Last weekend, over 50 state leaders got their act together and decided to show up at the same place at the right time. The place was Atlanta and they were part of a workshop sponsored by National Families in Action who basically represent a group of individuals who care about the proper implementation of marijuana regulations and put a specific emphasis on prevention of targeting children as potential marijuana users. Former president Jimmy Carter held the keynote and he wholeheartedly supports the National Families in Action and Project Sam (founded by Kevin Sabet who used to be a senior adviser on Obama’s administration drug policy).
Jimmy Carter & Project SAM
We really support the idea that marijuana should be kept as far away from children as possible (unless their lives depended on it). However, we also fear that there is an underlying motive here to discredit the marijuana industry in general. This was confirmed by Carter’s statement in which he said that he doesn’t believe in legalization of marijuana. Also, there is the involvement of Project Sam, a dubious organization that walks a fine line between incarcerations for possession of marijuana and legalization but more on Sam in our next update.
“But What About The Children”
“But What About The Children” campaign was created by National Families in Action and it resulted in the following 12 provisions which should be considered by any state intending to legalize marijuana for either medicinal or recreational use:
- Advertising of marijuana products should be prohibited
- For every teenage user, a penalty fee should be applied
- Legalization could be repealed if underage use exceeds 2012 levels (however, a tax break should be applied in case the usage is lower than in 2012)
- No marketing whatsoever (sponsorships, product placements, POP marketing, etc.)
- An industry financed fund to cover rehab costs of marijuana addictions, injuries and health problems
- A state agency designed to regulate and tax the entire cannabis industry and marijuana purity and potency
- Only people who are licensed growers, distributors and retailers should sell only marijuana and nothing else
- Ban on DUI until enough medical research has been made to prove a different level of marijuana impairment
- Ban on people coming to work or school while under the influence of marijuana
- No cannabis use in areas where tobacco is prohibited
- Cannabis should be completely controlled by the FDA, just like tobacco
- The Surgeon General should issue a report on the impact of marijuana
Adjust The Provisions
Obviously, some of these we definitely agree on while some would interfere with medical marijuana patients on a large scale. We’re sure that most of the people think these provision are without a doubt the best idea in the last couple of months but requirements such as a DUI ban would make it impossible for medical marijuana patients to go anywhere with their vehicles. Another somewhat ludicrous demand is that people should be banned if they come to work marijuana in their systems. It doesn’t take you 5 minutes to get rid of marijuana from your blood stream so you cant really be sure if you have it in your system or not. Setting up loose provisions wont do anyone any good. Plus, it would be really good if people making the provisions would consult with medical marijuana patients as their rights are being tampered with the most.
