Protecting Future Generations

By Brian L. Baker

President Franklin Roosevelt once said, “We cannot always build the future of our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”

Recent drug arrests in Cass County reminded me that we must be ever vigilant in protecting our children from the dangers of drugs and substance abuse. As a youth counselor, I have seen the damage that drug use has on children.

A few argue that some drugs should be legalized. However, I continue to look to medical professionals for the research and facts.

According to the American Medical Association, marijuana increases heart rate, and blood pressure may decrease on standing. Intoxication is associated with impairment of short-term memory, attention, motor skills, reaction time, and the organization and integration of complex information. Ordinary sensory experiences may be intensified, with increased talkativeness, perceptual alterations, and distortion in time sense followed by drowsiness and lethargy. These effects appear to be mediated by CB1 receptors because they are diminished by selective antagonism of the CB1 receptor. However, some individuals experience acute anxiety or panic reactions, confusion, dysphoria, paranoia, and psychotic symptoms (examples: delusions, hallucinations).

Recently, a group of liberal legislators in Jefferson City proposed HB 1830 calling for the legalization of marijuana in the State of Missouri. However, a bi-partisan group of Republicans and Democrats will work to defeat the legislation. I am adamantly opposed to this legislation based on the lack of medical evidence and tendencies for abuse inspired by the drug.

Marijuana is a drug prone to abuse, especially by young people. The drug is too easily grown to be effectively controlled and distributed as a pharmaceutical treatment. More importantly, this bill is so broad a person can claim almost anything as a ‘medical’ purpose in order to get marijuana. Legalizing marijuana is simply bad public policy that will expose our youth to danger and severe health issues.

The American Medical Association is clear in its research. They further urge that studies continue on whether marijuana produces any medical advantage for illnesses. The express continued concern on the damage that marijuana causes. They further cite that there are current medicines that exist that are both safe and secure under the supervision of a physician.

HB 1830 seeks to promote marijuana as a medicine. There is no limitation within the bill as to what illnesses would qualify a person to secure a marijuana prescription.

Opponents and child advocates express great concern regarding the direction of HB 1830. At first brush, the proponents make it sound reasonable, but opponents state that all you have to do is look at the science of it and at what is going on in California to see the real motive for legalization. The THC levels of marijuana vary greatly from plant to plant and it cannot be dispensed in a medically consistent manner.

The American Medical Association agrees stating that existing FDA approved products are far superior for controlling pain. In California, you have doctors giving pot prescriptions to people for disputable ailments like back pain and headaches, meanwhile an entire industry of marijuana, “head shops,” and paraphernalia has exploded.

Legislators in Jefferson City are uniting and we will stand together to successfully defeat HB 1830. We will, in the words of President Franklin Roosevelt, protect our children and “build our youth for the future…”