As I walked to the west steps of the State Capitol July 7 to watch the black pastors’ news conference against marijuana legalization, it was like hearing a powerful worship meeting in process. “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!” sang a man at the podium, backed up by 20+ ministers. The un-colorblind media in attendance would never call them the religious right.
What’s going on here? A long time ago, fatherlessness infected the black community, along with the irresponsible mindset furnished by government welfare. All that pain and sin was powerful fuel for marijuana addiction, now an epidemic among black teens and young adults.
Led by Dr. Ron Allen, head of the International Faith-Based Coalition, these pastors blasted Prop. 19, which would legalize marijuana up and down California. They also called for the resignation of Alice Huffman, the pro-pot head of the California chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Huffman is a liberal’s liberal. Notorious in California politics, Huffman was a former legislative aide to ultraliberal Democrat Maxine Waters (now in Congress) and doubled as president of the Black American Political Association of California, an organization founded by Willie Brown, the infamous “Ayatollah of the Assembly.” In 1984, Huffman became political director of the biggest, baddest government union in the state, the California Teachers Association.
In 2005, Huffman put the California NAACP on record in favor of homosexual “marriage” legislation. That same year, she was the grand marshall of San Diego’s “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender pride parade.” So it’s no surprise that Huffman has put the NAACP down for Prop. 19, which would legalize pot “possession and cultivation” statewide.
WHY POT LEGALIZATION IS A BAD IDEA
1. According to the American Lung Association, there is 50-70% more cancer-causing material in marijuana smoke than in cigarette smoke. In fact, marijuana smoke contains more than 400 chemicals. Marijuana is more harmful to the lungs than cigarettes.
2. Sixty percent of teens in drug treatment centers report marijuana as their #1 addiction.
3. Teens and young adults who regularly smoke pot are at risk of developing brain abnormalities.
4. Legalizing marijuana means teen pot usage will match, even exceed, teen alcohol usage.
5. Adolescents who smoke pot are 85 times more likely to use cocaine than their non–pot smoking peers. And 60 percent of youngsters who use marijuana before they turn 15 later go on to use cocaine.
6. Legalizing pot means it will be sold in your local grocery store, purchased by 21-year-olds who will then give it or sell it to teenagers.
7. Legalizing marijuana will dramatically increase “drugged driving” and fatal car accidents.
8. Legalizing pot will allow drug cartels to grow marijuana in large-scale operations on thousands of acres of California farmland.
9. More violent crime will result as drug cartels invest heavily in marijuana fields and dramatically increase their power.
10. Legalizing marijuana will make it impossible for employers to enforce drug-free workplace rules.
Not yet convinced that legalizing marijuana is a terrible idea? Watch Lei Green, 32, a single mother of seven, talk about how marijuana led her on a road to destruction.
Don’t fill yourself up with wine.
Getting drunk will lead to wild living.
Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 NIRV