| Oh, the irony! While Oklahoma was beating the drum for a federal change to our constitution, so that the evils of liquor could be banned forever from these united states; there was no effort at all to regulate - much less ban; cannabis usage. While that fact sinks in on a generation who has never forgotten the cultural and generational war of the 60s, 70s, & 80s; let's at least admit that our "war on drugs" is an arbitrary and inconsistent use of govt. power and treasure, to get people to behave in a manner that 51% of the voting population will accept. It's not even debatable about which recreational substance is most dangerous. Liquor kills far more Oklahomans than any other 'street drug'. Even during the federal prohibition, there were many deaths from liquor consumption. But when we abdicated the distribution over to the black market "mob" entities, the crime grew far worse. The nation woke up to the reality that regulation works better than prohibition. In 1934 the USA ended the federal prohibition. But Oklahoma was stubborn. An Oklahoma prohibition continued in effect until 1959. For those 25 years our state amassed a huge court docket of liquor criminals and significant state treasury was spent on punishing those who drank and those who provided drink. |  |
The reality is that marijuana prohibition was all about the generation gap of the 1960s & the Hippy counter culture of the 1970s. Those 'damn kids' who who silly clothes and grew their hair out were listening to satanic music, doncha know! Parents and community leaders had to do something to put an end to the family embarrassment. So they used the federal code in a way that our constitution does not allow. Only a constitutional amendment would grant the federal govt. the authority to impose criminal bans on drugs within a state's borders. But our society seems to ignore the constitutional limits to the federal govt.
Our state very properly exercised constitutional process in an initiative petition to assert states' rights when we passed SQ788. That language properly prohibited municipalities from the targeted use of zoning laws to single out Cannabis dispensaries and regulate them out of the entire town. But the arrogance of several councilmembers is as blatant as our federal govt. thuggery.
This month several Oklahoma cities are constructing new prohibitions against patients whose doctors order cannabis treatments for a wide range of health conditions. While cities like Luther, Clinton, Yukon, and many others are seeking to keep cannabis medicines out of town, they celebrate the opening of the latest Walgreens, CVS, or other drug stores which provide opiates and methamphetamines to many who will die from these very addictive and lethal drugs.
To this day there is not certified case of a person dying smoking too much marijuana. That's not to say pot doesn't contribute to deaths from accidents. There is a terrible stigma associated with cannabis medicines. What may lead to a change in perceptions is the new effort to provide physicians with supplemental inservice training about the endocannabinoid system. As family physicians get high-level training and experience, there will be hundreds more doctors incorporating cannabis medicine as a safer alternative for severe arthritis, pain mgmt., cancer care, PTSD, glaucoma, brain disorders, and many other conditions. When the federal govt. finally reschedules cannabis from the current schedule 1, to a schedule 3 or 4, then the pharmacies will all be stocking these cannabis meds in a way that is indistinguishable from any other prescription drug.
~ David Van Risseghem, Piuublisher, SoonerPolitics.org
Our state very properly exercised constitutional process in an initiative petition to assert states' rights when we passed SQ788. That language properly prohibited municipalities from the targeted use of zoning laws to single out Cannabis dispensaries and regulate them out of the entire town. But the arrogance of several councilmembers is as blatant as our federal govt. thuggery.
This month several Oklahoma cities are constructing new prohibitions against patients whose doctors order cannabis treatments for a wide range of health conditions. While cities like Luther, Clinton, Yukon, and many others are seeking to keep cannabis medicines out of town, they celebrate the opening of the latest Walgreens, CVS, or other drug stores which provide opiates and methamphetamines to many who will die from these very addictive and lethal drugs.
To this day there is not certified case of a person dying smoking too much marijuana. That's not to say pot doesn't contribute to deaths from accidents. There is a terrible stigma associated with cannabis medicines. What may lead to a change in perceptions is the new effort to provide physicians with supplemental inservice training about the endocannabinoid system. As family physicians get high-level training and experience, there will be hundreds more doctors incorporating cannabis medicine as a safer alternative for severe arthritis, pain mgmt., cancer care, PTSD, glaucoma, brain disorders, and many other conditions. When the federal govt. finally reschedules cannabis from the current schedule 1, to a schedule 3 or 4, then the pharmacies will all be stocking these cannabis meds in a way that is indistinguishable from any other prescription drug.
~ David Van Risseghem, Piuublisher, SoonerPolitics.org
