Pueblo, CO is Proof …

THAT LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IS A FOOLISH IDEA

The following is excerpted from “The True Cost of Marijuana,” The Epoch Times, Oct. 27, 2020: “For years, Pueblo has been looking for industries to revive its economy, and when recreational marijuana was legalized for retail sale in Colorado in 2014, many saw it as the answer. More people would be employed and the tax money would go to schools and infrastructure.

So far, 11 states have legalized retail marijuana and four others—New Jersey, Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota—are considering it. Marijuana is still an illegal, Class 1 drug according to federal law.

Two emergency room doctors in Pueblo see a different side of the equation and say the deleterious effects of cannabis legalization far outstrip any benefits. Dr. Karen Randall, who trained in pediatrics and emergency medicine, spent years as an ER doctor in Detroit, but Pueblo turned out to be a whole other level. ‘It’s like a horror movie,’ she told The Epoch Times.

Every shift in the ER brings in a patient with cannabinoid hyperemesis. In layman’s terms, that means someone is screaming and vomiting uncontrollably. The sound is wretched and apocalyptic. It’s caused by chronic cannabis use, usually high-potency products, and it stops when the person stops using cannabis.

Dr. Brad Roberts said he’s seeing more and more patients with psychosis who have no previous psychiatric history and are testing positive only for THC.

Roberts and Randall are trying to sound the warning bell on the negative effects marijuana legalization has had on their community … Since legalization in Colorado, Randall and Roberts have seen an increase in all drug use, not just marijuana.

Methamphetamine use is up 143 percent, opiates are up by 10 percent, and cannabis is up by 57 percent, according to data from the ER drug screens over the past seven years. ‘If you pump a community full of drugs, you’re going to have to expect everything that’s associated with them. You’re going to have to expect the crime, addiction,’ Randall said.”

Copied from: Friday Church News Notes, November 13, 2020, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143