Marijuana Initiatives in Political Scene

Activists For and Against the Drug Play Their Cards

A less-highlighted issue among voters in several states on November 2nd dealt with the legalization or decriminalization of marijuana, mainly for supposed medicinal purposes.  Among cities and states with ballot initiatives include Ann Arbor, MI, Columbia, MO, Oakland, CA, Berkley, CA, Massachusetts, Oregon and Montana. 

In Alaska however, the vote was to make marijuana completely legal for persons over 21 years of age, maintaining penalties for its distribution to minors or driving under the influence of the drug, with a system of regulation and taxation by the state.  Common sense prevailed in the last frontier state and voters defeated the proposal.

The harm-reduction and decriminalization concept has been fed by the legalization campaign with what at first appears to be somewhat logical reasoning, but it ends up condoning continued degradation of the individual, family and social structure of society.

A measure in Oregon concerning the expansion of its current medical marijuana program by allowing registered patients to purchase their medicine at state-regulated, nonprofit dispensaries was also defeated by voters.  It was opposed by the White House, the governor of Oregon, law enforcement officials and most newspapers in the state as well.

There are currently less than a dozen states in this country that have medical marijuana laws that allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to patients for its effects of increased appetite or reduced pain. Pot, like any other drug, has more than just its immediate effects and the downside to the drug largely overshadows any supposed value it may have.

In a USA Today article last weekend, Scott burns of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) was quoted as saying, "Those people who are pushing these measures look at it as a freedom issue," he said. "But they don\t see ... the addiction issue, the dysfunction in families, the treatment problems. Nobody can tell me what the upside is of making marijuana more available."  Mr. Burns had recently visited Alaska.

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) in Washington, D.C., tried to help the Alaskan activists by creating TV commercials and buying airtime for them.  MPP and Voter Power, the grassroots organization MPP worked with, were unable to overcome the massive opposition on the ground, much of it stirred up by White House Drug Czar John Walters.

Marijuana advocacy groups have been in existence for decades. Such misinformed groups have held numerous rallies and demonstrations and even have multi-million dollar lobbying campaigns working on the federal government. However, many feel that allowing marijuana for extreme medical situations would only open the door for further justification for our youth to smoke it and even for promoting its total legalization, like the failed measure in Alaska.

While some people argue that marijuana is not as dangerous as other drugs, most people know and understand that pot dulls a person\'s senses and causes lethargy. 

The issue of whether or not to fully legalize marijuana is, by all means, not a small one. Research has been done to present the "pros" and cons of smoking weed.  Arguments have been made that medical marijuana dulls the pain of coping with certain conditions. So much of the pro marijuana information has made it into mainstream society that children today do not view the drug as being nearly as harmful compared to children twenty years ago, according to recent surveys.

What the pro-marijuana advocates fail to mention is the truth about what the drug actually does to a person, such as damaging the lungs, nerves and brain. There are over 400 chemicals found in pot smoke and 60 of them have been proven to cause cancer. Marijuana contains the neurotoxin THC, which is a poison that affects the brain and nerves. When someone smokes pot, two things happen two them: 1) There is an almost immediate burn-up of vitamins and minerals in the body. 2) Nerves in the body go numb.

These to things happen every time someone takes the drug and it causes that person\'s health to steadily decrease. A person\'s tolerance to the drug also builds and eventually the person has to smoke pot almost continuously just to feel somewhat normal because they have caused so much damage to themselves.

Marijuana\'s negative effects also last well beyond the initial use. THC is lipophilic, meaning the chemical is fat-bonding and gets stored inside a person\'s body for weeks, months and even years after use ceases.

American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard did extensive research in the field of drug use and rehabilitation and discovered that the stored drug particles can be released back into the bloodstream at later periods and continue to cause further damage and drug cravings. In his research, Hubbard also developed a unique and powerful detoxification program that is totally drug-free and rids the body of the old drug residues, thus restoring health to the individual.

This highly effective method of detoxification is used at the Narconon Arrowhead drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, contributing to its overall success rate for complete recovery that has remained far above any traditional treatment center.

To find out more about effective drug addiction treatment and the Narconon Arrowhead program call 1-800-468-6933 or visit www.stopaddiction.com today.

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