Ryan Nicol
Don’t legalize it. That was the message to Floridians during testimony to a House panel Tuesday regarding the adult use of marijuana.
There are two viable initiatives aimed at placing a state constitutional amendment to legalize pot on the 2020 ballot and in the hands of voters.
But Bertha K. Madras, professor of psychobiology at Harvard Medical School, warned the House Health & Human Services Committee that legalization would have negative effects.
“I am opposed to legalization for obvious reasons,” Madras said. “Marijuana is not benign. It is not safe. It is addictive. It is psychotomimetic. It interferes with learning and memory.”
Madras paid particular focus to studies in recent years showing levels of THC rising in marijuana. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the psychoactive ingredient that causes marijuana’s “high.”
As an NPR report detailed: “One study of pot products seized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration found the potency increased from about 4 percent THC in 1995 to about 12 percent in 2014. By 2017, another study showed, the potency of illicit drug samples had gone up to 17.1 percent THC.”
On that rise, Madras remarked, “This has implications for driving, for addiction, for toxicity and for psychosis.”
Florida already has legalized medical marijuana, the benefits of which Madras also pushed back on. But several other states — such as Colorado, California and Vermont — have gone further in legalizing recreational use of the drug.
A report from the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice analyzing legalization in that state found a mixed bag. On the positive or neutral side, marijuana arrests dropped over that five-year period, though were not eliminated. Possessing large amounts of the drug for suspected trafficking remains illegal in that state.
And there did not appear to be a spike in youth use of the drug, or in instances of individuals driving while impaired.
But the marijuana black market actually grew following legalization, with organized crime cases tripling. Hospitalization rates for marijuana users also increased.
Whether those effects would repeat in Florida is unclear, says Madras, though she continued to warn against potential legalization: “We cannot fully predict the consequences of marijuana legalization in Florida,” she argued.
“I also project that it will take years, and one or two generations, to fully comprehend the consequences. It took our nation more than 20 years to raise alarm bells about the opioid issue.”
Madras was the only witness to appear before the panel Tuesday. There was no time allotted for a proponent of legalization.
Still, while Madras vehemently opposed legalization, she did make some concessions regarding the negative effects of the drug.
“I agree that not all users respond to the drug in the same way, and not all studies agree on the adverse consequences or potential benefits of marijuana,” Madras said, adding comments later on, regarding overdose potential.
“Marijuana is very unlikely to cause an overdose death. If it does, it’s going to be cardiac, blood pressure, strokes. And those are low rates.”
Amendments are being put forward by Sensible Florida and Make it Legal Florida to have voters settle the issue. To be successful, 60 percent would need to approve a constitutional amendment in November 2020.
9 comments
Brian Kelly
October 15, 2019 at 2:49 pm
Fear of Marijuana Legalization Nationwide is unfounded. Not based on any science or fact whatsoever. So please prohibitionists, we beg you to give your scare tactics, “Conspiracy Theories” and “Doomsday Scenarios” over the inevitable Legalization of Marijuana Nationwide a rest. Nobody is buying them anymore these days. Okay?
Furthermore, if all prohibitionists get when they look into that nice, big and shiny crystal ball of theirs, while wondering about the future of marijuana legalization, is horror, doom, and despair, well then I suggest they return that thing as quickly as possible and reclaim the money they shelled out for it, since it’s obviously defective.
The prohibition of marijuana has not decreased the supply nor the demand for marijuana at all. Not one single iota, and it never will. Just a huge and complete waste of our tax dollars to continue criminalizing citizens for choosing a natural, non-toxic, relatively benign plant proven to be much safer than alcohol.
If prohibitionists are going to take it upon themselves to worry about “saving us all” from ourselves, then they need to start with the drug that causes more death and destruction than every other drug in the world COMBINED, which is alcohol!
Why do prohibitionists feel the continued need to vilify and demonize marijuana when they could more wisely focus their efforts on a real, proven killer, alcohol, which again causes more destruction, violence, and death than all other drugs, COMBINED?
Prohibitionists really should get their priorities straight and/or practice a little live and let live. They’ll live longer, happier, and healthier, with a lot less stress if they refrain from being bent on trying to control others through Draconian Marijuana Laws.
Brian Kelly
October 15, 2019 at 2:50 pm
There is absolutely no doubt now that the majority of Americans want to completely legalize marijuana nationwide. Our numbers grow on a daily basis.
The prohibitionist view on marijuana is the viewpoint of a minority and rapidly shrinking percentage of Americans. It is based upon decades of lies and propaganda.
Each and every tired old lie they have propagated has been thoroughly proven false by both science and society.
Their tired old rhetoric no longer holds any validity. The vast majority of Americans have seen through the sham of marijuana prohibition in this day and age. The number of prohibitionists left shrinks on a daily basis.
With their credibility shattered, and their not so hidden agendas visible to a much wiser public, what’s left for a marijuana prohibitionist to do?
Maybe, just come to terms with the fact that Marijuana Legalization Nationwide is an inevitable reality that’s approaching much sooner than prohibitionists think, and there is nothing they can do to stop it!
Legalize Nationwide!…and Support All Marijuana Legalization Efforts!
Karen
October 15, 2019 at 6:31 pm
The real lies comes from narcissistic, sociopathic potheads like you who will say and do anything to keep their habit alive! You obviously do not have children because if you did you would be singing a different tune!
Read Alex Berenson’s “Tell Your Children the Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence”.
Save Our Children!……STOP Marijuana’s legalization!!
Mark Jones
October 15, 2019 at 7:04 pm
Save our children from fetal alcohol syndrome. According to the Mayo Clinic, there are 200,000 US cases of fetal alcohol syndrome per year. Prohibition of alcohol will not change that staggering number of children harmed by a legal substance. Prohibition of social mood altering substances does not work. There are no easy answers, but plainly prohibition is not even a partially helpful answer.
Mark Jones
October 15, 2019 at 7:16 pm
According to the Center for Disease Control, “The lifetime cost for one individual with [fetal alcohol syndrome] in 2002 was estimated to be $2 million. This is an average for people with FAS and does not include data on people with other FASDs. People with severe problems, such as profound intellectual disability, have much higher costs. It is estimated that the cost to the United States for FAS alone is over $4 billion annually. No educated, thoughtful, unbigoted person would suggest trying again to criminalized alcohol to protect 200,000 innocent children from the irreversible decimation of fetal alcohol syndrome. Alcohol causes more medical and psychological harm, and more tax revenue waste than all other mood altering substances combined. Read the simple history
Becky Jamin
October 15, 2019 at 9:36 pm
Oh please. You’ve been drinking the koolaid. Can we tell the truth about alcohol? How about we tell the truth about the dangers of sugar addiction? Or the truth about doctor prescribed medications?
Go ahead and believe the propaganda that’s being spoon fed to us all. Marijuana has been demonized for decades, initially, for racial reasons. Look up Henry Anslinger and you’ll find out what it was all about. I’ll wait. Oh, here’s just one, of thousands of, articles that tell the true benefits of THC. Try to follow the science, not the opinion.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/marijuana-may-boost-rather-than-dull-the-elderly-brain/
jon
October 15, 2019 at 4:11 pm
There is a ton of research that conclusively shows the destruction this garbage does to the brains of young people and their lives! You simply don’t want to look at it!
Justin Escher Alpert
October 15, 2019 at 3:21 pm
“Legalization” is just a label. Prohibition failed because there is no obligation to follow an unjust law that impinges on natural and unalienable rights. Free Citizens already freely exercise the Personal Liberty. Time for Tallahassee to secure the Blessings of Liberty on behalf of The People of The Sunshine State.
gary
October 15, 2019 at 4:09 pm
If you want to destroy future generations of Americans… legalize this mind altering garbage!
Comments are closed.