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Must history repeat itself by legalizing marijuana
By Melissa Martin, Ph.D.
“As a people, we are not very good students of history; we keep
repeating the same mistakes at dreadful costs,” declared Don Wilson.
Americans, have we forgotten what happened in the last decade?
Smoking tobacco is by far the leading cause of lung cancer. About 80
percent of lung cancer deaths are caused by smoking, and many others
are caused by exposure to secondhand smoke, according to the American
Cancer Society. Have we forgotten about the deaths from lung cancer?
“In 1999, the U.S. Government sued several tobacco companies for
misleading the public about the risks of smoking. For many years, Big
Tobacco knew that smoking was dangerous to a person’s health—and they
still told the public that smoking was safe. That’s not all. In the
same lawsuit, the Government claimed that Big Tobacco advertised
cigarettes to people younger than 21 to get a new generation addicted
to smoking. The Government argued that the tobacco companies wanted to
be sure that, as their current customers got older and died, new
customers would replace them—and the tobacco companies would keep
making money…If Big Tobacco withheld the truth about smoking, what does
that tell you about how dangerous smoking really is?”
teens.drugabuse.gov.
https://teens.drugabuse.gov/blog/post/did-big-tobacco-lie-teens
With funding of $20 million, the End the Lies Youth Vaping and Nicotine
Research Initiative by the American Heart Association will fund
groundbreaking projects that focus on understanding how nicotine
impacts young people.“The #QuitLying community engagement campaign will
empower kids, schools and communities to call out JUUL and other
e-cigarette companies for their lies about vaping and nicotine
addiction.” heart.org. Is history repeating itself?
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma has been taken to task for deceiving and
lying. “The Ohio case had been set to be the first federal trial
related to an opioid epidemic that has claimed an estimated 400,000
American lives over two decades,” according to a 2019 article in USA
Today. Did history repeat itself?
Because the use of marijuana has been illegal, pot participants didn’t
volunteer for research studies. Because the federal government and the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) deem marijuana a Schedule 1
drug, research on marijuana or its active ingredients has been
restricted.Because there have not been adequate large controlled trials
to support claims of the efficacy of medical marijuana, the risks are
unknown. The lack of evidence-based information on the health effects
of cannabis is why the legalization of medical or recreational
marijuana is hazardous to the well-being of humans.
In a 2013 article in the journal Missouri Medicine,Samuel Wilkinson,
MD., reported, “Medical marijuana should be subject to the same
rigorous approval process as other medications prescribed by
physicians. Legalizing recreational marijuana may have negative public
health effects…Bypassing the FDA and approving ‘medicine’ at the ballot
box sets a dangerous precedent. Physicians should be discouraged from
recommending medical marijuana.”
So, there is marijuana in a pill form. The FDA-approved pill, known as
Dronabinol, contains the active ingredient of marijuana -
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - and has already been approved to treat
chemotherapy and AIDS patients with nausea and vomiting.
medicalnewstoday.com.
Is weed the future of the tobacco industry? “Since at least the 1970s,
tobacco companies have been interested in marijuana and marijuana
legalization as both a potential and a rival product. As public opinion
shifted and governments began relaxing laws pertaining to marijuana
criminalization, the tobacco companies modified their corporate
planning strategies to prepare for future consumer demand,” according
to a 2014 article in the Milbank Quarterlyat milbank.org.
Stoners, potheads and junkies move over—future marijuana moguls want to
become a legitimate business. Convenient stores may one day stack packs
of joints next to cigarette packs on shelves. Instead of amber waves of
grain, we’ll sing about the green leaves of cannabis. Small farmers,
entrepreneurs, dispensaries—look out. The Big Tobacco boys are back in
town. Did we learn nothing from past history?
Ohio can decriminalize marijuana without making recreational pot legal.
“Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to
an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they
should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against
possession of marijuana in private for personal use... Therefore, I
support legislation amending Federal law to eliminate all Federal
criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce [28g] of
marijuana.”—Jimmy Carter
Melissa Martin, Ph.D., is an author, columnist, educator, and
therapist. She lives in Scioto County. Contact her at
melissamcolumnist@gmail.com.
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