{"id":14824,"date":"2018-08-30T19:19:44","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T19:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=14824"},"modified":"2018-11-01T19:10:01","modified_gmt":"2018-11-01T19:10:01","slug":"5-steps-to-marijuana-legalization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2018\/08\/5-steps-to-marijuana-legalization\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Steps To Marijuana Legalization"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s stories inadvertently illustrate the step-by-step process proponents employ to legalize marijuana for medical and recreational use.<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 1. Target states with ballot initiatives. <\/strong><\/span>
\nTell voters patients need marijuana for medical use, despite a lack of supporting evidence. Deny evidence that the drug is addictive, harmful to the developing brain, and is associated with increased traffic fatalities, ER visits, hospitalizations, and mental illnesses. [Of 26 ballot initiative states, 19 have legalized marijuana for medical use since 1996, 4 more have initiatives pending this November, and two have legalized cannabidiol (CBD). Only one initiative state, Nebraska, remains free of \u201cmedical\u201d or \u201crecreational\u201d pot.] <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Tired of the legislature\u2019s refusal to legalize marijuana for medical use, the Marijuana Policy Project from Washington DC, has brought 72 percent of the $267,000 raised to place a ballot initiative on the state\u2019s November ballot, contributing 44 percent — $118,000 \u2013 on its own. MPP, along with the Drug Policy Alliance and NORML, are the three organizations most responsible for the legalization of marijuana in the US.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read The Salt Lake Tribune\u2019s<\/em> \u201cFrom Legalizing Medical Marijuana to Raising Taxes for Schools, Utah Voters Will Have a Lot of Decisions to Make in November\u201d here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 2. Expand eligible conditions.<\/strong><\/span>
\nOnce you\u2019ve got marijuana legalized for medical use, expand the number of conditions that are eligible for its use.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Regulators in Michigan are thinking about adding 22 more conditions to the list of 14 that are currently eligible for \u201cmedical\u201d marijuana use. (States have \u201capproved\u201d marijuana to treat more than 70 different conditions thus far.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Read WXYZ.com<\/em> \u201cMichigan Considering Expanding Conditions Covered under Medical Marijuana Law\u201d here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 3. With a little help from the media . . .<\/strong><\/span>
\nConduct research with pharmaceutical-grade marijuana components, but always illustrate news articles about the research with a marijuana plant.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Two new, privately funded studies were announced today. One, a $740,000 grant, is to the University of Utah to study how THC and CBD interact with the brain. The other, a $4.7 million grant, is to the University of San Diego School of Medicine\u2019s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research to study childhood autism. The latter study (and presumably the former) will administer pharmaceutical-grade synthesized CBD manufactured by INSYS Therapeutics. Its CBD product is in Phase 2 clinical trials seeking FDA approval. It looks nothing like the picture above that accompanies The Salt Lake Tribune\u2019s<\/em> story or the picture below that accompanies the Newswise.com <\/em>story.<\/span><\/p>\n

One caveat: The gifts to the two universities come from the Rae and Tye Noorda Foundation of Utah in partnership with the Wholistic Research and Education Foundation of California. Andy Noorda, who serves as a board member of his deceased parents\u2019 foundation, co-founded the Wholistic Research and Education Foundation along with Mana Artisan Botanics of Hawaii. The company makes CBD products from hemp grown in Colorado. We have learned from alcohol and tobacco that industry-funded research is not always trustworthy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read The Salt Lake Tribune\u2019s<\/em> \u201cUniversity of Utah Launches $740,000 Study on How Marijuana Interacts with the Human Brain\u201d here<\/a>\u00a0and Newswise.com\u2019s<\/em> \u201cPhilanthropic Gift will Fund Multidisciplinary Investigation of Mechanisms and Potential Therapeutic Benefits of Cannabidiol for Treating Neurodevelopmental Disorder\u201d here<\/a>.<\/span>
\nVisit the Wholistic Research and Education Foundation here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Mana Artisan Botanics here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 4. Join marijuana Industry to legalize recreational pot.<\/strong><\/span>
\nLink up with the marijuana industry that makes medicines, not one of which has been approved by FDA. Join forces to legalize marijuana for recreational use. (All 8 states that have done this legalized pot for medicine first.)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Proponents have succeeded in placing an initiative on Michigan\u2019s November 2018 ballot that would legalize marijuana for recreational use. Among other provisions, the initiative calls for a 10 percent excise tax and a 6 percent sales tax. While allowing communities to ban marijuana businesses within their boundaries, 15 percent of those revenues would go to \u201ccommunities that allow marijuana businesses within their borders and 15 percent would go to counties where marijuana business are located.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read the Detroit Free Press<\/em> article, \u201cMichigan Approves Marijuana Legalization Vote for November\u201d here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Step 5.\u00a0Deny the consequences of legalization.<\/strong><\/span>
\nColorado legalized marijuana for medical use in 2000, legalized cultivation and dispensaries in 2009, and legalized recreational use in 2012, effective 2014. Drug-related deaths have nearly tripled since legalization began.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read KOAA\u2019s<\/em> \u201cOverdose Fatalities Continue to Reach New Record Highs in Colorado\u201d here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

See Step 5.<\/strong><\/span>
\nMore than 3,400 marijuana violations occurred in Colorado elementary, middle, and high schools last academic year, up more than 18 percent from two years before.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read Fox 31\u2019s<\/em> \u201cMarijuana Violations in Colorado K-12 Schools Up 18 Percent\u201d here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0nfia@nationalfamilies.org<\/span><\/p>\n

The Marijuana Report is\u00a0a weekly e-newsletter published by\u00a0National Families in Action<\/a>\u00a0in partnership with\u00a0SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana)<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

May 2018<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s stories inadvertently illustrate the step-by-step process proponents employ to legalize marijuana for medical and recreational use. Step 1. Target states with ballot initiatives. Tell voters patients need marijuana for medical use, despite a lack of supporting evidence. Deny evidence that the drug is addictive, harmful to the developing brain, and is associated with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cannabis-marijuana","category-global-drug-legalisation-efforts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}