suicidal depression, harms to a fetus, and increased traffic deaths.
  • Would prevent privately owned cultivation sites which are destroying our natural resources, sucking up mass quantities of water (6 gallons/day/plan) and causing irreparable ecological damage. One cultivation site will remain, owned and controlled by the government to fulfill the intent of Prop 215.
  • Privately owned dispensaries will be banned to stop the enormous abuse that has and continues to take place.   State owned dispensaries will be allowed where local communities choose to allow them and “medical marijuana” will be more tightly controlled with lab testing, packaging, potency and consists.
  • The legal age of “medical marijuana” will be raised from 18 to 21. The American Society of Addictive Medicine recommends no one under age 25 use marijuana based on scientific evidence that the human brain isn’t fully developed until then. Ages 18, 19 and 20 are critical years for brain development, and at least closer to brain maturity, where the vulnerability to harm is far less.
  • Imposes strict standards on doctors who recommend marijuana, something currently lacking.
  • Requires dispensaries to report marijuana as part of CURES Act so pharmacists can safe guard against adverse interactions with conflicting medicines that could cause harm.
  • Sets a standard for marijuana impaired driving. Currently 12.6% of drivers (one-in-eight) are driving impaired to some degree by marijuana. Traffic deaths owing to marijuana have doubled in California. Stoned drivers are even killing people on sidewalks.
  • Mandates a statewide educational program for parents, teachers, students and the general public so people can make an informed decision about using marijuana, allowing their children to use it, or what and whom to vote for.

Substance abuse currently absorbs 19.5% of the California budget. Less than 1% is spent on prevention and the balance shoveling up the damage and treating the wounded, horrible economic policy. Of the 122 Americans who die every day of drug overdose, almost all started their drug journey with marijuana. 59% of people arrested (Sacramento) test positive for marijuana.

Preventing marijuana use will save lives, cut crime, improve academic achievement, save taxpayers billions of dollars and help regain and retain all that made California and this nation great. 

PROTECT THE KIDS. PROTECT THE NATION.

 

NEWSOM’S ADULT USE OF MARIJUANA ACT THREATENS OUR FUTURE

As with Prop 215, this ballot initiative is once again financed by drug money that flows from and through out-of-state billionaires. Lt Governor Gavin Newsom, leader of the legalization effort, should be reminded that his most important responsibility as an elected official is to protect the people from all enemies, foreign and domestic. He has stated he doesn’t want marijuana near his children, but apparently ours don’t matter. New York billionaire Sean Parker has been recruited to augment money that will flow from George Soros and the Drug Policy Alliance. They didn’t earn billions because they are dumb, but apparently they think we are. Their stated benefits of legalization are frankly an affront to one’s intellect.

  • Will Protect Our Kids – A lie! – They want to tax and regulate marijuana so we have money to teach our kids not to use it. Brilliant! Expanding the availability and access will increase adolescent use as it has in Colorado, Washington and all places in the world where it has been decriminalized.
  • Adult Use Only – Unattainable! Today’s highly potent pot can cause permanent physical changes in the brains of anyone under 25 years old. Marijuana use peaks at age 20 and tapers off rather rapidly after age 25, so the focus from a marketing standpoint is on young people, just like Big Tobacco.   Governor Brown has stated, “…How many people can be stoned and still enable us to have a great state. Actually it’s worse than just getting stoned. Diminished intellect, mental illness, psychotic breaks, depression, suicidal tendencies and addiction are life-long chronic conditions.   You can’t just sleep it off.
  • Will Be Regulated – Not possible! If the government was capable of, or cared about regulation, God knows they would have demonstrated it by now. California has over 50,000 mostly illegal cultivation sites producing pot under the guise of medicine, then illegally selling to 60% of the US market. In the meantime, the pot plantations are inflicting irreparable harm on our precious ecosystems.
  • Will Benefit The State Economically – No, will cost more money. The social costs of marijuana, like alcohol and tobacco, are 10 times greater than tax revenues. Expanding the use of marijuana for the sake of the 8% who want to get high, or make money on those who do, will cost the other 92% more. Nor will the black market go away. Cartels don’t pay taxes so they have a price advantage.
  • Local Government Control Is Actually Eliminated – Over 83% of California communities currently have bans or moratoriums on marijuana because they don’t want this junk in their communities. Under the Newsom initiative local communities would lose that control unless the people, through a ballot initiative, decide they don’t want it. How’s that for “slipping it to you?”
  • “Medical Marijuana” Program Would Be Retained– The existing program which allows anyone over 18, for any purported illness, to access all of the pot they want for personal consumption or to sell, doesn’t go away. We already have de facto legalization, producing more pot than Californians can consume.

Marijuana is a dangerous drug, with proven ability to destroy the brains of our youth, inflict irreparable harm on our natural resources and pose a public health and safety problem for everyone. Anyone that aspires to be Governor of this fine state needs to demonstrate that protecting people, the planet and our tax dollars are of higher priority than pandering for drug money for his or her personal campaign.

In the interest of public safety and environmental protection, just defeating full legalization isn’t adequate. We need to roll back what exists.

TELL THE OUT-OF-STATE BILLIONAIRES TO GO PACKING

 

GOVERNMENT(S) FAILS TO PROTECT US FROM MARIJUANA
By Roger Morgan, Take Back America Campaign (rogermorgan339@yahoo.com) #stoppot

The first and most important responsibility of government at any level is to protect the health and safety of the people. It is unfortunate that neither the federal nor state government has fulfilled that role when it comes to marijuana, a dangerous drug which is destroying the brains of our youth, decimating our natural resources and robbing our country of its soul.

Ironically, we can draw wisdom from the self-incriminating words of none other than Drug Lord George Soros, the man most responsible for America’s drug problem. In his book, The Bubble Of American Supremacy he states “….. the primary responsibility for the protection of its people lies with the state itself”; that “ …the state has the responsibility to prevent, to address both the root causes and direct causes of internal conflict and other man-made crises putting populations at risk.”

California has over 50,000 mostly illegal cultivation sites producing marijuana under the guise of medicine, yet selling it to 60% of the US market. Owing to campaign contributions to those elected at the highest levels of our state and federal government, federal laws simply have not been enforced. Rather, the California government is seeking to accommodate and commercialize the marijuana business, to earn money on the backs of our youth.

Rather than shutting down the pot plantations that are depleting streams of precious water and destroying our pristine eco systems, the California government is conspiring to violate federal law by creating a state-controlled banking system. That would make it easier for cultivators and dispensaries to launder their drug money, and in turn for the State to illegally tax and launder its share of the proceeds. They have turned their back on the fact that marijuana can cause permanent structural and chemical changes in the brain for anyone under age 25 causing diminished intellect, elevated risk of mental illness, psychotic breaks, suicides, birth defects, cancer, traffic deaths and more.

Since we cannot rely on the state or federal government for protection, my colleagues and I submitted a 2016 ballot initiative which we called The Safe And Drug-Free Community Act. The initiative is now approved by the Secretary of State for circulation, renamed by the AG’s office and summarized as follows:

MEDICAL MARIJUANA. INITIATIVE STATUTE. 15-0069

Bans all privately owned medical marijuana cultivation sites and dispensaries. Creates state-owned/operated dispensaries, and a single state-owned/operated site for medical marijuana cultivation, testing, and processing. Allows local governments to ban or restrict the number and location of state-owned dispensaries. Establishes packaging, lab testing, and potency standards for medical marijuana. Sets minimum age for medical marijuana use, at 21. Requires adoption of strict standards to govern physician medical marijuana recommendations for their patients. Specifies marijuana blood-content levels that establish driving under the influence. Retains current prohibition on recreational use of marijuana.

In terms of fiscal impact, the Legislative Analyst at the State indicated it may cost millions for an educational program for parents, teachers and students (K-12), which is also part of the bill. They failed to observe or comprehend, however, that substance abuse consumes 19.5% of California’s budget[1], (19.5%), with 1/3rd of 1% spent on prevention and the balance shoveling up the damage. Prevention through education could easily save billions, and leave us with a healthier, happier more productive society.

America is already 24th (last) in the world of industrialized nations academically, with a one-third high school dropout rate. Of the 122 Americans who die every day of overdose, the vast majority started their drug journey with marijuana. Over 50% of people arrested test positive for marijuana, up to 87% for any drug.. More people are in rehab for addiction to marijuana than all other drugs. Our jails are filled with low level criminals deemed mentally ill, languishing there for 2 or 3 months waiting for a bed in overwhelmed mental facilities. Almost all of the mass murderers of late have been heavy marijuana users. Psychotic breaks caused by the highly potent pot have led to heinous acts of violence and suicides, while traffic deaths owing to marijuana impaired driving have doubled.

If America is to regain and retain its status as a global leader, we cannot allow marijuana to dumb down, addict and diminish the capacity of our youth. If they have no future, neither do we as a nation. (follow #stoppot)

[1] Shoveling Up: The Impact of Substance Abuse on the federal, state and local budgets. The National Center of Substance Abuse and Addiction at Columbia University (CASAcolumbia.org).