HomeMy WebLinkAboutEmail from Jeanne Cecchi - Marijuana policy group highlights harms of marijuana Menchaca, Clarissa
From: Bennett, Robin
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2018 12:05 PM
To: Menchaca, Clarissa
Subject: BOS corres FW: LEADING MARIJUANA POLICY GROUP
FYI, BOS email correspondence from Jeanne Cecchi attached below, for your record.
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From:Jeanne Cecchi<jeannececchi@comcast.net>
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2018 12:02 PM
To: cityclerk@cityoforoville.org; ldahlmeier@cityoforoville-org;jgoodson@cityoforoville.org; ahatley@cityoforoville.org;
jberry@cityoforoville.org; mdelrosario@cityoforoville.org; Scott Thomson<sthomson@,cityoforoville.org>; Linda Draper
<Idraper@cityoforovil1le.org>; Connelly, Bill <BConinel Iy@ buttecounty.net>; Wahl, Larry<LWahl@buttecounty,net>; Kirk,
Maureen<MKirk@ buttecounty.net>; BOS District 4<District4@ buttecounty.net>;Teeter, Doug
<DTeeter@buttecounty.net>
Cc: contact@orovillestrong.org; Honea, Kory<KHonea@buttecounty.net>; info@buttefarmbureau.com;
info@Orovillechamber.net; Ramsey, Mike<MRamsey@buttecolunty.net>
Subject: LEADING MARIJUANA POLICY GROUP
"LEGALIZING RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA AND EXPANDING MARIJUANA USE IS NOT SOCIAL JUSTICE–IT'S SOCIAL
INJUSTICE."
"MORE AND MORE,AS MARIJUANA GETS A FREE PASS, WE ARE SEEING PEOPLE–ESPECIALLY KIDS–IN OUR ER DUE TO
PSYCHOSIS AND OTHER PROBLEMS."
"POLICY MAKERS MUST TAKE HEED OF THIE LESSONS SHOWN TO US BY STATES THAT HAVE LEGALIZED MARIJUANA AND
NOT BUY THE SPIN PUSHED BY THE INDUSTRY."
MOM,
Smart
Approaches to
SAMManjuana
preventing another big tobacco
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BREAKING: On "4/20," Leading Marijuana Policy Group
Highlights Harms of Marijuana With Former
Congressman Patrick Kennedy & Medical, Legal, and
Government Experts at National Press Club
Contact: Colton Grace
Colton@learnaboutsam.org
864-492-6719
[Washington, DC] - Today, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) officials, including a
former Congressman and the nation's first African-American magistrate judge, joined
members of the New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus, faith-based leaders, researchers
from the National Institutes of Health, and other public health and safety experts at a press
conference warning about the dangers of marijuana and the explosion of high potency
THC.
"We're sounding the alarm today - during the unofficial 'marijuana holiday' - about pot
edibles, candies, waxes, and other items used to hook kids on THC," said Former
Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, Honorary Chair of SAM. "This is the public health crisis
we cannot afford to ignore."
Judge Arthur Burnett Sr., the first African-American United States Magistrate and retired
National Executive Director of the National African American Drug Policy Coalition,
said, "For years, minority communities have been preyed upon by the alcohol and tobacco
industries. There is a liquor store on every block in some of our neighborhoods. With the
marijuana industry becoming more like the next Big Tobacco, do you expect me to believe
that they would act any different?"
Dr. Kevin Sabet, who served in the Obama Administration as a senior advisor, and now is
the President and CEO of SAM, said, "During the opiate crisis, the prevalence and intensity
of marijuana has exploded across the United States. We have an addiction crisis in this
country, and marijuana is a foundation for it."
Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, Honorary Chair of SAM, continued:
"Too often I hear that marijuana is a harmless drug and legalization can serve as a cure for
all of our nation's ills, Today, I am surrounded by experts from every walk of life that would
beg to differ," said Representative Kennedy. "Our nation is in the midst of the deadliest
drug epidemic in history, the last thing we need to do is legalize a substance that could lead
more people to use opiates."
New Jersey State Senator Ron Rice and Senior Pastor of Paradise Baptist Church, Bishop
Jethro James, echoed Judge Burnett's sentiments:
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"in our state, the governor promised to legalize marijuana within the first ninety days of his
administration, calling it a priority for social justice, but that could not be further from the
truth," said Senator Rice. "The marijuana industry regularly targets minority communities in
order to push its wares. One only needs to look at Colorado where pot dispensaries are
disproportionally located in communities of color and marijuana arrest rates for minority kids
are on the rise."
"Make no mistake, legalizing recreational marijuana and expanding marijuana use is not
social justice - it's social injustice,"' said Bishop James. "What we need is criminal justice
reform, as well as advanced education in training of law enforcement to address the
disproportionate arrests of minorities."
"The gradual normalization and commercialization of marijuana in Colorado and other
states means people become accustomed to the rise in THC-impaired driving fatalities or to
witnessing psychosis induced by marijuana," said Dr. Christine Miller, former instructor and
research associate at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. "Policy makers must take heed of
the lessons shown to us by states that have legalized marijuana and not buy the spin
pushed by the industry," continued Dr. Miller.
Dr. Roneet Lev, an emergency medicine doctor at Scripps Hospital stated, "'More and
more, as marijuana gets, a free pass, we are seeing people - especially kids - in our ER due
to psychosis and other problems."
About SAM
Smart Approaches to Mariivan.a (SAM) is a nonpartisan, non-profit alliance of physicians,
policy makers, prevention workers, treatment and recovery professionals, scientists, and
other concerned citizens opposed to marijuana legalization who want health and scientific
evidence to guide marijuana policies. SAM has affiliates in more than 30 states. For more
information about marijuana use and its effects, visit http://www.learnaboutsam.org.
www.learnaboutsam.orq
SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), 400 N. Columbus Street,
Suite 202, Alexandria, VA 22314
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