Thank Biden for His Stand Against Commercializing Pot, and for Removing Legalization from Democratic Party Platform

MERRIFIELD, VIRGINIA, USA, December 16, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Every Brain Matters (EBM), an alliance of drug prevention groups, vigorously opposes the expansion of marijuana, as four new states vote to legalize.

President-elect Joe Biden respects the science on the dangers of marijuana, and he acknowledges research from the 2017 National Academy of Sciences Report on Cannabis and Cannabinoids. Our groups applaud the in-coming president for prevailing upon his party to deliberately leave marijuana out of the 2020 Democratic Party platform.

Groups joining in this statement include Parents Opposed to Pot, Americans Against Legalizing Marijuana and MomsStrong.org.

State marijuana legalization represents a triumph of campaign money and marketing over science and data. Pro-marijuana forces, outspent opponents to legalization by at least 20 to 1, and 65 to 1 in New Jersey.

“We may not have the billions of dollars, like the drug promoters, but we have a commitment to protect and speak out for kids and others harmed by marijuana,” said Aubree Adams, spokesperson for the alliance and Assistant Director, Parents Opposed to Pot.

“We grow stronger, as more people experience the devastation that marijuana brings to children, families and neighborhoods,” she continued. “We cannot let what happened to my former state of Colorado happen to the rest of the country.”

On October 30, 2020, the Medical Societies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Delaware issued a joint statement against any further legalization of marijuana until the damage it causes is thoroughly assessed.

Because dangers specific to this drug are backed up by science, EBM asks Congress not to pass the SAFE Banking Act or a COVID bill that gives benefits to marijuana companies. Giving any benefits to the profit-driven marijuana industry is anti-youth. We call on the incoming Congress to keep marijuana in its same category of the Controlled Substances Act. Marijuana is as dangerous as heroin, but in different ways, and it is a far more dangerous drug than it was when the Controlled Substances Act passed in 1970.

EBM reminds policy makers that three of the biggest promises the marijuana industry used to push for legalization have not been fulfilled. The projected tax revenue is far below what was promised. Furthermore, the illegal markets grew significantly in states with a commercial marijuana market. Marijuana legalization consistently fails in meeting the equity and social justice promises the advocates made to voters and to minority groups.

More families are coming forward to report marijuana-related deaths of loved ones and marijuana-related mental illness. The western states experienced an explosion of homelessness, much of it caused by drug use. Car crashes, child abuse, vaping, suicides, cannabinoid-hyperemesis syndrome and heart failure are among the many ways marijuana kills.

The medical research linking marijuana to the development of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia is as strong as the research of the 1960s that found that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer. Tobacco companies invest heavily in marijuana companies, applying their cynical expertise with smoking, vaping and the marketing of addictive products.

Marijuana concentrates of more than 90% THC are sold in states that have legalized it. Teens are using high-potency marijuana, in the form of vapes, dabs and edibles, at record rates, and most have never heard there is any risk at all. We are literally conducting an experiment on the brains of our youth, and already the outcomes have been devastating. A hospital in Washington state reported one to two new psychosis cases every day related to these potent products.

Expanding marijuana legalization means that two important protective factors against addiction have been further eroded: limited access to drugs and perception of harm. Marijuana companies advertise freely, even though ballot initiatives promised the products would not be marketed to children.
One study showed that 69 percent of marijuana stores in Colorado recommended it as treatment for morning sickness. The percentage of pregnant women using marijuana has been going up, putting future children at risk.

Legalization adds fuel to the fire of the addiction epidemic. Marijuana, not heroin, is the most common drug of initiation for those who overdose or struggle with drug addiction.

Every Brain Matters opposes all efforts by the marijuana industry to advertise and mass market cannabis and high-THC products such as vapes, dabs and edibles.

Kimberly Hartke
Parents Opposed to Pot
email us here
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
Twitter