Substance misuse cost Alaska about $3.5 billion in 2018, study says
JUNEAU – Substance misuse in Alaska cost the state about $3.5 billion in 2018 in resulting health care, productivity loss, criminal justice, traffic accidents and other services, a yearlong study said.
The McDowell Group, contracted by the state Mental Health Trust Authority, found that $2.4 billion was related to alcohol abuse and $1.1 billion was related to drug abuse, Juneau Empire reported Friday.
Health officials define substance misuse as the use of illegal drugs or inappropriate use of alcohol or prescription drugs.
[Read the report: Economic costs of substance use disorders in Alaska, 2019 update]
\”We see the impact of substance misuse every hour of every day in our ER,\” said Bradley Grigg, the chief behavioral health officer at Bartlett Regional Hospital. \”The cost is enormous. From alcohol to opiates to methamphetamine to other substances, we are seeing the effects of substance misuse in every part of our hospital.\”
Alaska residents consumed 14 million gallons of beer, 2.4 million gallons of wine, and 1.8 million gallons of liquor during the one-year survey period, the study said.
About 22,000 residents who reported using illegal drugs in the previous year were also surveyed. Of those surveyed, 14,000 reported using cocaine, 5,000 reported using methamphetamine and 3,000 reported using heroin, the study said. Marijuana was not part of the survey because it is legal in state. (BUT THEY INCLUDED THE LEGAL DRUG OF ALCOHOL IN SURVEY!!!! What\’s going on here???)
\”The majority of calls we go on are related to drugs and alcohol,\” Juneau Police Lt. Krag Campbell said.
Drug and alcohol can lead to interactions with law enforcement and emergency services, and driving while impaired can lead to arrests and crashes, which each have associated costs, Campbell said.
Health care costs was the highest associated cost for substance misuse at $1.3 billion, the study said.
“Substance misuse treatment is a really big piece of what we do and who we are,” Grigg said about the hospital. “We recognize the need and the need is overwhelming.”
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We are working harder than ever to turn the tide against Big Pot, please consider chipping into the fight today with a gift to SAM by clicking here
Thanks for all you do,
Dr. Kevin Sabet,
Founder and President – Smart Approaches to Marijuana
ONLINE COURSES ANNOUNCED
![\"online-marijuana-course\"](\"https://poppot.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Online-Marijuana-Course-300x300.jpg\")
“…To further enhance your knowledge, personal development and ability to assist in marijuana prevention efforts.”
Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D. is an Educator, Writer, Strategist, Online Publisher (including http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com ), and Instructor of three online courses offered by Auburn University Outreach. The courses include the following:
- “The Effects and Impacts of Marijuana Use ~ Policies and Approaches Addressing the Challenges”
- “A National Public Health Disaster: Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Opioid Crisis~ The Role that Marijuana Use and Legalization are Playing” and
- “Transforming and Leading Organizations and Organized Efforts”
Further information concerning these online courses is included here and can also be found at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com .
In a message that he disseminated widely throughout the world on February 5, 2020, Herschel Baker, the Director Drug Free Australia (Queensland Branch) and the International Liaison Director for Drug Free Australia (www.drugfree.org.au and [email protected]) wrote the following:
“Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D. web site has very important research papers, references and (courses regarding marijuana and the) Opioid Crisis…. to further enhance your knowledge, personal development and ability to assist in marijuana prevention efforts…”
The courses that Hershel Baker refers to are described here:
- “The Effects and Impacts of Marijuana Use ~ Policies and Approaches Addressing the Challenges”: A Three-Week Online Course Offered by Auburn University Outreach (Six Offerings in 2020).
Offerings in 2020:
- March 9 — 29, 2020;
- May 4 — 24, 2020;
- July 6 — 26, 2020;
- August 3 -23, 2020;
- September 7 — 27, 2020; and
- October 5- 25, 2020
What are the effects and impacts of today’s high THC content marijuana? The latest findings are provided in this course. The course is designed to help expand the knowledge and understanding of those who are working to address the challenges of recreational drug use and addiction. The course is also designed to help inform policy makers and others in roles of public responsibility of the harmful effects that marijuana use is having. The course is designed as well to help increase the knowledge and understanding of parents, educators, researchers, and all others concerned regarding the harmful effects of marijuana and the substantial negative impacts its use has on individuals, families, communities, and society in general. The effects of marijuana on mental health, the connection with violence, and the effects on the human reproductive systems and on progeny are highlighted. 1 in 6 youth who use and 1 in 10 adult users are becoming addicted. The course should be helpful to policy makers and educators as well as users or would be users. Policy and program options that are working are highlighted. The role that use is playing in the opioid epidemic is highlighted.
Registration Fee: $300
A discount of 10% is available to groups of five or more. Register at https://lnkd.in/d8jF-h6 and https://lnkd.in/eDq6Nwt or call (334) 844-5100. Also see https://lnkd.in/-RbvKW.
The course is being taught on a pass/not pass basis. It is not taught in “real time” which means that those taking the course can complete assignments each week when it is convenient for them to do so. It is not necessary to be online at specific times each week.
The course is offered by the Office of Professional and Continuing Education of Auburn University Outreach. The course has been designed to help arm those who are concerned about the harmful effects of marijuana and about the negative individual and societal impacts of the legalization of marijuana is having on individuals, families, communities, and on society. The course has also been designed to help expand the knowledge and understanding of those who are working to address the problem of recreational drug use and addiction in America so that they can be as successful as possible in their efforts. The course is also designed to help those in the position of public responsibility understand what policy and program options have been working and what options might be tried to achieve the hoped-for outcome of turning around current trends involving the use marijuana in America.
Here are some additional particulars about the course: Participants in the course will study material drawn from a wide range of freely accessible resources including among others, the instructor’s website, http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com . The instructor’s “Letter to Members of the United States Congress and All Other Public Officials: Conclusive Evidence of Marijuana’s Harm to the Brain, Body, and the Environment”, which includes copious scientific references will also be fully discussed in the course. (That Letter is posted at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com). Here is an excerpt from that Letter:
Marijuana with its active principle, (−)Δ9-trans-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is a low to high level hallucinogenic drug with numerous harmful mental and physical effects, including idiosyncratic effects on mental health and mental functioning…Unlike the minimal or moderate use of alcohol and tobacco, the use of even a small amount of marijuana affects a person’s mental functioning in a variety of predictable and unpredictable ways. For example, it has triggered psychoses and schizophrenia in normal individuals…Contrary to popular belief, owing to the unpredictable effects it has been demonstrated to have, no amount of regulation could possibly ensure the “responsible” or “safe” use of this low to high level hallucinogen.
Topics to be addressed include the following: The need to defend the brain while nurturing mental and physical well-being; The need to foster a mental and public health approach to addressing the challenges of drug use and addiction; and The need to develop and implement comprehensive coordinated strategies aimed at stopping the use of marijuana and other psychoactive and addictive substances in the US. The course emphasizes the need for comprehensive and coordinated public health-oriented strategies involving all sectors of society, including government, the justice system, and educational institutions.
- “A National Public Health Disaster: Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Opioid Crisis~ The Role that Marijuana Use and Legalization are Playing”: A New Four-Week Online Course (Two Offerings in 2020)
A New Four-Week Online Course on “A National Public Health Disaster: Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Opioid Crisis~ The Role that Marijuana Use and Legalization are Playing” is also being offered.
Offerings in 2020:
- July 20 — August 16, 2020 and
- November 2 — 29, 2020.
The role that exposure to and the use of marijuana are playing in the opioid epidemic will be highlighted along with the role that cartels and the black market are playing. See the instructor’s “Letter to Members of the United States Congress and All Other Public Officials: Conclusive Evidence of Marijuana’s Harm to the Brain, Body, and the Environment” which includes copious scientific references. This Letter will also be fully discussed in the course. (That Letter is posted at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com).
The course also reflects the following perspectives:
Statement on The End of Drug Abuse
The tidal wave of drug abuse and its aftermath will eventually end. The end to the scourge will come when more and more thoughtful, feeling human beings come forward, contribute to a critical mass of public wisdom and opinion, and effectively turn the tide. Many individuals have allowed themselves to be blinded to current realities. Many have allowed themselves to be conned and dehumanized. Some have succumbed to sheer greed, not caring or oblivious to the human and societal costs. When they become aware of what is going on, they will no longer give in to groupthink, social pressure, and denial. There is then a hope that human values will overtake the magical thinking and ignorance of proponents and users and that the materialistic values of those who are promoting the societally destructive efforts of “Big Marijuana” will give way to reason and human values. The challenge is to help coalesce the efforts of two forces: those who at their core realize what devastation this enchantment with altered states of mind has wrought and those who are not enticed by the promise of material gain who are neither uncaring nor in denial concerning the cost of the destruction of all human and societal values, potentials, and goals. Not only is the mental health of millions of human beings at stake, the very gene pool is in jeopardy.
Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D. June 2, 2019
Why do nations schedule drugs?…… Nations schedule psychoactive drugs because we revere this three pound organ (of our brain) differently than any other part of our body. It is the repository of our humanity. It is the place that enables us to write poetry and to do theater, to conjure up calculus and send rockets to Pluto three billion miles away, and to create I Phones and 3 D computer printing. And that is the magnificence of the human brain. Drugs can influence (the brain) adversely. So this is not a war on drugs. This is a defense of our brains, the ultimate source of our humanity.
Dr. Bertha Madras April 14, 2016 Brookings Debate on the Scheduling of Marijuana
The tendencies of public officials to narrowly define the problem and not see the role that marijuana and poly-drug use are having in the drug addiction and opioid crisis are highlighted in the course. A broader way of defining the challenges associated with drug taking behavior and addiction will be featured, along with exemplary approaches to addressing the nation’s drug crisis.
Registration Fee: $400.
A discount of 10% is available to groups of five or more. For more information and to register, go to http://www.auburn.edu/outreach/opce/emergencymgmt/#courses and https://opce.catalog.auburn.edu/courses/c190128 or call (334) 844-5100.
- “Transforming and Leading Organizations and Organized Efforts”: A New Three-Week Online Course Offered by Auburn University Outreach (Seven Offerings in 2020)
A New Three-Week Online Course has also been added in 2020: on “Transforming and Leading Organizations and Organized Efforts”.
Offerings in 2020:
- March 9 — 29, 2020
- April 6 — 26, 2020
- May 4 — 24, 2020
- June 15 — July 5, 2020;
- August 3 — 23, 2020;
- October 5 — 25, 2020; and
- October 26 — November 15, 2020
This course is designed to help leaders, managers, and drug abuse prevention activists hone their abilities and problem-solving skills in ways that help them have greater success in accomplishing their goals. Approaches to fostering healthy change; utilizing educational change strategies; communicating effectively; understanding the perspectives of those with differing values, information, and objectives; and resolving conflicts will all be addressed in the course. A focus of the course is on how these approaches can be applied most effectively to addressing the drug crisis. For a copy of the article that has given the course its name, see “Transforming and Leading Organizations,” published in Government Transformation, Winter 2004-05 issue posted at http://users.rcn.com/pgordon/homeland/transforming_orgs.pdf or see link at http://gordonhomeland.com.
Registration Fee: $300.
For more information and to register, go to http://www.auburn.edu/outreach/opce/tlo/ and http://www.auburn.edu/outreach/opce/tlo/#schedulereg or call (334) 844-5100.
Information about the Course Instructor:
The Instructor for the courses is Paula D. Gordon, Ph.D. Dr. Gordon has been involved in the drug abuse prevention and drug policy fields for many decades. She had a non-profit organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area that focused on addressing the drug problem particularly as it was affecting youth and young adults in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. At that time, she wrote a Guide to Ideas on Drug Abuse Policies and Programs. The Guide is still being distributed by the U.S. Education Resources Information Center. (A copy is accessible at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com).
Dr. Gordon was a major contributor to a White Paper on the Drug Problem prepared for the Domestic Affairs Council Staff of the White House. That was at a time in the early ‘70s when there was no Federal coordinating effort overseeing drug abuse prevention programs and policies. She later served as a full-time consultant in the Office of the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, when NIMH was given initial responsibilities for overseeing drug prevention efforts, the recommendation that she had initially made to the White House Domestic Affairs Council staff. She served as the full-time staff person to the Federal Drug Abuse Prevention Coordinating Committee. She also played a role in initiating and shaping the legislation that gave rise to the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP) in the Executive Office of the President. SAODAP took the place of the Federal Drug Abuse Prevention Coordinating Committee. Later, SAODAP was replaced by the Office for National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Her past experience in government has also included drug abuse prevention-related contracting and consulting roles with the Department of Justice. Owing to her efforts, a set of three Regional Conferences on “Alternatives to Drugs” was held under the auspices of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
Her work can be found at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com. Included among the articles, presentations, and reports are lists of scientific research references on the harmful effects of on marijuana. Some of her work that is posted online includes the following:
- A Case for Protecting the Brain: Keeping the Federal Controlled Substances Act in Place and Providing Non-Punitive, Justice System-Based Public Health Options to Address the Use of Marijuana, Opiates, and Other Psychoactive and Mood-Altering Drugs in America. (October 14, 2016), a presentation given at the 2016 International Criminology Conference, in Washington, D.C.
- The Illegality of Legalizing Marijuana Use: An Open Plea to the President and All Other Sworn Federal, State, and Local Public Officials Concerning Marijuana Policies and Laws in the United States: What Part of “I swear to take Care that Laws be faithfully executed” or “I swear to support and defend the Constitution” Do You Not Understand? (August 4, 2014). An article published by Family Security Matters.
- The Harm Caused to Individuals and Society by the Use of Marijuana (December 29, 2009). An article also published by Family Security Matters.
- “Ways in Which Marijuana Use and Legalization are Fueling the Opioid Crisis” (May 30, 2019). A presentation prepared for officials of the Drug Enforcement Administration.) (Posted at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com .)
- “Drugs, Homelessness and a Growing Public Health Disaster”, December 11, 2019, DomesticPreparedness.com at https://www.domesticpreparedness.com/healthcare/drugs-homelessness-a-growing-public-health-disaster/ and DomPrep Journal, December 2019.
- “Letter to Members of the United States Congress and All Other Public Officials: Conclusive Evidence of Marijuana’s Harm to the Brain, Body, and the Environment”, December 16, 2019. (Posted at http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com .)
Also highlighted in the courses taught by Dr. Gordon will be a review submitted by S. Reece, M.D. to the FDA re cannabis arteriopathy, genotoxicity, and teratogenicity (Posted on http://GordonDrugAbusePrevention.com )
These courses are designed to help more fully inform and support those working to stop the spiraling use of marijuana and other psychoactive substances in our society. The courses are also designed to help inform policy makers and others in roles of public responsibility of the harmful effects that marijuana use is having. The courses are also designed to help increase the knowledge and understanding of parents, educators, researchers, and all others concerned regarding the harmful effects of marijuana and the substantial negative impacts its use has on individuals, families, communities, and society in general. Those who participate in the courses will be in a better position to help ensure that policy makers, legislators, and others are as fully informed as possible concerning the effects and impacts of drug-taking behavior. All who take the courses will be better prepared to develop and implement sound policies and programs. They will be able to enhance drug abuse prevention, intervention, treatment, and rehabilitation efforts and they will also be enabled to help ensure that current drug-taking trends are reversed. China was able to conquer opium.
The United States can surely be successful addressing the widespread use of marijuana, opiates, and other mind-altering and mood-altering substances that are threatening the rising generation as well as all others in society today. Indeed, current trends are threatening the very stability and future of our free society and our extraordinary experiment in maintaining a government that protects and preserves the freedom that Americans hold dear.
Mary Parker Follett has said that the definition of the purpose of democracy was “to unleash creative energies”. The subtext of her words was “to unleash creative energies for the benefit of humankind”. To borrow Dr. Bertha Madras’ words, it is essential that we “defend the brain” and protect the body and the moral fiber of the people of our great nation. If we fail to do so, we will have forsaken the promise that the nation’s Founders and all who have since protected our freedoms have helped secure and have given up so much to bequeath these freedoms to us.
Some Testimonials from Course Participants
Dr. Paula Gordon, an instructor for Auburn University’s Outreach, is offering an inexpensive on-line course on marijuana that I think is beneficial to everyone engaged in the battle to save our kids and nation from this insidious drug. Given the problems we have with marijuana in California, I highly recommend this course for anyone seeking to improve their knowledge.
~ Roger Morgan Take Back America Campaign (916) 434 5629 ______________________________________________________________________________
Wow! This is a terrific opportunity! Educators, social workers, those in the Criminal Justice system, policymakers, legislators, and community volunteers all need to take this course!! …I want to introduce you to Dr. Paula Gordon who developed this course on the harms of marijuana. We need to spread the word to all our colleagues about the value and importance of having this information, especially today in light of all the pro pot misinformation… Great Opportunity! A three-week online course on Harms of Marijuana begins soon. Sign up today! Please help spread the word, especially to those in the prevention and treatment fields!
~ Stephanie Haynes, Greater New Orleans Drug Demand Reduction Coalition SOS — Save Our Society from Drugs — Florida, Texas, Louisiana ______________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for providing such great instruction! The resources you provided and the ideas you “spurred” in my mind that will help me with my work in the future were invaluable… Thanks for a very interesting class! I have gained new insight that I believe will help me going forward….. As my first ever online class, you made it easy and fun!
~ Dr. Joe Godfrey, Executive Director Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP) & American Character Builders ______________________________________________________________________________
The resources you’ve shared with all of us are a real boost to my program. Thank you so much! Thanks for the additional tips and references on understanding the perspectives of many people that are pro-legalization. I think many times people just aren’t informed or perhaps they heard some information on television and assumed it was correct…
~ Susan J. Short, Executive Director Covington County Children’s Policy Council Coalition Lurleen B. Wallace Community College Child Development Center Andalusia, Alabama
______________________________________________________________________________
Dr. Paula Gordon’s courses were critical to my fully comprehending not only the harmful properties of marijuana but also the societal elements and public policy that allowed this destructive addiction-for-profit industry to spawn and flourish. Her Effects of Marijuana course is a must for anyone involved in the marijuana prevention effort due to the wealth of information and resources presented. Dr. Paula Gordon’s effective personal instruction enables a layperson, such as a concerned parent, teacher or anyone questioning the health and safety of marijuana, a solid foundation in understanding the complexity of marijuana in our culture. The information and benefits I received in this course inspired me to take Dr. Paula Gordon’s Drug Addiction and Opioid Crisis Course, further enhancing my knowledge, personal development and ability to assist in marijuana prevention efforts.
~ Anne Hassel PT, previous marijuana user and marijuana industry worker, Massachusetts (For further background on Anne Hassel, see http://momsstrong.org/videos/whistleblower-videos/; https://poppot.org/2019/06/11/rip-the-pot-van-winkle-wakes-up/; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_dU4ePKgw8&app=desktop; and http://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/programs/commercialization-thc.)
The True Cause of the Opioid Epidemic
New research supports the idea that economic distress led to an increase in opioid abuse. But some say the origins of the epidemic are far more complicated.
The triplicate paper, in essence, makes it look like the opioid epidemic was mostly the fault of Big Pharma’s marketing, not the result of an economic shock. But David Powell, a senior economist at Rand and an author of the triplicate paper, thinks both could be true. To get the worst drug overdose epidemic in U.S. history, he says, “you need a huge rise in opioid access, in a way that misuse is easy, but you also need demand to misuse the product.”
The next step will be for researchers to see how the marketing of opioids interacted with economic conditions to increase the likelihood that a given place would succumb to addiction. In the meantime, researchers working on the ground say opioid addiction looks like the result of a perfect storm of poverty, trauma, availability, and pain.
When Silva, the Bucknell sociologist, asked her subjects about their painkiller addictions, they would often link their problems back to the decline of coal. When the coal jobs went away, they said, families fell apart. Some people started drinking heavily and abusing their children–who then went on to be traumatized themselves and sought the relief of OxyContin. Some grew bored and aimless without a job, and they started abusing drugs to fill the time or to ease their sense of purposelessness. Some had to switch to other manual jobs, and days of heavy lifting eventually took their painful toll. OxyContin was just a short doctor’s visit away–in one case, a doctor would simply refill opioid prescriptions by phone. “The men and women in this book suffer from physical pain–muscles torn and backs worn out by heavy lifting and repetitive tasks,” Silva writes. But they also “turn to food and Percocet, heroin and cigarettes, to manage the feelings of anxiety, disappointment, and trauma from their pasts.”
Her interviewees had easy access to opioids, yes, but they also felt betrayed by the world. When Silva presented her work recently, an economist told her, “This is, like, an everything problem.”
“I thought that was a really smart way of putting it,” she told me. Indeed, in one of their studies, the Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton, who coined the “deaths of despair” hypothesis, noted that opioid overdoses, suicides, and alcohol abuse are the results of “cumulative distress,” or the overall “failure of life to turn out as expected.”
The solutions to this “everything problem” are not clear.
For complete storyhttps://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/01/what-caused-opioid-epidemic/604330/
\’Not clear\’? Maybe they are clearer than people want to admit?
When you excise not only purpose, but sustainable meaning from the human context, psychological break-down begins. One can attempt to assuage it with distraction and consumption, but it is vacuous cavern that isn\’t filled by such sociological pop-culture trinkets or maneuvers.
One must go \’beyond\’ the superficial facades to find real solutions to the \’everything problem\’, but will we really look?
Former Baltimore lawmaker and WEED Legalization Advocate scheduled to be arraigned on Fraud!
January 22, 2020
BALTIMORE (AP) – A former state lawmaker who represented Baltimore and was a leading advocate for legalizing marijuana in Maryland is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on bribery and fraud charges.
Former state Del. Cheryl Diane Glenn is expected to appear in federal court in Baltimore. Prosecutors accused her last month of accepting more than $33,000 in bribes in exchange for various legislative actions, including work on measures relevant to the marijuana industry.
The veteran Democratic lawmaker abruptly resigned her job as a state delegate days before her charges were unsealed Dec. 23. Her attorney did not immediately return a voicemail seeking comment.
For more https://apnews.com/3d32f324f1b40afece316aeec211de3e
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Like we are shocked that pro-drug weed advocates are law-breakers! In for a penny in for a pound!
Break the law to get the law changed so you can continue to use capacity and ethics/morality diminishing psychotropic toxins with impunity!
Making it ‘legal’ only increases the permitted harms on many fronts.
When the drug pushers are controlling the judicial levers, we have serious problems. But for the sober majority, this is was already understood!
AOC AND SENATOR CRAPO HOLD KEY TO MARIJUANA BANKING
Social justice failure of legalizing weed
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez exposed the fact that marijuana legalization fails as a social justice issue. https://youtu.be/kW7fWM04Uyc The Congresswoman spoke to the House Committee on Financial Services on February 13, 2019. She pointed out that 81% of dispensaries in Colorado are owned by whites, and that only 3% of dispensaries in Massachusetts are minority owned. Representative Ocasio-Cortez spoke at a House committee meeting discussing access to banking services for the marijuana industry.
Senate considers SAFE Banking Act
Senator Mike Crapo and the Senate Banking Committee are now considering the SAFE Banking Act. According to a secret recording of April 2018, Ukrainian businessman Lev Parnas urged President Trump to support the SAFE Banking Act. It is assumed that Parnas wanted to own or invest in American marijuana businesses.
Some people claim that allowing marijuana businesses access to national banks will reduce crime at pot shops. Like the social justice arguments, this claim is a false promise advocates use to promote a political agenda. James Graham in the Atlantic wrote about how and why it legalization increases crime: “People are getting shot over this plant. All legalization did here was create a safe haven for criminals,” (quoting a deputy sheriff of Humboldt County, California.) Another sheriff also commented on California’s 2016 ballot to legalize pot: “We haven’t seen any drop in crime whatsoever. In fact, we’ve seen a pretty steady increase.”
Access to banking will not reduce crime associated with commercialized marijuana, nor take away the dangers of using marijuana. Moms Strong urges its followers to sign the petition against marijuana banking.
Communities and businesses near or adjacent to marijuana dispensaries suffer needlessly with more crime. Even child abuse increases with proximity to medical marijuana shops.
Drug use devastates
When the House passed the SAFE Banking Act, legislators wanted to encourage minority ownership. That outcome isn’t at all likely.
Drug use devastates communities, whether legal or illegal. It causes lasting harms to individuals. The United States and Canada have 54% of the world’s drug users. Drug use leads to crime – not because drugs are illegal – but because drugs affect the brain and trigger scores of mental health issues. So far, Senator Crapo is only considering a bill that would allow banking for companies that limit the potency of cannabis to 2% THC. (The marijuana products sold in Colorado and Washington pot shops average more than 20% THC, and can get up to 80 or 90% THC.)
None of the states with legalized marijuana markets give proportionate minority ownership to their state-regulated pot stores and businesses. Representative Ocasio-Cortez suggested that the folks who profited off of the for-profit prison industry are the ones who have advantage in the marijuana industry. “Are we compounding the racial wealth gap right now based on who is getting first mover advantage?” she asked in the House hearings last February. Ocasio-Cortez explained the “big picture” – the folks who profited off of incarceration are the first to reap the benefits of access to banking. It would be delusional to think the SAFE Banking Act can change this outcome. In fact, corrupt people want to use the SAFE Banking Act to cover their corruption.
When Illinois passed legalization in May, 2019, supporters claimed to have “social equity” provisions built into its legislation. That promise proved to be hollow.
States claim social equity provisions, but lock out minorities
When Illinois opened stores on January 1, the state gave existing “medical” pot shops all the licenses. Social-equity applicants for marijuana businesses were locked out the initial phase of pot commercialization, because Illinois marijuana growers spent $630,000 on political donations leading to the pot legalization vote. More than $120,000 went to campaign and political funds tied to state Senator Don Harmon of Oak Park, a main sponsor of the 2018 bill expanding medical marijuana in the state.
An effort by Chicago’s minority alderman to delay opening for six months in Chicago failed. The Black Caucus hoped that by waiting six months, social equity applicants would gain equal footing with existing dispensary owners. Chicago city council rejected the Black Caucus bid to delay recreational marijuana sales by 6 months.
In Michigan, many minorities find themselves almost shut out of Michigan’s marijuana business. Anqunette Sarfoh, co-owner of a medical marijuana dispensary said: “We found that so many out-of-state investors had come in and had bought up all the properties in Detroit’s green zone and were just sitting on them.”
Big marijuana is king
California and Massachusetts have social equity provisions in their marijuana programs, but they aren’t working. The large amount of capital requirements needed to own a dispensary are a big hindrance to minority ownership. On the federal level, the MORE Act claims to address social justice issues in the marijuana industry. If states can’t figure it out, even when the states directly pay all capitalization costs for minorities to get into the weed business, how would the federal government be able to fix it?
Capital requirements allow huge national and international marijuana businesses to buy up the market. No amount of social equity laws and provisions will change the fact that BIG MARIJUANA will dominate the market. Access to banking would allow international cartels into the banking system and give access to foreigners, oligarchs and players such as Lev Parnas.
Please tell Senator Mike Crapo and the Senate Banking committee not to support the SAFE Act. We encourage our readers to sign a petition to Senator Crapo, chair of the Senate Banking Committee. Neither the social justice arguments to legalize marijuana, nor the crime reduction arguments hold up to scrutiny. Don’t allow any more access to banking, the SAFE Banking Act and the MORE Act.
https://poppot.org/2020/01/26/aoc-and-senator-crapo-hold-key-to-marijuana-banking/
Lorry driver, 30, who got high on cannabis and cocaine before ploughing into a cyclist, 50, and killing him instantly is jailed for three-and-a-half years
- Joseph Large, 30, ploughed his Volvo skip loader into Paul Thompson who died
- Mr Thompson was cycling along Culwick Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands
- He told police he didn\’t see Mr Thompson, 50, because he was dazzled by sun
By AMELIA WYNNE FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED:, 27 January 2020
A lorry driver has been jailed after he killed a cyclist in his 32-tonne refuse truck while high on cocaine and cannabis.
Joseph Large, 30, ploughed his Volvo skip loader into Paul Thompson, 50, who was crushed to death in the horror crash.
Police arrested Large at the scene and tests revealed he had taken cannabis and had 158mcg of cocaine in his blood – three times the permitted level.
Mr Thompson was cycling along Culwick Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, at 2.30pm when Large collided with him, killing him instantly.
He initially told police he did not see Mr Thompson because he was dazzled by the sun when he pulled out of a junction.
But following a trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court, Large was found guilty of causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drugs.
On Friday, Large, from Coseley in the West Midlands, was jailed for three-and-a-half years and banned from driving for two years.
The judge told him: \’You had a duty of care whilst driving a vehicle of that size, especially to vulnerable road users.
