Over the weekend, Fox News Chicago’s political editor Mike Flannery reported that Illinois’ House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Plainfield) has had a change of heart, and is now supporting HB 30 — an anti-family bill that would make “medical” marijuana sales and use legal in Illinois. In this report, Flannery also endorsed the idea, saying “…I think the time has come to let doctors treat patients with [marijuana]”.
It is bad enough that Flannery, a journalist, inserted his opinion into this story — taking a side on a highly controversial legislative proposal (even if he acknowledged the legitimate concerns of opponents), but to have Republican Leader Cross support a bill which is heavily supported by radical leftist billionaire George Soros is disconcerting, to say the least. (The drug culture magazine, Heads, calls Soros “Daddy Weedbucks.”)
Soros and other pro-marijuana activists have been working hard to decriminalize marijuana in an effort to subvert the national anti-drug policy of the U.S. Government. The first step is legalization for “medical” use. So far, 15 states and the District of Columbia have enacted “medical” marijuana laws.
In light of this change of heart, I have to ask:
- Why does Cross think the politicians in the Illinois General Assembly should circumvent the medical and scientific experts at the Federal Drug Administration (FDA)?
- Why should our state lawmakers ignore the many warnings of marijuana use by federal authorities like the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)?
- Why would Cross ignore the concerns and objections of the Illinois law enforcement community, including the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, Fraternal Order of Police Illinois Troopers Lodge 41, and former Chicago Police Superintendent Phil Cline, among others?
- Since federal drug laws supersede “medical” marijuana laws, why would Cross support legislation that would make the state of Illinois, local municipalities, property owners, landlords, financiers and its citizens liable to federal action — including civil injunctions? HB 30 would create a licensing scheme that permits large-scale marijuana distribution and use, contrary to federal law. HB 30 would authorize conduct contrary to federal law. (Click HERE to read the DOJ letter to WA Governor Christine Gregoireregarding their “medical” marijuana proposal.)
- Lastly, why would Cross, who has a law degree, support the decimation of Illinois’ DUI laws? HB 30 allows a medical marijuana patient to operate a motor vehicle after 6 hours of consuming marijuana, while research shows that a single marijuana joint with a moderate level of THC can impair a person’s ability to drive for more than 24 hours!
Take ACTION: Click HERE to send your state representative an email or a fax to tell him/her that you do not want marijuana grown, harvested and/or sold in your neighborhood for any purpose.
More ACTION: Call the district office of Republican Leader Tom Cross at (815) 254-0000. Ask him to support local and federal law enforcement officials instead of the Soros marijuana lobby.
Background
Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in the world. Legalization for any reason will create a law enforcement nightmare. We ignore the concerns of the law enforcement community at our peril.
When perceived risk goes down due to legalization, use among adolescents increases. Legalization will indicate to adolescents that it’s not harmful, creating pain, problems and heartache for countless families.
Consider the following:
- Marijuana impairs cognitive and psychomotor performance. It can slow reaction time, impair motor coordination, limit short-term memory, and make it difficult to concentrate and perform complex tasks. Spatial perception is distorted and time perception is impaired so that perceived time goes faster than clock time.
- Marijuana can produce severe anxiety and panic, paranoia and psychosis. Hallucinations may occur with high doses of marijuana.
- Impairment from one joint lasts more than 24 hours.
- Marijuana produces a feeling of intoxication. The high comes on within minutes of smoking and then reaches a plateau lasting 2 hours or more, depending on the dose.
- Marijuana smoke is absorbed through the lungs, enters the bloodstream rapidly, and reaches the brain within minutes.
- Marijuana is unlike other drugs. Marijuana is fat soluble rather than water soluble. It rapidly accumulates in fatty tissues in the body and is then slowly released. The half-life of THC, the psychoactive ingredient, is about 7 days and complete elimination of a single dose may take up to 30 days.
- Because marijuana is slowly eliminated from the body, there is no accurate way of relating blood, urine, saliva or sweat concentrations to the degree of intoxication.
(Source; Ashton, C. Heather, Pharmacology and effects of cannabis: British Journal of Psychiatry: February 2001.)
Lastly, consider the bigger picture that appears to be behind the legalization of marijuana for “medical” reasons:
“The key to it is medical access, because once you have hundreds of thousands of people using marijuana under medical supervision the whole scam is going to be bought. Once there’s medical access…then we will get full legalization.” ~Richard Cowan, former director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana.
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