Marijuana opponents will do just about whatever it takes to keep marijuana prohibition in place. There are various motivating factors as to why marijuana opponents do what they do. The most common one is protecting the bottom line of industries that so heavily rely on marijuana prohibition for profits. Here’s looking at you drug testing and for-profit prison companies!
Maine voters will see marijuana legalization on the ballot when they go to vote in November. Maine is one of a handful of states that will be voting on marijuana legalization in America. This of course has marijuana opponents worried, because they are seeing support for marijuana legalization growing at a rapid pace in America and they are scrambling to do what they can to keep harmful prohibition in place.
That’s why a new opposition group, ‘Mainers Protecting Our Youth And Communities’ was launched, in an effort to oppose marijuana legalization in Maine. Per the Sun Journal:
Mainers Protecting Our Youth and Communities includes parents, health experts, clergy and police, said Scott Gagnon, the coalition’s spokesman and the chairman of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which worked to successfully defeat a Lewiston ballot question to legalize marijuana in that city.
“This initiative to legalize marijuana poses significant threats to our youth and communities,” Gagnon said Tuesday in a prepared statement. “The marijuana industry has crafted an initiative that would see shops opened in neighborhoods all over Maine, selling potent pot gummy bears and cookies, and other highly addictive and dangerous products. These products have led to huge increases in (emergency room) admissions in Colorado, including admissions of preschool-aged children.”
Gagnon said there are no penalties, criminal or otherwise, in the initiative for selling or furnishing marijuana to minors, and no penalties for adults who provide a place for minors to consume marijuana.
Marijuana activist David Boyer pointed out that there was no need to include penalties for selling or furnishing to minors because that’s already illegal in Maine. That’s a minor detail that I’m sure will continue to be glossed over by the opposition group. The link I provided earlier in this article is a must read. Scott Gagnon tried very hard to spew reefer madness, and the article did a great job of providing equal time to David Boyer so that he could rebut all of it.
The battle in Maine is heating up. If you live in Maine, make sure to tell everyone you know that reefer madness is about to be spread on an epic level, and do your best to spread the truth. Arm yourself with the facts and the science, so that when one of these ‘Mainers Protecting Our Youth and Communities’ members is trying to influence minds, you can be there to debunk them over and over.
