Pubdate: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Copyright: 2014 Sun-Sentinel Company Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mVLAxQfA Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159 Author: Karen Bailey Note: Karen Bailey is a mother and real estate professional from Ocalawho serves on the Board of Directors for the State of Florida Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Foundation. SAY NO TO MEDICAL MARIJUANA In September of 2011, I lost my son to a drug overdose. He had a huge heart. He enjoyed playing football, wakeboarding on the lake and riding four-wheelers in the mud. Unfortunately, he also liked to smoke pot. He viewed it as a natural rite of passage, safer than alcohol. It is only after burying him that I see how dangerous this point of view can be. In one of the last conversations I had with him, he shared with me that his addiction to prescription pills had started with marijuana. He told me that he initially smoked pot because it lowered his inhibitions when socializing, then fell into the habit of taking pills to maintain the buzz he got from pot. Those pills became an addiction he could not control and ultimately, they took his precious life. According to a study published in Experiential and Clinical Psychopharmacology, every one-in-six children become addicted to marijuana after using it just once. My son shared with me that he first tried marijuana in middle school. Ninety percent of addictions start in the teenage years. The best reason not to legalize marijuana is because the human brain is not fully developed until the age of 25. New research by Asaf Keller, University of Maryland, finds that marijuana can cause permanent brain abnormalities in adolescence. Marijuana use in these formative years can actually lower a person's IQ by as many as eight points, according to an August 2013 report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. My other major concern with legalized marijuana in Florida is the lack of regulation from the FDA. Levels of the active ingredient have risen from 4 percent in 1980 to a whopping15 percent in 2012. Marijuana is far more potent than ever. There is no quality or dosage control in the proposed ballot initiative to legalize it, so there would be noway to prevent sales to minors or to stop diversion to minors. My mother had a rare spinal tumor that left her bed ridden. My family understands the need for pain management during difficult medical circumstances, but there are other medical options. Saying "no" to legalizing marijuana in Florida does not make us a less compassionate or loving state. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom