By Nancy Thorner & Ed Ingold -
Local authorities in states which recently authorized recreational use of marijuana, including California and Colorado, threaten to defy AG Jeff Sessions’ return to enforcing drug laws on the federal level. Sessions revoked the “Cole” memorandum, issued by Eric Holder, which instructed federal attorneys to ignore violations involving marijuana made legal under these statutes. According to the Obama administrations, anti-marijuana laws unfairly targeted African Americans.
It is telling that California led the charge against smoking tobacco, since it is harmful and shortens the working life of taxpayers (the state loses money it never earned). Now the harmful effects of smoking pot are ignored in the case of marijuana, as well as the resulting intoxication and probable addiction.
Federal warnings about Cigarette and Pot Smoking
Most Americans know that it was in1964 that the Surgeon General Report on Smoking and Health alerted the nation to the health risk of smoking which transformed the issue cigarette smoking from one of individual and consumer choice, to one of epidemiology, public health, and risk for smokers and non-smokers alike. Confirmed by pathologists and laboratory scientists was the statistical relationship of smoking especially to lung cancer. In 1965, Congress required all cigarette packages distributed in the United States to carry a health warning, and since 1970 this warning is made in the name of the Surgeon General. In 1969, cigarette advertising on television and radio was banned, effective September. 1970.
Even though there are medical cannabis laws in 46 states, cannabis is still illegal under federal law. The federal government regulates drugs through the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) (21 U.S.C. § 811) in 1970. As it is, according to the CSA, Cannabis (marijuana) is treated as a schedule 1 controlled substance, such as cocaine and heroin, for which there is no legal use. Although marijuana smoking is not associated with lung cancer, marijuana use has a wide range of effects, both physical and mental such as breathing problems, increased heart rate which put older people and those with heart problems at a higher risk of heart attacks. When using marijuana begins as a teenager, the drug may impair thinking, memory, and learning functions and affect how the brain builds connections between the areas necessary for these functions. This article about the drug facts of marijuana demands to be read.
We heard similar arguments around the start of the 20th century of how a new pain killing drug invented by C. R. Alder Wright in 1874, which did not have the addicting properties of morphine. The new drug was called heroin, much marijuana is now being presented to relieve pain without addiction.
Celebration by Revelers Premature?
The revelers celebrating the new state laws and opposing the DOJ may be premature. The supreme court has long held that federal laws supersede state law where a conflict occurs. The Supremacy Clause is a clause within Article VI of the U.S. Constitution which dictates that federal law is the "supreme law of the land." Somehow Democrats who have decried state supremacy for decades now embrace the new secession from federal authority by claiming since our Constitution doesn't define the use of marijuana, it is up to the states to regulate it, which is set forth in the Tenth Amendment (Amendment X) to the United States Constitution.
There are some unintended consequences:
- Users of illegal drugs (under federal regulations) cannot purchase a firearm
- They cannot be in possession of a firearm or ammunition while in possession or under the influence of illegal drugs
- They cannot work for a defense contractor, federal agency nor pharmaceutical manufacturer, to name a few.
- They cannot join nor remain in the armed forces
- In some states, they cannot qualify for financial aid, including medicaid or unemployment (proposed)
- Nearly 80% of Colorado drivers involved in accidents test positive for marijuana (THC) Only about 13% partake on a regular basis.
We can be fairly sure that the 9th Circuit Court will side with California under the 10th Amendment in their ruling. Since the above list involves interstate commerce, which is safely in the hands of the DOJ and congress, the silver lining may be that the rest of us will be safer on the streets and sleep more soundly if pot-heads can’t be policemen; own or possess firearms; work for hospitals, pharmaceutical companies or the defense industry; or join or remain the the armed forces.
Will Illinois Choose Pot Before Jobs?
As Joe Biver wrote in his article for Illinois Family Action on January 8, 2018, Will Illinois Choose Pot Before Jobs?:
In a high tax state that’s bankrupt and losing residents and jobs, one might think that our government officials would have better things to do than legalizing marijuana for recreational use. And one would be wrong. Especially when taxing marijuana is seen as yet another source of revenue for their almost bankrupt tax coffers.
Voters in Cook County, Illinois, however, will get the chance to vote on a non-binding question in the upcoming March primary on whether recreational marijuana should be legalized, when on December 14. 2017, Cook County commissioners voted unanimously to put the advisory referendum on the ballot. Referendum questions are used to gauge support for an issue to help state lawmakers decide whether to pursue the issue with formal legislation in Springfield. It stands to reason that because Cook County has 40% of the state's population, the vote coming from Cook County during a legislative session could influence state lawmakers.
Do Illinois lawmakers really need much influencing? The legalization of recreational marijuana was being addressed even before House Bill 1, known as the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, was signed into law by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn on August 01, 2013 with an effective date of January 01, 2014. HB 1 established a patient registry program, to protect the registered qualifying patients and their registered appointed caregivers, from “arrest, prosecution, or denial of any right or privilege”. It also includes provisions for cultivation centers and dispensing organizations
Findings of Democrat Patrick Kennedy Should Be Taken Seriously about What is Happening in Colorado and Oregon
Of importance to Illinoisans is a very revealing article written by Patrick Kennedy, the son of the late Massachusetts Democrat U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, that warns those in New Jersey about the dangers inherent in the legalization issue which is currently being debated in New Jersey. Detailed in Kennedy’s opinion piece in the New Jersey Ledger is that serious problems have been experienced by Washington State and Colorado, two states that have legalized recreational marijuana, namely:
"States with legal marijuana are witnessing increased use among youth and doubled rates of fatal driving crashes. These states have also failed to shore up state budget shortfalls with marijuana taxes; continue to see a thriving illegal black market; and are experiencing unabated sales of alcohol, despite campaign promises from advocates stating that marijuana would be a "safer" alternative.”
The Colorado Springs Gazette, because Colorado's problems are so evident after five years, has recognized the legalization as an “embarrassing cautionary tale.”
In Illinois a lagging economy and job creation urgently needs to be addressed, not the legalization of marijuana. Does potential abuse and addiction really rate as high as profiting from addiction?
A Message for Legislators: Did You Know?
Because marijuana dealers can’t use banks, they can’t take checks or credit cards either. That means cash, only cash, and a lot of it, even in small stores. With easy cash comes the likelihood of robbery. Since you can’t have a firearm and possess illegal drugs (under federal law), you have no means by which to defend yourself (hard enough in California anyway). Mexican gangs are chafing at the loss of income, and have already been involved in robbing licensed dealerships in Colorado and Oregon.
Legislators who are calling for recreational use of marijuana in their states disregard the fact that the amount of THC in marijuana has been increasing steadily over the past few decades. For a person who's new to marijuana use, this may mean exposure to higher THC levels with a greater chance of a harmful reaction. Higher THC levels may explain the rise in emergency room visits involving marijuana use.
In the 1920’s, gangland murders filled the newspapers along with sensational photos. “Legal” marijuana may be a saving grace for Illinois and other states to save our failing print media.
So why the rush to “legalize” marijuana? In the words of “Deep Throat” to reporter Bob Woodward, “Follow the money.” There are billions of dollars at stake in profits and more important, as taxes, enough to hold the interest of influential investors and politicians alike.
Will government ever realize the damage they do by making outlaws out of it’s citizens. Can’t pay taxes without a job.
How about using a valid comparable like alcohol? Instead you use chemically treated, purposely addictive yet STILL legally purchased tobacco and “big Pharma’s” attempt to profit from pain relief at any cost. I would venture to say most Illinoisans understand potential for revenue is only 1/3 of the equation, with medical benefits and reductions in incarsaration expense as the remaining 2/3’s. There are many, many other issues facing our state that have a greater impact on public safety and health then Cannabis. Let’s bargain those issues against the people’s freedom to possess a plant.
It would seem that everything except marijuana is described as destructively “addicting,” including sugar, cell phones and video games.
Addicting should not be conflated with intoxicating or habituating. Nicotine is intensely addicting, but in itself has little effect on behavior (aside from sneaking out for a smoke). Cannabinol, on the other hand, is likely addicting and definitely intoxicating. Data on addiction is wanting legitimate research, but is not only likely, but highly likely. The effects of cannabinol addiction have been submerged in secrecy, since it is a federal crime to possess or use marijuana.
Alcohol can and often is abused, but not is particularly addicting, and is well documented to that extent. Society also takes great pains to mitigate the social effects of drunk driving, for example, through education and enforcement. I haven’t seen it disguised as candy or brownies, innocently and tragically consumed by children.
Where to start…
“According to the Obama administrations, anti-marijuana laws unfairly targeted African Americans.”
As do most drug laws, so that is a valid reason.
“When using marijuana begins as a teenager, the drug may impair thinking, memory, and learning functions and affect how the brain builds connections between the areas necessary for these functions”
Which is why teenagers shouldn’t have it. Drug dealers don’t check ID. Licensed stores do.
“We heard similar arguments around the start of the 20th century of how a new pain killing drug invented by C. R. Alder Wright in 1874, which did not have the addicting properties of morphine. The new drug was called heroin, much marijuana is now being presented to relieve pain without addiction.”
Saying marijuana is like heroin is like saying a .22 is like a Desert Eagle. They are both guns, but one is clearly way more dangerous. You wouldn’t put those in the same category.
“”States with legal marijuana are witnessing increased use among youth and doubled rates of fatal driving crashes. These states have also failed to shore up state budget shortfalls with marijuana taxes; continue to see a thriving illegal black market;”
They also happen to be growing population centers, which means more people driving, which means more crashes. Having cannabis in your system during a crash does not always mean it was the cause of the crash.
“The Colorado Springs Gazette, because Colorado’s problems are so evident after five years, has recognized the legalization as an “embarrassing cautionary tale.”
The Governor, the voters, all the other papers and numerous studies suggest otherwise, but whatever.
“Because marijuana dealers can’t use banks, they can’t take checks or credit cards either. That means cash, only cash, and a lot of it, even in small stores. With easy cash comes the likelihood of robbery. Since you can’t have a firearm and possess illegal drugs (under federal law), you have no means by which to defend yourself.”
So security guards, a safe, and a shell corporation. Or, they could just them use banks, which would make the whole process easier.
“In the 1920’s, gangland murders filled the newspapers along with sensational photos. “Legal” marijuana may be a saving grace for Illinois and other states to save our failing print media.”
I just don’t get this. What does this even mean?
“Follow the money.” There are billions of dollars at stake in profits and more important, as taxes”
yeah, along with lower costs of incarceration, more people with access to jobs and schools, funding for drug rehab, tourist visits and general economic positives. You’re right on that one at least.
can’t vote either… Sessions believes in using the Jail system to control votes.
WRONG!
Alcohol is second most addicting chemical after HEROIN. The only thing similar to HEROIN are oxycontin PAIN PILLS!!!
THC is what make people high…after long term use it effects are minimal. NOT Cannabinol. whatever the f that is.
You are perpetuating MYTH as facts. You a perpetrating lies as facts.
If you need to win the argmument with outright lies then you LOST already.
No not submerged in in secrecy…. very open and proven positive medical aspects of canibus. Drug companies are submerging those studies. Drug companies want your $$$$ for PILLS.
And perpetuating myths about children getting pot candy…. please spare us this bullshit.
Ok now full disclosure. Who do you work for? a pharmaceutical?
Again you are conflating terms, addiction with habituation or misuse.
You lose the right to vote if convicted of felony drug use or possession. However the concept deserves some attention 😉
Number one, the federal government has no right to make a legal decision for the entire country. It is a state issue and the states should have the right to decide, not the feds. Same goes for other federal laws that strictly belong to the states alone.
Number two, one needs only take a look at the statistics from Colorado. People are dying, and not just because they’ve gotten a hold of bad Mary Jane, but because the traffic accident deaths have actually doubled. The medical industry is being overrun with emergency room patients, and it’s the pot.
Sorry, but we don’t need anymore legalized substances that can kill innocent people.
The stats from CO alone should make any state legislature think twice about legalized this drug.
Chicago’s reputation may be improved by havingFewer drug gang murders. The remark was Intended to be cynical, but poorly phrased.
“children getting pot candy…. please spare us this bullshit.”
This has been reported in the news on several occasions. Kids bring pot brownies to school and sicken their classmates. There have been several deaths.
You might try browsing the sections without pictures 😉
About the health risks of smoking, you do understand you don’t have to actually *smoke* pot, right?
Lots of opinions posted for marijuana use, but lacking citations for their statements – lacking data, too. This article is so significant because it provides so much scientific and statistical citation as proof of the authors’ position. Illinoisans whose state government keeps taxing and spending in such harmful ways should follow the links and get an education, especially about how marijuana has not kept its high promises in Oregon and Colorado.
If the state of Illinois is bound and determined to destroy itself, it still ought not to harm its citizens on the way.
Hypocrisy at it’s finest – Cannabis has killed exactly ZERO people, yet you claim it’s the states objective to protect the people…OK, when is IL outlawing alcohol, cigarettes, energy drinks, and begin holding pharmaceutical companies liable for their side effects?
These state governors have said only great things about the program in his state. The biggest issue they have is banking laws. You are the one who needs an education – a 25% reduction in overdoses in these states, a drastic reduction in overall RX’s, but I guess the thousand like myself being living proof isn’t good enough.
I urge everyone to contact your congressional representative and demand they #PassHR1227 – “END MARIJUANA PROHIBITION ACT OF 2017”
I am living proof of Cannabis’s power to overcome opiate dependence, even when one is suffering through chronic pain! #CannabisCures
I want you all to think about the recently passed 21st Century Cures act, a law that allows people the opportunity to try any new experimental pharmaceutical idea without having to wait to see the ramifications of testing…basically, you can be a guinea pig knowing if you’re willing to accept death as a consequence.
On the other side of the coin, you have a plant, that has been on the planet longer than man, that has NEVER killed anyone and has been proven to help patients with a variety of ailments, and our government says it needs more testing to ensure it’s safety before you can utilize it.
The 21st Century Cures Act which was pushed through with millions of lobbying dollars and hundreds of thousands of campaign contributions, is comprised of pharmaceutical companies who also believe in spending money to keep GOD’s plant out of medicine where it can remain as the hook for a crooked judicial system.
So the crooked system that is harassing our president is good, if and only if it is working against you! the American people! Getting justice at the top of the scale, not so much. The number arrest-able offense in 2016, marijuana.
Randy Hultgren, Adam Kinzinger, & Dick Durbin have all written me stating they are against legalization, that more study needs to be done, but yet all 3 voted for the 21 Century Cures act & the Compassionate Addiction and Recovery act. All 3 believe being a guinea pig for big pharma’s experiential dope is safer for your consumption than God’s dope…let that sink in for a while.
You don’t have to smoke tobacco either in order to “enjoy” its deleterious effects. “Tobacco Free” environments mean all forms of tobacco consumption.
Pharmaceuticals are subject to years of clinical research and trials before being released to the public. Most but not all side effects are detected, and it’s always a risk v value decision by the FDA. Pharmaceutical companies are indeed held liable for side effects, even if listed in the enclosure.
Nothing of this sort can conducted on marijuana, because you can’t legally use a Schedule I drug in clinical trials.
“God’s Dope?”, Honestly! Many plants, perhaps in your back yard, are highly toxic. One clue to discovery of new cancer drugs is the toxicity of natural plants. The Italian Renaissance would not have been the same without these poisons.
There are other risks besides medical. THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) is detectable in the blood stream for at least a month after use. If your employer uses random drug testing, you will likely find yourself walking out the door with your belongings a cardboard box. Company policy is not bound by pseudo-legalization nor the constitution in most cases. Federal law mandates these tests for industries involving public safety and national defense. For others, it’s good business sense.
Maryland announced that pot users, even for medical reasons, will have to forfeit their firearms. Not many in the NRA would disagree as long as federal law prevails.
Why make it easier for people to become drug-addicted? Do we really want to have the zombie population that chronic users will create?
Marijuana smoke is harsh on lungs. Who knows how many people will suffer lung cancer from being long-term regular users?
Do we not care about the life-time negative effects of marijuana use by teenagers on their brain development, or should I say, lack of development?
Good grief, people, use some common sense! We get caught up in arguing statistics when simple observation of the lethargy of users should convince us of not legalizing another form of drug dependence.
The more decadent Illinois becomes, the fewer productive bright people with choices will remain here. Good luck then funding the resulting welfare population and government pensions! This once vibrant state will come to resemble a third world hell-hole.
Food for thought: Owls are presented as being smart creatures. Are people only imagining that owls are dying around where there are marijuana farms? Read how marijuana poisoned rats and mice are killing owls.
https://www.livescience.com/61403-marijuana-farms-dying-owls.html
If asked, spotted owls would likely vote against marijuana legalization. New research reveals that several species, including the northern spotted owl, are succumbing to rat poison from thousands of “unpermitted private marijuana grow sites” in the northwestern California counties of Humboldt, Mendocino and Del Norte.
It’s the contamination of the owls’ primary food source — mice and rats, which, like humans, are attracted to the aromatic crop — that has been the animals’ undoing: Scientists from the University of California, Davis, and the California Academy of Sciences have detected traces of anticoagulant rodenticide in seven of the 10 northern spotted owl carcasses they collected, according to a study published today (Jan. 11) in the journal Avian Conservation and Ecology.
President Roosevelt around 1937 made Narcotic Marijuana illegal, Now the National Socialist from the Donkey Plantation are going against Roosevelt.
Atheist killed over 100 million people in the last century.
We have unborn baby killing organizations supported by Madigan, Cullerton and Rauner.
We need Jeanne Ives to correct this immoral life style in Illinois.
In God We Trust
Carl Lambrecht
Under the Supremacy Clause, Article VI, #2, federal law prevails over state law where a conflict exists. Congress can set minimum safety standards, but states are free to set tighter standards on top of federal law. Under this clause, Congress cannot command states to do something they would not otherwise do. Congress can also regulate interstate trade, and this clause, Article I, Section 8, #3, is the most powerful tool on the federal workbench. Manufacturing, technology, transportation are among the things which cross state lines. The federal government has the sole power to issue currency and sweeping power to regulate financial institutions.
Federal laws regarding conduct can still be enforced independently or concurrently with overlapping or conflicting state laws. Congress also has the power of the purse to withhold funds from federal programs unless they comply with certain, often unrelated conditions. The minimum drinking age is universally set at 21, or suffer loss of federal highway funds.
The Tenth Amendment, so often quoted in the current situation, has seldom been invoked. It is regarded as a statement in support of Federalism or States’ Rights. It is strange that the liberal aversion to states’ rights is one thing for wedding cake and another thing for cannabis.
The latter issue has already been decided by the Supreme Court, Wickard v Filburn, that marijuana can be banned under the Controlled Substances Act, because it is possible to enter interstate trade. The 10th amendment was not cited.