|
Abstract
|
In the November 2022 state elections, the heinous marijuana industry may get legal recreational cannabis. This will eventually destroy Missouri's health and social fabric as it has in other states. This may be prevented, but only with immediate, widespread, effective opposition.
I'm not one to believe in miracles. Unless one fortuitously comes our way by November 2022, it is possible addicting high (80-90%) tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) recreational marijuana will be legal in Missouri. The hideous marijuana industry, hereafter referred to as "Big Weed," paid out over $8,000,000 to a Washington D.C. firm to collect enough signatures to put recreational marijuana on the ballot in November 2022. The firm has submitted close to 400,000 signatures to get the referendum on legal recreational marijuana on the November ballot. At the time of this writing, while the number of signatures is huge, certain of the eight congressional districts lack the required 8% of registered voters. If our miracle occurs Big Weed will not have enough signatures this year; if not, they will be back again, and again. Merit aside, odds are if recreational marijuana gets on the 2022 ballot it will pass unless responsible individuals and organizations take immediate action. That did not happen in 2018 when Missouri passed a sham medical marijuana amendment.
In a March/April 2012 Missouri Medicine editorial: "Is Missouri Going to Pot? Reefer Madness: Legal or Medical Marijuana" I stated that marijuana was not a valid medicine, and had many harmful side effects. I expressed a belief that the sensible people of Missouri would keep cannabis' social and medical blight out of our state. A soaring number of studies published world wide confirm the deleterious medical and mental effects of marijuana. Missouri Medicine has published more than 20 such studies. Adverse effects are more common in states with sham medical marijuana laws; even higher in legal recreational use states. In the 22 years I have been editor of Missouri Medicine, not a single scientific study has been submitted to our journal showing any useful medical application for street level marijuana.
Language: en |