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