News

California: GONE TO POT!

Friday, May 06, 2005 - Roger Morgan

The twenty three states currently considering legalizing marijuana for medical use should look closely at California before imposing this curse on their state.  Prop 215 was sold under the false pretense that smoked marijuana had medicinal qualities, which it does not, and was important to ease the pain and suffering of the chronically ill.  This was merely a ruse to make marijuana available for recreational use.  And indeed it has become just that.

What the unwitting California voters didn’t know when they approved marijuana for medical use, was that they were merely being manipulated by three out of state billionaires who function as the spearhead for legalizing illicit drugs in America; George Soros, Peter Lewis and John Sperling.  They deny involvement with the $500 billion illicit drug trade, but it challenges one’s intellect to think they would spend tens, maybe even hundreds, of millions of dollars to impose their maligned ideological beliefs on America that the war on drugs, instead of drugs themselves, is bad for our country.

Based on statistics from the federal government, one can project that drugs kill an estimated 150,000 Americans annually, and cost the nation between $160 and $200 billion per annum.  2,800 people died on September 11, 2001, and the world changed forever.  That many Americans die from drugs every week, and those who finance these endeavors are left to walk among us, buy our politicians and finance massive media campaigns all based on lies and misrepresentations.

The federal government paid millions to the victim’s families of 9/11 for “failure to protect”. The 150,000 families of drug victims are simply left with the pain, and we taxpayers are left with the economic burden to shovel up the wreckage from those who don’t die, but just become addicted.  The average addict creates 100 crimes a year.   9.4% of all adults over 12 years old are dependent on drugs and alcohol, which probably means 1 out of 10 drivers on the road are mentally impaired.  Over 70% of crime is committed by people under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and over 5.2 million Americans are raising their grandchildren.  2.1 million prisoners tax our capability to incarcerate criminals.

Collectively, Soros and his cronies invested almost $43 million at the state level; $6.5 million in California alone (see www.sorosmonitor.com) for pro dug causes. The infiltration into the California legislature from campaign contributions is so pervasive it is impossible to have a constructive dialogue about drug prevention with key politicians and/or committees in the California Senate and Assembly.

According to a 2001 CASA (Columbia University) study called Shoveling Up: The Impact of Substance Abuse on State Budget, 16% of the California budget is spent on substance abuse.  That amounted to $11 billion in 1998, and probably $15 billion today.  99% of that was spent on the painful aftermath of substance abuse in the justice system, health care, education, mental health, child and family assistance … and only 1% on prevention.  This is horrible economic policy, aside from the fact the tens of thousands die each year because the state fails in its most fundamental responsibility; to protect the people.

Preventing the problem of substance abuse requires that we do it before it starts, which in almost all cases is with kids 11 to 17 years old.  We know what works: random drug testing.  It cut drug use in the work place and military by 67% to over 90%.  Even half those results with students could lead to down stream tax savings of $7 to $8 billion per annum, and save a lot of lives.  The cost of $2.50 to $3.00 per student is nothing, compared to the $7,000 to $12,000 per student per annum it costs for education.  Further, alcohol, tobacco and other drugs (ATOD) all diminish one’s ability to learn.  Given the current level of ATOD use by students, it is impossible to optimize academic achievement.  Purportedly, more kids now smoke marijuana in San Diego than cigarettes, because Soros and his cronies convinced the unsuspecting voters of California that smoked marijuana has medicinal values, which it does not. 

Because the human brain isn’t fully developed until the late teens or early twenties, kids are physiologically much more susceptible to harm and addiction.  Research has shown if they arrive at adulthood prior to first significant use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs, they should never have a problem of addiction.  Nor will society. 

Crystal meth is the scariest drug today, inflicting its devastation on communities all across America.  But drug users don’t start with meth.  They start with tobacco, alcohol and a little puff of marijuana.  They only way to prevent the use of meth or any other drug is to stop it from starting, with kids. 

If we protect the kids, we will protect the nation. 

                                                                                                Roger D. Morgan

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ROGER MORGAN, is a San Diego businessman and entrepreneur, and former corporate

executive with Volvo of America and Caterpillar Tractor Company.  He was Founding Chairman

of the Coronado SAFE Foundation, a non-profit dealing with drug prevention;; prior Board

Member of the San Diego Prevention Coalition; and Co-founder of Californians For Drug-Free

Schools.  Armed and repulsed by his experience with two step-children who became drug addicted

at age 12 and 14 roughly 25 years ago, and two nephews who died of drug related causes, he

believes the only thing that could have saved these young people, and others, would have been

drug testing.  Unfortunately, this prevention tool was not understood or available back then.