Legalizing recreation marijuana will lead to more addiction. by Lisa James I am the sister of a long term addict. My brother started down the path of addiction over 30...
Legalizing recreation marijuana will lead to more addiction.
by Lisa James
I am the sister of a long term addict. My brother started down the path of addiction over 30 years ago with a little pot. No harm there right?
He has spent half his adult life in prison. He has no job. He is the father of three wonderful children, two of them now live with their grandmother.
At 46 years of age the future is not bright. Short periods of sobriety are followed by long periods of life threatening addiction.
There is hardly a family in the world not touched by this scourge. If you have not been touched in your family, odds are that your co-worker, your neighbor, a church member, or club member has not been as fortunate. It knows no economic boundary. Rich or poor. Famous or anonymous. A recent survey showed that of the 310 million US citizens some 20 million have a serious untreated addiction problem. This is an epidemic.
Addiction isn’t the disease we talk about. There is a stigma attached that doesn’t exist for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and more. But it is a disease and it is far reaching. We to come together not only for a cure, but to prevent legalizing more substances that lead to addiction.
Economic Boom or Doom?
Proponents of legalizing marijuana point to the economic boom in the industry along with huge tax revenues generated by the sales.
What they don’t take into account is the economic toll this will take on individuals, families, and our state and local economy. Broken families, homeless, lost productivity, and state and local funded recovery resources all have a financial cost.
Even by just talking about legalizing marijuana they are fueling the fire. Our young citizens must be thinking “what’s the harm? They are going to legalize it anyway. It must be government approved just like alcohol and cigarettes.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. I am not saying that some people can’t smoke and never get lung disease. I am not saying some people can’t have an occasional glass of wine and never have a problem. I am saying that legalizing marijuana will not solve a problem, it will only make a problem worse.
When my children would ask to do something I wouldn’t allow, they would always ask why. And they always had a response for each reason I gave them. Eventually it would lead to, “but my friend, Sam or Sarah, gets to go/do. Their parents don’t care.” And my response would be, “Well, I love you more.” I’m asking you today to love Arizona’s kids more. To love Arizona more. To love Arizona’s future more. Please love our kids more.
I want to remind you the same people who are asking you to make marijuana legal for recreational use are the very same people who, just a few short years ago, told you it was a powerful medicine. What other medicine do we encourage people to use recreationally? None. Zero. Why start now?
We already have a law on the books legalizing medical marijuana. While this law is easily abused, it is allowing those with a legitimate medical reason for using marijuana to get it from a licensed facility. Why not wait a while and see how this works out?
