Re: Please
Vote No on Rand Paul/Cohen Amendment Protecting Drug Traffickers from US. Drug
Laws
“MEDICAL”
MARIJUANA IS AN ASSAULT ON ALL AMERICANS
THE
GOVERNMENT’S MOST IMPORTANT JOB IS TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE
FROM
HARM. It
is unconscionable that the branch of our government that makes the laws would
prevent the DEA from enforcing them by withholding federal funds. It is equally
absurd that the Executive Branch would simply choose not to enforce CSA laws in
defiance of all scientific evidence from the FDA, NIDA, DEA, AMA, ONDCP and
others, not to mention international treaty obligations and federal laws which
they are obligated to faithfully execute.
MARIJUANA IS
NOT MEDICINE: There
is no medicine in the world that is smoked as a delivery vehicle, or with
potency (i.e. THC) levels of 20 to 37% in smoke form, even 90% in wax form.
CBD, the component of the plant that may have medicinal value, is bred out in
favor of THC, the psychoactive ingredient, so it isn't even medicine to begin
with. It will never meet the criteria of uniform ingredients, potency or dosage
for safety and efficacy.
EDUCATE THE
PUBLIC:
Marijuana causes permanent brain damage, psychosis including schizophrenia and
paranoia, crime, birth defects, addiction, suicidal depression, diminished
academic achievement, lost productivity, more welfare and more traffic deaths.
It is the gateway to drugs that kill 105 Americans daily, like heroin, just from
overdose. The federal government, with access to the best scientific evidence
in the world, needs to protect the public from what they don’t know, while
educating them so they are not vulnerable to propaganda from American drug
cartels. Marijuana is destroying the brains of our young people and the future
of America.
MISUSE OF
FEDERAL FUNDS:
Rather than withhold funds from those charged to enforce the law, the government
should impose economic sanctions on states and local communities that violate
the law. To allow States to profit from illicit drug sales, then reward them
for violating CSA laws and International Treaties, is absurd. If you reward
crime, you will get more of it.
“TEEN SUBSTANCE
ABUSE IS THE LARGEST PREVENTABLE AND
MOST
COSTLY PUBLIC HEALTH
PROBLEM IN AMERICA”[i]:
ONDCP pegs the cost at $193 billion for law enforcement and lost productivity,
but add health costs of $700 billion ( CASA); school dropouts $470
billion[ii];
mental illness $174 billion[iii];
welfare costs $136 billion, conservatively estimated at 20% of total; and
traffic accidents and fatalities at $59.9 billion[iv];
and the total exceeds $1.7 billion per annum. Marijuana use peaks at age 19 and
20, and starts at age 12 or 13 on average. Prevent the problem, and save lives
and cut hundreds of billions in taxpayer expense.
___________________________________
[i]
The National Center For Substance Abuse and Addiction (CASA Columbia)
[ii]
UC Santa Barbara High School Dropout Research Project. $387,000 life time cost
per drop out.
[iii]
Dr. Joel Hay, University of California Los Angeles
[iv]
Dr. Robert DuPont – Institute of Behavior and Health (www.ibhinc.org)
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