Legalize Marijuana - NOT (Part II)
Citizens of Lawrence County:
This upcoming election in November will hold several key issues for the citizens of Missouri. From elected officials, taxes, to propositions, many things will fill this years ballot.
Of major concern to me is are the propositions that are asking for voters to legalize marijuana for medical use. There are so many things wrong with this that I don't have enough space to write about them all.
This is going to step on many peoples toes. I will be called many things from evil to misguided to just plain stupid. I will be told that this is just a plant created by God, it doesn't hurt anybody and it will cure disease.
About six years ago, I also authored a letter on the same stance. My stance still has not changed and in fact now that some other states have legalized marijuana and I have seen what it has done to those states, my position has strengthened.
In Missouri, hemp is already legal, as is CBD oil. The next step is to legalize medical marijuana. Shortly after that they will then want to legalize recreational marijuana. It only gets worse from there. Many promises have been made as to how much of a benefit this will be for Missouri.
It's all LIES. This is not your grandmas weed which had THC contents under 3% (For those of you who don't know what THC is, its what gets you high). Today's THC content from marijuana can be higher than 20%. It's not God's plant, it is a genetically engineered plant to produce the higher THC level to get a more significant "high".
Another lie is that tax payers and the state will see refunds and a surplus of money. It won't happen folks. Just like the lie that the Missouri Lottery has provided endless funding for schools. Once the state had this in place, they took away what had been traditionally given to the schools and split it among other entities (sound familiar?).
Just ask Colorado how their economy is doing now. Not as good as they had hoped. Especially since crime has increased, poverty has increased, and their homeless population has increased. All because the state taxes their marijuana and because of this tax people have stopped buying it legally and have now created another black market for marijuana because it is so much cheaper that way.
It doesn't get any better from there. In fact, several states are now looking at rolling back many of their marijuana laws because of whats happened. Lets learn from these states that its not the end of the rainbow like they thought. We have already legalized alcohol, we have already legalized prescription meds (opioids), we can't even handle those two things so why in the world would we want to legalize another drug?
We don't want to amend our own constitution to allow this poison to become a permanent part of our state. I don't want our state to go down the toilet bowl like California, Oregon, Washington and now Colorado.
And for those who are stuck on all the money it will make us, that money can't even be put into banks. It is still illegal according to federal law. Thus, banks cannot take in any money associated with marijuana. So then where is the money going to go? In a shoe box? In the ground? Into the hands of a drug cartel?
I do not want people to suffer but this is not the way. We are curing diseases every day without marijuana. Lets not make our situation worse.
As I said, I could go on and on about why not to pass these initiatives. But I am running out of space.
I urge you to take a stand with me and vote NO on any question legalizing marijuana for any reason. It's not what we want for the betterment of this state. Let the insults begin.
Sheriff Brad A. DeLay