Families BOYCOTT COLORADO Ski Tourism–Your State on Marijuana

Pot smoke over Boulder. Pot-CO's new image.
Colorado: This is your state’s new tourism image. Yes, that’s pot smoke over Boulder. Cool huh? Why would anyone choose to ski here?
Don't ski in marijuana states.
Families taking their ski business to non-marijuana states.

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Update: Since we first published this piece in May of 2014, the following article, “Pot Perception Worries Some Colorado Resort Towns” appeared recently.
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When you’ve taken the policy decision to trade wholesome outdoor recreation for clouds of pot smoke as your state’s tourism image, you are bound to have some blowback.

This  letter came to us from a family whose ties to Colorado are deep but who have decided to take their ski-vacations elsewhere.

They asked to remain anonymous as the nastiness of the pot lobby and its army of online Trolls is abusive.  They asked to be spared exposure to this bullying.

“Dear Colorado Ski USA,

I read about your opposition to the ski resort symbols on marijuana edibles.

Thank you for remaining steadfast in your policies and practices that disassociate the ski industry from marijuana and drug use.

America is watching Colorado (and Washington) lead its people into drug normalization that is yielding a new plague of substance abuse. Continue reading Families BOYCOTT COLORADO Ski Tourism–Your State on Marijuana

Sanjay Gupta on Marijuana: Will History hold him in the company of the Tobacco Docs?

Doctors were used to sell cigarettes. Doctors recommend marijuana.
RJ Reynolds, 1946
Ads like this regularly appeared in publications like the Journal of the American Medical Association. (Click image to enlarge).
Sanjya Gupta - Weeds Cigarette MD
Reminiscent of the heyday of Big Tobacco, Gupta’s position on marijuana and image is being co-opted to lend credibility to the marijuana industry.

Big Tobacco used doctors for years to convince us that cigarettes were okay.  They even had campaigns pitching the health benefits of smoking cigarettes.

The same playbook is being used to run the next great public health fraud–the legalization of marijuana. And they’ve got Sanjay Gupta playing the role of the Cigarette “MD”. Continue reading Sanjay Gupta on Marijuana: Will History hold him in the company of the Tobacco Docs?

Nurse as Tobacco, Now Marijuana Icon – We’re being duped again.

Tobacco Nurse is model for Marijuana Nurse
Tobacco companies used nurses, as well as doctors, to brainwash unsuspecting generations into smoking. Marijuana is using the same playbook. (Click images to enlarge).
Marijuana Nurse follows in Tobacco Nurses footsteps.
Not as demure as days gone buy, and updated to our digital and racier present, the “Nurse Tactic” of Big Tobacco is being used today to dupe us into thinking that smoking weed is okay.

When you keep lifting the lid a little more on the methods and intentions of the marijuana industry, the parallels to the duping of America and the world by the tobacco industry become so blatantly obvious that it would be laughable if it wasn’t tragic.

As states, like Kentucky, catch onto the farce that is the medical benefits of smoked marijuana, and build laws for use around just the non-high-inducing cannabidiol part of marijuana, the pot legalization proponents get all upset.

The role of the Doctor in promoting tobacco and marijuana legalization has been thoroughly exploited.  And with the doctor, of course, comes the nurse.

Continue reading Nurse as Tobacco, Now Marijuana Icon – We’re being duped again.

Video: Understanding Addiction as a Disease — Your Teen and Marijuana, Alcohol and other Drugs

From Bluepic Studios and wait21.org, this video is a great primer on addiction.

Why does the body crave a drug over more healthy options?

Why does exposure to alcohol, marijuana , tobacco, and other drugs before age 21 dramatically increase the odds of addiction?

Continue reading Video: Understanding Addiction as a Disease — Your Teen and Marijuana, Alcohol and other Drugs

Even a little pot use ups college dropout risk

Even a little pot increases college dropout risk.There is a lot of new evidence about the health impacts of high potency 21st Century marijuana. But the rise in its use among young people is perhaps the most problematic.

Student debt had risen dramatically in the past decade, so making the most of that very expensive education is more critical than ever.  That makes the following news even more compelling.

Pot has a serious negative impact on the return on investment of those education dollars.

Here’s the scoop at Health Day:

 


Continue reading Even a little pot use ups college dropout risk

Diversion to Non-Marijuana States is Pot Shop Business Plan

Pot shops plan over border business
Marijuana diversion and trafficking are among the eight listed violations that the Justice Department say they’ll enforce. Apparently this is no deterrent to pot dealers.

It is one thing to have our neighboring states create marijuana chaos for themselves, but exporting it over the border to states that have the good sense not to surrender to the drug culture is despicable. Law enforcement, drug education and prevention people, and government officials take note.

Here are two articles that were published recently. This information should be very disturbing to anyone in our states who cares about marijuana and substance abuse.

AG Holder recently unveiled a list of eight marijuana violations the Justice Department will enforce.  They include:

  • The distribution of marijuana to minors.
  • Directing revenue from marijuana sales to gangs and cartels.
  • Diverting marijuana from states where it is legal to other states where there are no laws allowing for marijuana use.
  • Using legal sales as cover for trafficking operations.
  • Using violence and or firearms in marijuana cultivation and distribution.
  • Driving under the influence of marijuana.
  • Growing marijuana on public lands.
  • Possessing marijuana or using on federal property.

The intent of the following “entrepreneurs” is clearly diversion and trafficking. They will join other traffickers in Colorado with similar plans for Oklahoma. Your state next.

Continue reading Diversion to Non-Marijuana States is Pot Shop Business Plan

Time for Reefer Sanity — Marijuana is Harmful

Marijuana is harmful. Time for Reefer Sanity
Science is not on the side of the Pro Pot faction–regardless of how well they manipulate the data and replay the games of Big Tobacco. At the end of the day it is addiction on which they are planning their profits.

Don’t believe the hype: marijuana legalization poses too many risks to public health and public safety. Based on almost two decades of research, community-based work, and policy practice across three presidential administrations, my new book “Reefer Sanity” discusses some widely held myths about marijuana:

Myth No. 1: “Marijuana is harmless and non-addictive”

No, marijuana is not as dangerous as cocaine or heroin, but calling it harmless or non-addictive denies very clear science embraced by every major medical association that has studied the issue. Scientists now know that the average strength of today’s marijuana is some 5–6 times what it was in the 1960s and 1970s, and some strains are upwards of 10–20 times stronger than in the past—especially if one extracts THC through a butane process. This increased potency has translated to more than 400,000 emergency room visits every year due to things like acute psychotic episodes and panic attacks.

Continue reading Time for Reefer Sanity — Marijuana is Harmful

First, Do No Harm — Gupta, Weed, Ethics, & Science

Guptas say vape. Are this his "patients"
Are these the “patients” Sanjay Gupta will help with his “non-science, non-evidence-based suggestion that vaping may be the way to consume weed? Source: Reuters/Kimberly White

Since CNN sensationalized his “Weed” reports, Sanjay Guptas has continued to erode his own credibility, for example, in his statements about vaporizing marijuana.

The biggest concern about Dr. Gupta is his relationship with science-based medicine. Being a medical correspondent is a tough job to have and still stay true to science and evidence-based medicine. The temptation to “sex up a story” or to do credulous puff pieces about the latest “alternative” medicine in order to drive ratings is strong, and it takes a strong commitment to be able to resist them.

It seems that Gupta’s weaknesses as a science-based or evidence-based professional were known even as he was being considered for surgeon general in 2009 (see article below). He didn’t make the cut then.

His carelessness in promoting marijuana to his broad TV public with no regard for the impact on public health and increasing abuse of marijuana bares out that skepticism about his professional judgement. Continue reading First, Do No Harm — Gupta, Weed, Ethics, & Science

Pro Marijuana Events Face Backlash Amid Poor Legalization Report Card

Colorado's image of fresh air and wholesome fun or haze of marijuana smoke.
The pristine clouds and a Rocky Mountain high have been emasculated by marijuana smoke and drug-induced high. The wholesome image portrayed by Colorado’s tourism board is upstaged on 4/20 by pot activists.
State Tourism and Marijuana Legalization
Scenes like this were the face of Denver and Colorado amid this past weekend’s 4/20 pot celebrations.  What might your State’s tourism image look like under legalized marijuana?

Colorado’s wholesome image of fresh air and exercise, hiking and beautiful scenery gave way again this April to a haze of pot smoke while police largely ignored enforcement of the “no public consumption provisions” of the amendment that legalized marijuana in the state.

Meanwhile, a backlash from local and national groups makes headlines as they give Colorado poor marks in first annual 4-20 Report Card.

Continue reading Pro Marijuana Events Face Backlash Amid Poor Legalization Report Card

Am I a Marijuana Addict? Weed, Addiction & Legalization

Weed is addictive
Regardless of the marijuana industry propaganda, weed is addictive and it does lead you to other drugs.

Is marijuana addictive? Yes. Period.

And the marijuana industry, like the tobacco industry, is counting on it.

Organizations like Marijuana Anonymous are founded for a reason.

They are founded to address a need.  The need is coping with and recovering from marijuana addiction, also referred to as marijuana dependence syndrome.

Fueled by an aggressive profit motive backed by billionaires, and with the goal of creating and profiting from the next big addiction-based industry, marijuana addiction as a substance use disorder is rapidly growing. Continue reading Am I a Marijuana Addict? Weed, Addiction & Legalization

Left Turning Against Big Pot. Son of dealer, now dad, reflects on marijuana legalization

Left Turns on Marijuana LegalizationThe left is finally turning against Big Pot. We’ve been waiting. Patrick Kennedy’s message (Project SAM‘s message) is finally gaining traction.

Marijuana legalization means commercialization, which means more potent pot, more pro-pot marketing, more youth exposures, more public health fallout, and yet another vice-based industry preying on vulnerable populations.

80% of their profit comes from the 20% of their customers who are chronic users. And the youth market is the target market for building a life-long customer base.

See the video and read the interview with a thoughtful young man coming of age as a new father, and coming to terms with his own father’s legacy as a major drug dealer.

Continue reading Left Turning Against Big Pot. Son of dealer, now dad, reflects on marijuana legalization

Public Health and Pot’s Pandora’s Box — Death Raises Questions

Pot and Pandora's Box

“To open Pandora’s box” means to perform an action that may seem small or innocent, but that turns out to have severely detrimental and far-reaching consequences. [1]

The recent death of a student who jumped to his death in Colorado after ingesting a marijuana cookie is waking many up to what is really being unleashed in the misguided pursuit of marijuana legalization.

In her article in the LA Times, Jenny Deam sees a precautionary tale in the recent death last week of a student who jumped of a balcony after the effects of eating a marijuana cookie kicked in.

Many of her statements reflect the narrative of those who are looking beyond civil liberties, beyond nostalgia, beyond the false dichotomies of justifying another addiction-based vice industry with the evils of two others — tobacco and alcohol — to the downstream realities of legalized marijuana.

“The case has become a grim exhibit in a growing case file as Colorado health officials wonder whether, in the rapid rollout of legalized marijuana, adequate attention was paid to potential health risks of its use”

Continue reading Public Health and Pot’s Pandora’s Box — Death Raises Questions

Video: Tony Dokoupil on The Coming Marijuana Backlash

In addition to his legitimate and well-earned bone fides as a senior writer for NBC News and Newsweek and The Daily  Beast before that, Tony Dokoupil comes at the marijuana legalization issue from an interesting perspective.  As the son of a notorious marijuana dealer and folk hero, Dokoupil is quoted from his memoir The Last Pirate–A Father, His Son and the Golden Age of Marijuana as saying, “My father went to jail for dealing weed and, to my surprise, I would keep him there.”

“If we really mean to sell marijuana like alcohol, then we mean to create a market where most of the revenue comes from people who have a problem.

That is the business model of alcohol. Eighty percent of the revenues comes from a tiny sliver of the users. It’s not the guy who has a drink after work. It’s the guy who has six and misses his kid’s bedtime, his marriage is in shambles. That’s the kind of guy who supports the industry.”

Continue reading Video: Tony Dokoupil on The Coming Marijuana Backlash

Don’t Go To Pot — David Frum Weighs In

In a most eloquent, most thorough, most thoughtful consideration of the issue, David Frum provides the case against marijuana legalization.

“Today, the experiment of state-by-state marijuana legalization is failing before our eyes—and failing most signally where the experiment has been tried most boldly. The failure is accelerating even as the forces pushing legalization are on what appears to be an inexorable march.”

Here’s the full text as published on Commentarymagazine.com: Continue reading Don’t Go To Pot — David Frum Weighs In

Student jumps to death after eating marijuana cookies

Is it really going to take a body count to stop Big Marijuana?

The tragic news yesterday of the death of a college student visiting Denver on a pot-themed Spring Break trip should sober us all.

If the evidence isn’t already sufficient to simply vote it down, States considering recreational marijuana legalization would do well to wait and see.  Continue reading Student jumps to death after eating marijuana cookies

FactCheck: Marijuana Is 300-800% More Potent

“Today’s marijuana is 300 to 800 percent more potent than the pot of yesteryear” claimed SAM New England’s Heidi Heilman in her commentary in Rhode Island’s Providence Journal on March 13, 2014.

It turns out she is right.

rulings-tom-truePolitiFact, the fact checking website, vetted this statement and rules it “TRUE” while providing the research to back up this judgment.

A 300 to 800 percent increase in potency reflects a 4 to 9 times increase over your Woodstock weed or baby boomer bong hit. Parents and voters would do well to ask what other facts SAM has got right.  For example: Marijuana is addictive.  Continue reading FactCheck: Marijuana Is 300-800% More Potent

Outright Lies from “Big Marijuana”

Ed Wood is among many who are waking up to the manipulations and outright lies of Big Marijuana.  In his letter to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Wood writes:

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Pot Taxes May Help State Income, but Problems Remain
Regulation does not keep pot out of the hands (and bodies) of youth whose brains, still being in the formative stages, are most susceptible to permanent harm. Continue reading Outright Lies from “Big Marijuana”

Marijuana follows Big Tobacco’s lead

Teen Marijuana Use
Hooking teens is key to Big Marijuana marketing strategy

Science and public health should inform drug policy decisions — not public opinion and a national campaign funded by a multimillion-dollar, pro-marijuana lobby that sells an addictive, psychotropic drug.

The science is clear: marijuana use has been linked to mental illness, depression, psychosis, permanent loss of IQ and memory, heightened risk of heart attack or stroke, likelihood of dropping out of school, addiction to other drugs and testicular cancer. Big Marijuana is doing all it can to cast doubt on these scientific facts in the same way that Big Tobacco succeeded in hiding the dangers of cigarette smoking for more than 80 years. Continue reading Marijuana follows Big Tobacco’s lead

Is Marijuana Addictive? Bet Your Heroin on it.

"Cannabis Use Disorder" or marijuana addiction is real and number one reason teens seek substance use treatment.
“Cannabis Use Disorder” or marijuana addiction is real and the number one reason teens seek substance use treatment.

Dr. Adi Jaffe is just the latest to expose the underlying lie in the pro-pot playbook of Big Marijuana.  Yes, marijuana is addictive. And Big Marijuana is counting on it.

Just like Big Tobacco before them today’s Pied Piper’s of Pot are selling a carefully crafted lie on which their industry is based.  The reality is that they need to hook our youth in order to reap their profits. Continue reading Is Marijuana Addictive? Bet Your Heroin on it.

President Carter Opposes Marijuana Legalization

Is the leadership of the left waking up? It appears so. And about time too.

Just weeks after President Obama spoke in opposition to legalization, former President, Jimmy Carter, announced his opposition to marijuana legalization and support of Project SAM (Smart approaches to Marijuana) a bi-partisan organization seeking to change the conversation about marijuana.

Continue reading President Carter Opposes Marijuana Legalization

Parents Are Fooling Themselves When it Comes to Marijuana/Alcohol

Teens Are More Likely to Drink (and Use Drugs) Around Relatively Unsupervised Settings


“I think parents are fooling themselves,” said Dave Melton, managing director of global road safety for Liberty Mutual. “In some cases, parents are thinking of their own teen years and not realizing that things have changed drastically since then.”

Truth from the UK — we’re all being brainwashed on marijuana

Maybe we can learn something from those going before us–if we can get anybody to listen.

Massachusetts, and all the other states before it, are going down the path towards legalization of marijuana. It starts, as it has in the UK, with “decriminalization” and moves through the next two steps in the Big Marijuana playbook–medicinalization, and then full legalization.

The British commentator and author, Peter Hitchins has seen the Big Marijuana movement for what it really is–snake-oil sold by charlatans at best, the next Big Tobacco at worst.

“It is amazing how many otherwise sensible people have already been fooled into accepting the dud arguments for relaxing the law against cannabis, one of the most dangerous drugs in existence.”

Continue reading Truth from the UK — we’re all being brainwashed on marijuana

Three friends hurt, one still on life support in marijuana impaired car crash

Those that have succumbed to the decades long indoctrination of the Cannabis Cult love to spout the notion that drugged driving on marijuana has not led many car accidents at all, let alone life-threatening ones. They go so far as to say that marijuana mellows you out and, if anything, makes you drive slower and therefore more carefully. Here’s a very typical comment that might show up on any story on drugged driving:

“pot heads have been driving our roads since it became widely used in the 60’s. this is nothing new. you don’t hear of many wrecks from pot.”

Well tell that to the friend of a stoned driver in Halifax, MA who is still on life support…here’s the story from CBS:

Continue reading Three friends hurt, one still on life support in marijuana impaired car crash

Marijuana Industry sets policy for MA DPH on pot homegrows

In the draft DPH marijuana regulations a “verified financial hardship” definition includes any individual on MassHealth, or Supplemental Security Income, or with an income not exceeding 133% of federal poverty level.  

This group, with a willing doctor’s signature on a marijuana recommendation, and a note saying they cannot find their own way to a “Medical Marijuana Treatment Center” can get a registration to grow marijuana at home or have a “caregiver” grow it for them.

Medical marijuana: Landlords weigh in with MA DPH: “regulations are impossibly difficult”

In November of 2012, the Small Property Owners Association foresaw the problems with the proposed Massachusetts “medical” marijuana laws.  Now with draft regulations offered up for comment by the Massachusetts DPH, the SPOA is weighing in.  “The DPH has met 20 different groups privately.  Why not landlords?,” they ask in a letter to MA DPH.

“Under federal law, property owners are liable for fines, imprisonment, and “civil asset forfeiture” of their property to the federal government if they are knowingly involved in the use or growing of marijuana or their property is so involved. In other words, we are being asked – or told – to risk our property and serious penalties due to marijuana use or growing operations in our apartments.”

Read theiir letter here:  MPOA_Ltr_to_legislators_on_MMJ_4-16-2013.

Should we exclude marijuana laced foods from our basic food and drug safety standards and guidelines in Massachusetts?! What does DPH say in its draft regs?

Why should the marijuana industry be exempt from basic food and drug safety standards?

Why should we expose the Masschusetts public to unregulated sources of food and drugs?

The draft regulations issued by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for the purpose of regulating the “medical” marijuana industry in  Massachusetts contains the following language: Continue reading Should we exclude marijuana laced foods from our basic food and drug safety standards and guidelines in Massachusetts?! What does DPH say in its draft regs?

Feds demand marijuana ‘patient’ records in MI, OR

Michigan in 2010, Oregon in 2013.  Search warrant demand of ‘medical’ marijuana patient records shows that Federal DEA is far from giving up on Controlled Substances Act enforcement.

This activity should send chills up the spines of the legislators considering joining in the “medical” marijuana fray, as well as the administrators of the health departments who are facilitating drug traffickers.
Continue reading Feds demand marijuana ‘patient’ records in MI, OR

“They’re Like Willy Wonka’s Golden Tickets” — This is marijuana as medicine?

If there were any doubt that behind the guise of medicine there lurks an industry as cynical as Big Tobacco, just watch the “medical” marijuana program unfurl in Massachusetts.  Like in the 17 states before it, the fox is is in the hen house writing the rules that will lead to abuse while enabling Big Marijuana.

Continue reading “They’re Like Willy Wonka’s Golden Tickets” — This is marijuana as medicine?

Marijuana: Another Human Clinical Trial but With No Consent Form

Marijuana: Clinical Trial with No Consent
A generation of susceptible youth may be transformed and derailed by the drug’s consequences: addiction, IQ reduction, psychosis, cognitive impairment, educational underachievement. They will have no legal recourse with the perpetrators of this human biological experiment, as do participants in a clinical trial.

The United States is on the threshold of yet another national experiment, a human experiment that tests the health and safety of yet another drug, this time marijuana.

“a generation of susceptible youth may be transformed and derailed by the drug’s consequences: addiction, IQ reduction, psychosis, cognitive impairment, educational underachievement.”

Continue reading Marijuana: Another Human Clinical Trial but With No Consent Form

Larger Context on Marijuana — Legalization Through Deception

Eric Holder, US Attorney General, has promised this week to issue soon an opinion from the Justice Department on its response to the Colorado and Washington State ballot initiative-based laws legalizing marijuana.  Because of those state laws, the U.S. is currently in violation of several international drug control treaties.

Background: The marijuana lobby, actively pushing its message in Congress and online, has stated its state-by-state strategy for full pot legalization:

Continue reading Larger Context on Marijuana — Legalization Through Deception

A Cautionary Letter on Marijuana from AZ to NH Legislators

“As a result of false promises and unheeded warnings, Arizona is now dealing with blatant recreational use and promotion of marijuana, fights to keep dispensaries out of neighborhoods, and costly litigation.”

New Hampshire legislators, are considering a “medical” marijuana bill. The New Hampshire Legislature passed a “medical” marijuana bill during their last session, but it was vetoed by then-Governor Lynch. Their new Governor, Maggie Hassan, is believed to be generally supportive of such a law.  A vote in the full New Hampshire House is imminent.

Continue reading A Cautionary Letter on Marijuana from AZ to NH Legislators

The Absurd Notion of Marijuana As Medicine

By spending millions of dollars, the pro-pot lobby continues to deceive the American public with a crude street drug dressed up as “medicine.” It is time that the Department of Justice put an end to this charade which is causing social, medical, economic, and legal chaos across America and the world.

This excellent article written by former DEA Administrator Robert Bonner should be required reading for politicians and pundits who have abandoned reason in favor of pot propaganda and pot profits.

Continue reading The Absurd Notion of Marijuana As Medicine

A Lefty’s Marijuana Warning To Congress

“Legalization is not far off. Congress is eating out of our hand like pigs at a trough.”
–Marijuana Lobbyist

My parent group just received a copy of a letter in which you state your support for financing marijuana stores.

We know that support for the initiative petition that saddled our state with this new law was based on a plea for compassion for the truly ill.

We now know that 97% of the so called “patients” in California have no serious illness and use pot only to get high.

California communities are trying to shut pot stores because they are a menace to communities. We also know that the newly enriched marijuana lobby is behind all the propaganda suggesting that this is anything other than a march toward full legalization.

Meanwhile, our kids are getting high every day — rates of youth use and addiction rising each year since decriminalization. Marijuana use rates among our children have nearly doubled since 1992. Continue reading A Lefty’s Marijuana Warning To Congress