Hip, Hip, Hooray for Hemp! and other such hypocritical juvenile-isms – as the one headlined here and making headlines nationally what with Washington Gov. Inslee’s teevee pot pronouncement last week on the Bill Maher show – may soon high-light the high-way to lure passers-by to get their highs here instead of elsewhere.
As the Lakewood, Washington City Council plots the path toward sharing a piece of the pot pie with a public hearing scheduled for May 7 – a decision to approve recreational marijuana sales pending the outcome, purportedly, of public input on pot – there was a time when “keeping marijuana away from teens (was a) top focus for state leaders” according to a statement issued by this same Governor’s office.
You know, safety and all.
Waving the pot pompom, even in jest, hardly serves as an appropriate pot warning pronouncement if the Governor would in fact hope to govern (synonyms: shape, direct, influence) the pot uptake potential of youth.
For what it’s worth – and to many, and sadly, policy makers among them, it’s evidently not worth much – tetrahydrocannabinol, abbreviated THC, “is one of at least 113 cannabinoids identified in cannabis. THC is the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis.”
THC’s impact (in case you’re reading this Governor) on youth?
“Since THC affects areas of the frontal cortex involved in decision making, using it can make you more likely to engage in risky behavior, such as unprotected sex or getting in a car with someone who’s been drinking or is high on marijuana.”
The source of that last is the National Institute on Drug Abuse for Teens (NIDA).
There’s a good deal more there too, like the fact that “when marijuana is smoked or vaporized, THC quickly passes from the lungs into the bloodstream, which carries it to organs throughout the body, including the brain. Its effects begin almost immediately and can last from 1 to 3 hours. Decision making, concentration, and memory can be affected for days after use, especially in regular users.”
But, then, what does the NIDA know?
Because when you got the best pot, best promote it, I mean, right?
Makes you wonder if the guy at the top does pot?
Inquiring minds wanted to know. Does the Governor do dope?
Ironically, the same day as the story of the Governor’s boast as reported in Governing Magazine – of all places – under the topic of Public Safety – no less – some Vancouver, WA teens were found unconscious having overdosed on Xanax and Marijuana.
Apparently, they didn’t get the Gov’s memo.
Can’t be faulted after all for what you don’t know, ya know?
Adding insult to injury, the public – youth, et al – won’t know now either that there has been developed a simple test to determine if you’ve got – unknowingly, or otherwise – the dreaded THC somehow in your system, by well-meaning friends or, like, whatever.
Researchers at Washington State University (WSU) have developed a THC-detection tongue swab that would have allowed police to pinpoint pot presence in poor-performing motorists suspected of being high on the highway.
Would have, except that the school’s funding from the feds was threatened (not that that ever-bothered Inslee before when it came to thumbing his nose at those in the other Washington on who gets to make decisions on marijuana), and so, once again, safety is distant second to money, especially as it concerns the marijuana industry.
So far, no word from the Governor’s office in keeping with his ‘safety-is-our-number-one-priority’ marijuana mandate memo.
Pot is legal in WA state and has been for several years. Teens cannot obtain legal pot. They get it where they always have – unregulated on the street. If you ever walk in to a legal shop you would know your ID is checked before you ever get in the door and again when you purchase. Where did those teens get the Zanax? That’s what knocked them out. They didn’t get that at a pot shop. And you should be after alcohol too. It’s legal and teens have no trouble buying it, getting drunk, passing out or driving. Put your ire to the voting booth and make pot illegal. Oh wait – that was already done.
Even in the other Washington, we are now, thanks to our Governor, the laughing stock of the country, best weed indeed. A friend in Arizona sent me an article from a Washington DC organization stating our governors quote and said, another reason he would not come to our state.
Don, you obviously have the knowledge to write the article above. Thank you for that.
Mike Darrah
Thank you!
Sorry about this being a little off topic, but apparently vanilla extract is also being used to get “high” as well. I googled the topic and my suspicions were confirmed.
This past Saturday, I participated in Little Church on the Prairie’s “Make a Difference Day” by helping others clean up along Motor Avenue and Nyanza Drive. Toward the I-5 end of Nyanza, we collected over 16 empty bottles of vanilla extract in the brush. Two other members indicated that over 20 empty bottles of the stuff were collected along the same stretch during the last MADD several months ago.
Who knew? I sure didn’t.
David – kids are even drinking hand sanitizer these days because it’s half alcohol. I think smoking a little weed is the least of anyone’s worries. Puritanism is an unsustainable ideal, we need to be realistic in our approaches.
That is why the vanilla extract are empty at Costco and prices jumped.
I hope Lakewood comes to their sense and allows cannabis stores.
Cannabis is wholesome, not something to be scared of. There’s no problem if the governor wants to smoke it, it’s just the same as if he wants to have a glass of wine or beer with his steak.
Marijuana is NOT wholesome. It has many significant adverse health effects. Consuming marijuana affects behavior and thinking processes negatively as an intoxicant (note “toxic”, as in poison). It causes lung, heart, circulatory and brain damage (among other physical damage). And, depending on the age of the consumer, the quantity, the strength and overall duration of consumption, there can also be significant PERMANENT DAMAGE to potheads! All legitimate studies I have seen over the years clearly demonstrate the ill effects of marijuana. Further, having personal experience with it several decades ago, I can attest to the negative effects it had on me and on my friends’ lives. There is NOTHING GOOD that comes from recreational weed. Stop believing the lies! Anyone who says otherwise is selling something!
Bravo, Stephen!
I wonder how many of the current people dealing with drug addiction began “the slide” by smoking pot? Marijuana is correctly given the label as a “gateway drug.”
I DO understand that not all users of pot end up as drug addicts; just as not all partakers of alcohol end up as alcoholics.
I’m not selling anything (get a medical card and grow your own!)
Cannabis is wholesome. Anyone who says that it’s terrible probably has a agenda to sell you prescription pills or space in one of their private prisons.
The ‘gateway drug’ myth about cannabis has been debunked, grandpa. Your anecdotal evidence carries no weight.
Cannabis can help with muscle pains, seizures, PTSD, chronic pain, and has even been shown to shrink tumors in mice. This is all without even being able to properly study it because of its federal status. Look at the research they are doing in Israel.
Pull your head out of the sand.