Why these Florida seniors support Amendment 3

Posted on by Vaseline

Barbara DeVane
| Your turn

I am over 80 years old. I don’t smoke or vape marijuana, but I support – no, I strong support – Amendment 3, the ballot item we can vote for in the upcoming November elections, which will make marijuana legal (in limited quantities) for adults 21 and older.

It’s a cliché that seniors like me only care about things like preserving and protecting Social Security, curbing pharmaceutical drug costs, and protecting access to affordable Medicare health care. Of course we care about those things, it directly affects our lives. But with decades of experience and a longer view of public policy, I know that seniors like me also care deeply about things that affect our children and grandchildren.

And one of those things is drug policy.

We have seen the devastation wrought by an ill-conceived war on drugs, especially when that so-called war focuses on a “drug” that is less dangerous than alcohol and not addictive like opioids.

Let’s be honest. With 18% of adults admitting to regular marijuana consumption in survey after survey (of course, actual consumption is likely higher), isn’t it time to do what we did on alcohol? I believe it’s time to once again put an end to bootlegging and bring moonshine and marijuana out of the shadows and off the streets – just like we did 90 years ago when we ended Prohibition.

As a child I heard about the bootleggers, the moonshiners and the war on alcohol. I heard stories of people dying from moonshine containing dangerous additives, or going blind from wood-derived alcohol. By taking it off the streets and putting it in safe outlets where only adults can buy it, we are putting those criminals (think people like Al Capone and Lucky Luciano) out of business and even though alcohol consumption still carries many social ills no one has to do that. concerned about being poisoned to death from drinking modest amounts of store-bought liquor.

The same goes for marijuana.

Today, people are dying because marijuana is laced with dangerous additives like meth, fentanyl, ketamine and PCP. In addition, illegally imported marijuana too often contains dangerous heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, caused by the use of illegal pesticides and herbicides. I am convinced that the drug cartels do not care about properly using EPA certified pest or weed protection equipment. Furthermore, lives are ruined when someone is arrested and prosecuted for possessing only a limited amount of marijuana.

By making marijuana legal, we can test it in the lab for purity, label it for safety, and keep it off the streets and out of the hands of our children and grandchildren. And because more than half of adults in America already enjoy this freedom, we now have studies showing how taking marijuana off the streets reduces teen use and gang violence. Let me repeat that: In the states that have legalized marijuana, teen drug use and gang violence are declining.

Let’s get weed off the streets. Let’s keep it out of the reach of teenagers and ensure that anyone who chooses to consume marijuana is not arrested or exposed to deadly chemicals. Let’s implement smart, common sense policies and pass Amendment 3.

Now about Medicare and Social Security…

Barbara DeVane is a Florida senior citizen, legislative director and member of the board of directors of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans. She can be reached at [email protected].

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