SAVECALIFORNIA.COM NEWS RELEASE
January 12, 2010 -- For Immediate Release
A run to the grocery store for milk, eggs and marijuana?
Parents and grandparents strongly oppose California marijuana legalization
TAKE ACTION: Send an authoritative email message telling Sacramento NO!
VIDEO: See law enforcement and addiction experts testify (starts 14 min. into video)
Sacramento, California -- The passage of a marijuana legalization bill in a committee of the California State Assembly today demonstrates the big fight brewing over the legalization of this toxic carcinogen, which will likely be decided on this year's ballot.
Today, the Democrat-controlled and misnamed Assembly Public Safety Committee passed AB 390 to decriminalize marijuana for adults. The bill was approved 4 to 3, with only Democrats supporting it, despite more than two dozen law enforcement, anti-drug organizations and youth leaders testifying against it. The author, Democrat Tom Ammiano of San Francisco, commended the committee for passing his bill, despite, as he said, marijuana is "not everybody's cup of tea."
"Parents and grandparents will rise up against the legalization and normalization of marijuana, which today is 150% more potent than in the 1960's and 1970's," said
Randy Thomasson, president of SaveCalifornia.com, a statewide pro-family, pro-child organization. "When it gets on the ballot, people will oppose it because legalizing pot means more drug-related crimes, more DUIs and innocent people killed on freeways, more addictions, more health problems, and more children getting hooked. Parents and grandparents don't want to go to the supermarket for milk and eggs and have to see marijuana too."
"Children will definitely have easy access to marijuana when it's sold in supermarkets, just like hard liquor. All kids need is a 21-year-old accomplice. The science is conclusive. With 400 different chemicals and four times the tar than cigarettes, marijuana harms the body, the brain and the lungs. Regular marijuana use causes irreversible lung damage and brain damage for teenagers and young people. And sadly, it doesn't take much time to get hooked on this gateway drug and then move up to crack and meth."
SaveCalifornia.com has launched a "No on AB 390" citizen lobbying campaign, allowing Californians to email their state legislators to oppose the marijuana legalization of AB 390. The pre-written email message contains facts about how regular marijuana use damages the lungs and brains of young adults and teenagers. See the "No on AB 390" email message.
Other states and nations demonstrate the harm done by marijuana legalization:
Alaska: After the Alaska Supreme Court legalized marijuana in 1975, teen marijuana use jumped to 51%. According to a 1988 University of Alaska study, the state's 12 to 17-year-olds used marijuana at more than twice the national average for their age group. This clear harm motivated Alaska voters to recriminalize marijuana in 1990.
The Netherlands: From 1984 to 1996, the Dutch liberalized the use of cannabis. Surveys reveal that lifetime prevalence of cannabis in Holland increased consistently and sharply. For the age group 18-20, the increase is from 15 percent in 1984 to 44 percent in 1996. When law enforcement officially turned a blind eye to marijuana, there were three criminal organizations in Amsterdam. Despite marijuana "regulation" in 1996, today there are many more criminal organizations in the city than before legalization.
California's failed experiment with so-called "medicinal marijuana" in 1996 has resulted today in the half-legalization of marijuana, where most adults and even minors can buy and smoke pot. "In Los Angeles County there are more marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks," said Assemblyman Curt Hagman, a Chino Hills Republican and vice-chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
Last month, a nationwide study of teen substance abuse from the University of Michigan reported that youth marijuana use increased last year, despite a nationwide prohibition. The study found 27 percent of 10th graders and a full third of 12th graders had used marijuana.
Comparatively, the rates for having had any alcohol to drink in the past 30 days are 15 percent, 30 percent and 44 percent in 8th, 10th and 12th grade. When asked how easy it would be to get alcohol if they wanted some, the majority of students in all three grades said it would be "fairly easy" or "very easy."
"The facts show that marijuana legalization for adults will significantly increase marijuana smoking by teenagers," said Thomasson. "If something is legal, children can get their hands on it. Some very selfish adults are leading young people astray."
"So-called medicinal marijuana was a hoax designed to fool the public into full legalization," Thomasson added. "Before Prop. 215 passed, patients could receive, and can still get today, prescriptions of Marinol, derived from marijuana without all the toxins and carcinogens, from bona fide physicians. This renders marijuana dispensaries completely unnecessary for those who ignorantly or deceptively claim they need it."
Background from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
Legalization of drugs leads to increased use and increased addiction »
"Medical" marijuana facts »
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SaveCalifornia.com is a leading West Coast nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing children and families. We stand for marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, financial freedom, and back-to-basics education.
