Homeless in Arizona

Here is the text of the letter, which contains a number of lies about marijuana.

Here are the snide comments I made about it yesterday:

Sheila Polk continues to spread her lies about marijuana.

I am sure the only reason Sheila Polk wants to keep marijuana illegal is because of all the high paying jobs it creates for cops, prosecutors, judges, probation officers, and other high paid government bureaucrats like herself.

Come on Sheila Polk, saying marijuana is addictive like heroin is absolute rubbish.

Same goes for implying that people are dying of marijuana overdoses and poisoning. More rubbish from the movie "Reefer Madness".

And marijuana that is more then 5 times as potent as the marijuana from the 70's??? Sheila, perhaps you can help me score some of that stuff? Yea, I know it's a little better, but 5 times???

Last remember NIDA or National Institute of Drug Abuse, isn't a "real medical" research group. NIDA is a government agency whose sole purpose is to promote the "War on Drugs" and demonize drugs, to justify the high paying jobs the "War on Drugs" creates for government bureaucrats like Sheila Polk.

This is a letter to the editor in the Saturday, Feb 13, 2016 issue of the Arizona Republic.

Source

Letter: Montini's marijuana facts are all wrong

Seth Leibsohn and Sheila Polk 5:19 p.m. MST February 13, 2016

Not surprisingly, EJ Montini was noticeably vague in his recent op-ed (”Blowing marijuana smoke into opponents' faces") accusing Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy of using “questionable” information in its arguments against legalizing marijuana. Nothing could be further from the truth. Consider the following:

-- Since Colorado legalized marijuana, teen use has risen dramatically and is now 74 percent higher than the national average. (2015 SAMHSA report/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

-- Since legalization, Colorado has seen an increase in marijuana-related traffic fatalities, hospitalization and emergency visits, as well as marijuana-related calls to poison control centers. (Rocky Mountain HIDTA)

-- Today’s marijuana is a harmful, psychoactive, addictive substance that is much more potent than ever before -- at least five times more powerful than the marijuana of the 1970s. (National Institute of Drug Abuse)

-- The American College of Pediatricians reported grave risks for youth: “Marijuana is addicting, has adverse effects upon the adolescent brain, is a risk for both cardio-respiratory disease and testicular cancer, and is associated with both psychiatric illness and negative social outcomes.” (ACEP/September 2015)

-- As the U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado reported, illicit or black market activity in Colorado has not subsided since legalization and, in fact, has increased. (AP, Jan. 28, 2016)

Government regulatory statistical agencies as well as peer-reviewed medical journals are hardly “questionable.”

— Seth Leibsohn, chair;and Shelia Polk, vice-chair; Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy

Source

Montini: Marijuana foes now blowing smoke...at me?

EJ Montini, The Republic | azcentral.com 6:37 a.m. MST February 15, 2016

The leaders of the effort against the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol are using scare tactics and questionable information to defeat the measure and they’re angry with me for pointing this out. So they wrote a letter to the editor taking me to task … with MORE scare tactics.

It’s sad, really.

And disappointing.

The vice-chair of the so-called Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy is Yavapai County Attorney Shelia Polk. If this were a trial her “evidence” would never hold up in court.

Polk and Seth Leibson, a radio talk-show host who heads the anti-marijuana group, wrote a letter to the editor of The Arizona Republic saying, among other things, that youngsters will use more marijuana if the proposition passes and that marijuana is more potent than it was before.

Fear. Scare tactics. Supposition.

First, if we legalize marijuana it can be regulated and sold only to adults. Plus, the marijuana will be subject to the kind of product testing that could better ensure safety.

I accept and respect those who believe legalizing marijuana is a bad idea or simply oppose it on moral grounds.

I'm fine with that.

But if the argument against legalizing pot is that teens might use more marijuana we’re going to have to revise and revoke several laws.

For example, we’ll have to re-institute prohibition, making alcohol illegal to adults because we all know that youngsters sometimes get ahold of it.

Same thing with cigarettes. Only adults can legally purchase smokes but we all know that kids find ways to get them.

We’ll have to outlaw everything that’s legal for adults but that kids do anyway.

For instance, we’d ban R-rated movies, which aren’t supposed to admit youngsters without an accompanying adult but, come on, we we’ve all seen kids in theaters.

And we’ll have to outlaw sex between consenting adults.

Sorry.

But using the logic of Leibsohn and Polk grown-ups will have to make this sacrifice in order to prevent non-adults from doing … it.

The simple truth is that times change.

Sooner or later we’re going to quit wasting money prosecuting marijuana users and start taxing them.

The chairman of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, J. P. Holyoak, has explained it this way: “Regulating marijuana like alcohol would bolster our state’s economy with new tax revenue, new jobs, and new business opportunities. Business leaders typically recognize the value of a legal and regulated alcohol market for adults. Our initiative would establish a similar system but for an objectively less harmful product.”

That’s it in a nutshell.

Everything else is … smoke.