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But the complex details on how to get that done is now being hashed out in Tallahassee and as we uncovered, some key lawmakers in Florida's weed wars are already seeing the green from it.

UC Davis physician researchers have found that medical marijuana contains multiple bacterial and fungal pathogens that may cause serious and even fatal infections. They warn that smoking, vaping or inhaling aerosolized marijuana could pose a grave risk to patients, especially those with leukemia, lymphoma, AIDS or conditions requiring immune-suppressing therapies.
 
“Infection with the pathogens we found in medical marijuana could lead to serious illness and even death,” said Joseph Tuscano, a professor of internal medicine in the Division of Hematology and Oncology at UC Davis, and a lead study author. “Inhaling marijuana in any form provides a direct portal of entry deep into the lungs where infection can easily take hold.”

The mold and bacteria was so widespread and potentially dangerous that the UC Davis academics concluded that they cannot recommend smoking raw or dried weed. "We cannot recommend inhaling it," says George Thompson III, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the university who helped conduct the cannabis research.

Pennsylvania is getting ready to launch its new medical marijuana program next year, but state regulations could keep dispensaries from opening in Philadelphia. But regulations requiring these facilities to be at least 1,000 feet from schools and daycare centers leave little room for the industry to set up shop here, said City Councilman Derek Green.
Pennsylvania medical marijuana.

Short-term side effects include impaired short-term memory, impaired motor function, altered judgment, and, in high doses, paranoia and psychosis. Not to mention that drivers who have recently smoked marijuana are twice as likely to get into a car accident than their sober counterparts.Approximately 9% of people who experiment with marijuana will become addicted.
If marijuana can meet all of the FDA requirements, including efficacy data, evidence of safety, and a meticulous quality control program, then the medicinal use of marijuana could be supported. Until then, we will need smoke and mirrors to make it appear that this drug not only makes people feel good, but is indeed good for you.

After his death, testing of 20 medical marijuana samples from across the state found the vast majority were contaminated with dangerous bacteria and fungi.

Marijuana use during pregnancy can be harmful to your baby’s health. The chemicals in marijuana (in particular,tetrahydrocannabinol or THC) pass through your systemto your baby and can negatively affect your baby’s development.

“There is some misinterpretation that employers can’t fire employees now that [cannabis is] legal, but employers can still enforce their policies as there is nothing in the law that says they have to accommodate that,” said Robin Largent, partner at Carothers Disante & Freudenberger LLP in Sacramento.
However, employers who do not have a well-documented cannabis policy could expose themselves to allegations of discrimination.   “I advise clients to modify their policy if necessary to make clear it’s illegal, giving employees clear expectations,” Daniel said.

"The study suggests that the effects of cannabis use on verbal intelligence are explained not by neurotoxic effects on the brain, but rather by a possible social mechanism," said lead author Natalie Castellanos-Ryan, Assistant Professor at Universite de Montreal in Canada

According to research studies, marijuana use causes aggressive behavior, causes or exacerbates psychosis and produce paranoias. These effects have been illustrated through case studies of highly publicized incidents and heightened political profiles.

Marijuana is currently a growing risk to the public in the United States. Following expanding public opinion that marijuana provides little risk to health, state and federal legislatures have begun changing laws that will significantly increase accessibility of marijuana. Greater marijuana accessibility, resulting in more use, will lead to increased health risks in all demographic categories across the country. Violence is a well-publicized, prominent risk from the more potent, current marijuana available.

Some people think that marijuana is not truly “addictive” or that people can’t become “hooked” on the drug, but research shows that about 1 in 10 marijuana users will become addicted. For people who begin using before the age of 18, that number rises to 1 in 6.
Marijuana use directly affects the brain — specifically the parts of the brain responsible for memory, learning, attention, decision making, coordination, emotions, and reaction time.
 

Colorado Assistant Attorney General Michael Song:

• Song cautioned that doctors have to be tightly regulated, with means to punish those abusing the ability to recommend medical marijuana.
• Song said problems are arising as people, for example, eat a whole cookie, or worse, several, while they wait for the effects to hit. Then they wind up in emergency rooms stoned way over the edge.

Now, as citizen groups attempt to put the brakes on the growing industry, a heated debate has emerged about the drug’s societal impact. Doctors report a spike in pot-related emergency room visits—mostly due to people accidentally consuming too much of potent edible pot products. Police face new cartel-related drug operations. Parents worry about marijuana being sold near their homes and schools. And less affluent communities like Pueblo struggle with the unintended consequences of becoming home to this emerging and controversial industry.
Groups serving the poor in Pueblo report a flood of homeless people arriving from other states. Local homeless shelter Posada, for instance, has witnessed a 47% jump in demand since 2014, including 1,200 people who reported to shelter workers that they came to smoke pot or get jobs in the industry, says Posada’s director, Anne Stattelman. She says her funding is tapped out. “It’s changed the culture of our community,” she says.
Since 2013, law officials say, they have busted 88 drug cartel operations across the state, and just last year law-enforcement made a bust that recovered $12 million in illegal marijuana. Adds Coffman: “That’s crime we hadn’t previously had in Colorado.”
Another surprise to many Coloradans is that a promised huge tax windfall to benefit schools hasn’t materialized. Of the $135 million generated in 2015, for example, $20 million goes to regulatory and public-safety efforts related to cannabis, $40 million funds small rural school construction projects, and the rest goes to youth drug prevention and abuse programs. That’s a drop in the bucket for a $6.2 billion education budget.
For a growing number of her neighbors, however, legalized marijuana is starting to feel like a really bad high.

“But the bottom line is that long-term, heavy cannabis use may impair the dopaminergic system, which could have a variety of negative effects on learning and behavior,” said Dr. Anissa Abi-Dargham, professor of psychiatry and a lead author of the paper.
 
“I used to be able to read a book and even after a couple years I would still know most of the book,” she said. “Now I have to read something four or five times to remember.”

Ref: Rules on pot remain hazy
If doctors, dispensaries and patients are confused now just wait until a patient begins to ask their doctor typical questions about ‘medical’ marijuana. Such as:  How often should I take it, for how long, what strength, interactions with other drugs, expected side-effects, driving under the influence, research and validation that it will help specific symptoms, follow-up appointment … and the list goes on.  Most if not all these questions will be impossible to answer from a medical perspective.  Amendment 2 circumvented the science and medical fields.  Many voters seemed to be confused and misled - This was not legalizing a prescription drug but allowing Big Marijuana into our state.  Sounds more like “Pot Luck” than a medication.
In essence, Florida has legalized drug dealers and addicts to recommend marijuana to the 20 million patients who apparently are in dire need of it.  With all the medical breakthroughs does anyone really believe there isn’t something better we could give our loved ones?  That would be the first question I would ask before considering ‘medical’ marijuana.  
As for Monica Russell of Surterra who is “anxiously awaiting” for the implementation of Amendment 2, maybe she needs to take her “own medicine” as I hear it helps with anxiety.
 
Teresa Miller
Community Substance Abuse Volunteer
StopRxDrugAbuse & No2Pot Founder
#ProtectOurFamilies

Excessive alcohol use accounts for 1 of 10 deaths among working-age adults in the United States.

Marijuana use skyrocketed under President Obama, up 27 percent among kids, according to the National Institutes of Drug Abuse. Phoenix House reports that up to 50 percent become addicted.
 
Nearly 100,000 parents lose their children to drugs annually

If the changes observed in Washington are attributable to legalization, why were there no changes found in Colorado? The authors suggest that this may have been because Colorado’s medical marijuana laws were much more liberal before legalization than those in Washington. After 2009, Colorado permitted medical marijuana to be supplied through for-profit dispensaries and allowed advertising of medical marijuana products. This hypothesis is supported by other evidence that the perceived risks of marijuana use decreased and marijuana use increased among young people in Colorado after these changes in 2009.

Western Colorado law enforcement officials say that Colorado has now become a magnet for criminals coming to take advantage of the state's marijuana laws.
A little over a week later, a 51-year old Palisade man was shot and killed in different incident related to a large pot grow operation. So far, there have been no arrests in the case.
“Legalization was supposed to get rid of the black market – it hasn’t done that – I would estimate that the black market has grown 20 fold since legalization,” said Gaasche.
 

Past-Month Marijuana Use Mostly Steady 
From 1996 to 2016, past-month marijuana use was mostly steady among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders.

In 2016, past-month use for each grade was:

12th grade: 22.5%
10th grade: 14.0%
8th grade: 5.4%

68.9 percent of high school seniors do not view regular marijuana smoking as harmful, but 68.5 percent say they disapprove of regular marijuana smoking.

Ellen Snelling, chairwoman of the Tampa Alcohol Coalition and member of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance, added that marijuana isn’t harmless, telling the panel of her teenage daughter’s decline into drug use after trying pot.

Is it possible to regulate a plant that people can grow in their backyards? Questions to consider and recommendations for implementing Amendment 2 (legalizing 'medical' marijuana in Florida).
Written document

In hopes of protecting others from their daughter’s fate, her parents last year persuaded Florida Rep. Dave Kerner, D-Lake Worth, to propose a bill that would allow law enforcement to charge people with additional crimes if they were under the influence of marijuana when involved in a crash in which someone was seriously hurt.

DENVER - A 29-year-old Louisiana man who was also wanted in his home state has been formally charged with killing a homeless man in Denver while trying to steal marijuana and other belongings.

The Pope emphasised that while prevention is a priority, “it is also fundamental to work for the full rehabilitation of victims in society, to restore their joy and to help them regain the dignity they have lost. Until this is guaranteed, also by the state and by legislative means, recovery will be difficult and victims risk becoming victims once again”.

Colorado has experienced a significant jump in patients seeking emergency medical treatment for complications related to suspected marijuana use since 2014, when the state legalized the drug for commercial sales, according to a presentation by Denver health officials. Still, marijuana-related emergency department visits represent less than 1 percent of all ER visits, said the officials, who shared their experiences and lessons learned during a phone call with the Boston Public Health Commission.

"This development of stress cardiomyopathy in younger patients who used marijuana suggests a possible link that needs to be further investigated," said Sahil Agrawal, M.D., co-author of the paper and also a chief cardiology fellow at St. Luke's.

Marijuana users were more likely than non-users to have a history of depression (32.9 percent vs. 14.5 percent), psychosis (11.9 percent vs. 3.8 percent), anxiety disorder (28.4 percent vs. 16.2 percent), alcoholism (13.3 percent vs. 2.8 percent), tobacco use (73.3 percent vs. 28.6 percent) and multiple substance abuse (11.4 percent vs. 0.3 percent). Because some of these can increase the risk of stress cardiomyopathy, the researchers adjusted for known risk factors to investigate the association between marijuana use and stress cardiomyopathy.

As T. Willard Fair, president of the Urban League of Greater Miami and former chairman of the Florida Board of Education, said in 2014: “I will not vote to legalize the street drug marijuana…label it medicine and make it available to anyone… for any condition…” Fair’s statement is just as applicable today as it was then.

CONCLUSIONS:
Medical marijuana law exposure between age 14 to 18 likely has a delayed effect on use and education that persists over time.

Since the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado in 2013 traffic related marijuana deaths have increased 48%, marijuana related emergency room visits have increased 49%, and marijuana related calls to the poison center have increased 100%. According to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in 2015 statewide homicides in Colorado rose 14.7% over the previous year.
Pueblo, Colorado had the highest homicide rate with 11.1 killings per 100,000 residents. Aurora, Colorado’s homicide rate more than doubled from 2014. Additionally, more places in Colorado were robbed and more thefts occurred, especially vehicle theft. A total of 193,115 vehicles were reported stolen, up 27.7% in 2015 from the previous year. In 2015, sexual assaults rose 10% in Colorado with Denver, Aurora, Lakewood, Westminster, and Pueblo all reporting higher numbers as well. The letter also notes:
In the city of Denver since the legalization of recreational marijuana the number of crimes in Denver has grown by about 44%, according to annual figures the city reported to the National Incident Based Reporting System. In 2015 in Denver alone crime rose in every neighborhood in the city. The murder rate hit a decade high, 1059 more cars were broken into, there were 903 more auto thefts, 321 more aggravated assaults and 2321 more homes were broken into compared to 2014.

To prove this last point, last weekend a “medical marijuana awareness” festival featured pot smoking on stage in front of children, a giant blunt display and the advocacy for marijuana candies. This was Hemp Fest: Tampa Medical Marijuana Awareness Fest in Lutz, FL, promoted as a family friendly event with food and games for kids and advertised free admission for children under 10.

Governor Owens –
Four years ago, Colorado voted to legalize marijuana.
Colorado now leads the nation in the teen use of marijuana.
Marijuana edibles are marketed to children and marijuana-related traffic deaths have increased 62 percent.
 
Mayor Webb –
We were promised new money for education. Instead, that money has gone to marijuana regulation and the pot industry. Denver schools got nothing.
In one Colorado hospital, 50 percent of newborns tested had marijuana in their system.
Don’t repeat our terrible mistake.

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety analyzed cannabis use by drivers in one of those states, Washington, and found that the proportion of drivers involved in fatal crashes who had recently used marijuana more than doubled after Washington legalized the drug for recreational use. In addition, there’s currently no easy way to test whether a driver is impaired by marijuana: Unlike alcohol, it can’t be determined by breath or blood tests.

An FDNY battalion chief was killed and several others — including six police officers and nine other firefighters — were injured when a marijuana-growing operation inside a Bronx house exploded early Tuesday, officials and sources said.

The State Board of Missions has individual and corporate empathy for those Floridians suffering from debilitating diseases, but the Board does not believe legalizing an addictive drug without strong regulatory oversight is an appropriate solution; and the effort to legalize marijuana is contrary to the interests of the public health, safety and welfare, and will adversely affect the rights of citizens to live and work in a community where drug abuse is not accepted and citizens are not subjected to the adverse effects of the drug abuse.

Without clinical knowledge, we would have no way to assess the clinical effects of a patient’s therapy. Marijuana has yet to undergo clinical trials or even serious clinical research. Consequently, no comprehensive, clinical knowledge of so-called “medical marijuana” exists.
The typical pharmacist spends five or more years in school, interns for more than 2,000 hours, must complete two intensive licensing exams, and spends 30 hours a year in continuing education.
 

I was right!  Supporters are mostly people who smoke themselves, personal injury attorney lawyers, greedy entrepreneurs,  those who believe the commercials stating “it is a miracle drug” and/or paid employees.

KNOW YOUR A,B,C,D’s   …  Absent, Behavior, Course Grade = Drugs