“Illinois Can’t Afford to Sit Back on Marijuana Legalization” (Illinois Family Spotlight #096)

David Smith and Monte Larrick recently sat down with Jo McGuire while she was visiting Illinois warning residents about the many consequences of legalizing recreational marijuana. Jo comes from Colorado, where they have had recreational marijuana since 2013.

Jo McGuire serves on the board of directors for the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association and co-chairs the Marijuana Education Committee. She is also a DATIA Certified Professional Collector and Trainer (CPCT) and a Certified Designated Employee Representative Trainer (CDERT) who consults and trains professionals overseeing Safety Sensitive Employees in the compliance of federal DOT guidelines for drug and alcohol screening programs. Jo assists educators with classroom and assembly-style presentations aimed at youth drug prevention and parent awareness and education.

They discuss why we cannot regulate marijuana like we do alcohol because of the sweeping differences between marijuana and alcohol; the fact that legal marijuana increases the strain on first responders and traffic; the supposed revenue increase from recreational pot; big tobacco’s influence on recreational marijuana; the proposals in the Illinois recreational marijuana bill, which makes allowances for the messy and complicated home grows; butane hash oil extractions, which are high concentrates–up to 95% THC; and the need to get up and be a driving force against the legalization of recreational marijuana.

The message is: don’t buy the lies from those supporting legalization recreational marijuana. In this podcast you will learn more about the following:

The science explaining the differences between how the human body metabolizes alcohol and marijuana.
Despite the fact that some regular users of marijuana develop some tolerance, the product still negatively impacts things like motor skills in them.
The fact that alcohol addition is treated seriously, while society tends to dismiss the harm done to society and the individuals that use marijuana.
Today’s marijuana is many times more potent in its THC levels than in previous decades; it has been genetically modified often.
The percentage of highway accidents and emergency room visits related to Marijuana use have spiked upwards in Colorado.
Unlike with alcohol, there is no roadside test for those impaired by Marijuana, and scientists are not close to developing one close despite what weed proponents claim.
Big tobacco is investing big in “big weed.”
Home growing of marijuana is legal in Colorado, which results in a number of additional problems, including the increase in mold inside and outside of homes growing the product.
The marijuana black market continues in Colorado despite the product being legalized.
Because of the makeup of “extraction labs, to produce usable marijuana, hash oil explosions resemble those of meth lab explosions.

There are more items to add to the list! Monte, Dave and Jo get into a great deal more detail in this 20 minute podcast so be sure to listen.

Take action! Please call the capitol switchboard and ask to be transferred to your state senator or representative and ask them to vote NO to recreational marijuana. The switchboard number is (217) 782-2000. If you don’t know your state lawmaker, click here.