Robert Celt
New Member
To protect and serve. This honorable calling is what leads most members of law enforcement to choose their career. It is why I eventually chose to be a prosecutor. Protecting society from criminals and seeing that justice is served is important and noble work. When I envisioned prosecuting criminals, people who murder, rape, assault and steal always came to mind. Punishing sick patients over their choice of medicine – veterans with PTSD; parents whose children are suffering from disease; people stricken with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, cancer and other terminal illnesses – never entered my mind.
Protecting people from themselves is the job of families, schools, churches and the health care system. It is not the job of the criminal justice system. Doctors and researchers are best suited to determine what treatments work best for various conditions, and patients deserve access to those treatments without the threat of arrest or incarceration. For some, marijuana is the most effective and least addictive option. For some, it is the only thing that works.
The thought of legalizing medical marijuana is still unsettling to many people due to the fear and stigma created through many decades of deceit and misinformation. Having been convinced that marijuana is dangerous, it is natural to assume that prohibition offers the ultimate form of control. To the contrary, prohibition represents an absence of control.
By keeping medical marijuana illegal in Tennessee, patients must choose to continue to endure suffering, relocate to another state or turn to the illegal market. Patients who turn to the illegal market have no assurance of quality or purity of the product and must often deal with dangerous criminals who could rob or hurt them. Legalization simply means putting medical marijuana in licensed, heavily regulated stores and diverting funds from gangs and cartels and into our communities.
Opponents to legalization reason that prohibition prevents kids from using marijuana, and legal regulation would only encourage use and lead to an increase in drugged driving. This rhetoric does not match the reality of what is actually happening. High school students can more easily buy marijuana than beer. Stores refuse to sell to minors because, unlike illegal marijuana dealers, they have valuable licenses at stake. The rate of marijuana use among high school students has stayed constant for the past two decades, yet the rate of tobacco use has been cut in half. Strict, responsible regulation and truthful anti-smoking public health campaigns have effectively taught kids that although tobacco is legal, it is harmful, and use has decreased.
Similarly, in states that have chosen to legalize, regulate and educate youth, marijuana use has decreased, as have traffic fatality rates. In 2014, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that drivers under the influence of marijuana are no more likely to crash than sober drivers. There is no dispute that alcohol causes an increase in traffic fatalities, yet it remains legal because we found that regulation and responsible policies are better than prohibition.
The majority of Tennesseans and Americans are in favor of legalizing medical marijuana. It is time to protect and respect patients and allow law enforcement to focus on serious crime. It is time to embrace new policies based on truth, health, science and compassion.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Tennessee Patients Deserve Access To Medical Marijuana
Author: Allison Barker Watson
Photo Credit: None found
Website: Tennessean
Protecting people from themselves is the job of families, schools, churches and the health care system. It is not the job of the criminal justice system. Doctors and researchers are best suited to determine what treatments work best for various conditions, and patients deserve access to those treatments without the threat of arrest or incarceration. For some, marijuana is the most effective and least addictive option. For some, it is the only thing that works.
The thought of legalizing medical marijuana is still unsettling to many people due to the fear and stigma created through many decades of deceit and misinformation. Having been convinced that marijuana is dangerous, it is natural to assume that prohibition offers the ultimate form of control. To the contrary, prohibition represents an absence of control.
By keeping medical marijuana illegal in Tennessee, patients must choose to continue to endure suffering, relocate to another state or turn to the illegal market. Patients who turn to the illegal market have no assurance of quality or purity of the product and must often deal with dangerous criminals who could rob or hurt them. Legalization simply means putting medical marijuana in licensed, heavily regulated stores and diverting funds from gangs and cartels and into our communities.
Opponents to legalization reason that prohibition prevents kids from using marijuana, and legal regulation would only encourage use and lead to an increase in drugged driving. This rhetoric does not match the reality of what is actually happening. High school students can more easily buy marijuana than beer. Stores refuse to sell to minors because, unlike illegal marijuana dealers, they have valuable licenses at stake. The rate of marijuana use among high school students has stayed constant for the past two decades, yet the rate of tobacco use has been cut in half. Strict, responsible regulation and truthful anti-smoking public health campaigns have effectively taught kids that although tobacco is legal, it is harmful, and use has decreased.
Similarly, in states that have chosen to legalize, regulate and educate youth, marijuana use has decreased, as have traffic fatality rates. In 2014, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that drivers under the influence of marijuana are no more likely to crash than sober drivers. There is no dispute that alcohol causes an increase in traffic fatalities, yet it remains legal because we found that regulation and responsible policies are better than prohibition.
The majority of Tennesseans and Americans are in favor of legalizing medical marijuana. It is time to protect and respect patients and allow law enforcement to focus on serious crime. It is time to embrace new policies based on truth, health, science and compassion.
News Moderator: Robert Celt 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Tennessee Patients Deserve Access To Medical Marijuana
Author: Allison Barker Watson
Photo Credit: None found
Website: Tennessean
