KBI chief, Stand Up for Kansas say marijuana’s more menace than medicine | Opinion
A Kansas Senate committee recently tabled a marijuana legalization bill for the second year in a row.
Since then, even those who support legalization have acknowledged senators did the right thing.
Proponents characterized the bill as “highly restrictive, conservative, and medically centric.” Opponents, however, characterized it as “dangerously broad, monopolistic, and unprecedented” with a terrible and certain outcome.
Senate Bill 555 would have allowed four in-state operators to cultivate, process, manufacture and sell “medical cannabis products” through distribution hubs. There was no limit on the amount of THC cannabis products could contain and, curiously, no prohibition against adding other dangerous drugs to the products and distributing them to unsuspecting patients.
States that have legalized marijuana — even for “medical” purposes — have inadvertently invited organized criminal enterprises into their communities to exploit new opportunities. Along with that comes increases in human trafficking, homicides, and gang activity.
And the data is clear that crime rates have risen — not dropped — where marijuana has been legalized.
“You can’t put toothpaste back in the tube once it has been squeezed” is a saying that refers to the impossibility of reverting a situation to how it formerly existed. And we need not look further than what has happened in other states to conclude that legalizing marijuana for any purpose is detrimental to Kansans.
In addition to creating public health and public safety crises, it will impact our workforce, our medical system, our communities, and resources at every level of government. Perhaps most alarming, it will impact the Kansas kids that represent our future.
Kansas legislators aren’t “denying patients access” — rather, your legislators are protecting you. As elected officials, they have heard the grim realities.
Sadly, the vast majority of Kansans are unaware of the frightening implications marijuana legalization poses to public health, public safety, our society, and our youth.
We want to help close that knowledge gap and share a few important findings — derived from research — that we think every Kansan should know.
▪ Marijuana use more than doubles the likelihood of other drug use later in life. In fact, 97% of people who have used cocaine or heroin started with weed.
▪ Marijuana use increases the risk of developing nonmedical prescription opioid use and opioid use disorder. States that have legalized medical marijuana have experienced a 22.7% increase in opioid overdose deaths.
▪ Students who use marijuana and THC have poorer educational outcomes than their peers. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, over 17% of 10th graders and over 30% of 12th graders use marijuana. Studies have found marijuana use to be associated with reduced educational attainment, including decreased high school graduation rates.
▪ Consuming marijuana can cause severe mental health outcomes, including depression and psychosis, as well as consequences for physical health. Studies have shown that higher concentrations of THC increase the risk of marijuana addiction, which raises the risk of schizophrenia four-fold.
Many Kansans also don’t know that real, FDA-approved medications containing THC already exist and are available by prescription. This eliminates the need for legislation subverting the safeguards inherent in the FDA-approval process and establishing impure, unpredictable, and toxic forms of medicine under the guise of “medical marijuana.”
The motive underlying the legalization of medical marijuana is pure profit. For more than 40 years, it has been the pot industry’s playbook to normalize the use of marijuana as medicine while taking incremental steps toward full legalization. Every state that has legalized marijuana for recreational purposes started with medical marijuana.
Make no mistake: legal weed is fueled by corporate greed — backed by groups that prioritize the creation of an addiction-for-profit scheme over the lives of real people.
Tony Mattivi is the director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation; Katie Whisman is executive director of Stand Up For Kansas.
