Frequently Asked Questions
Question #1
QUESTION: The Marijuana Policy Project says marijuana is medicine. Does Keep AZ Drug Free think marijuana is a medicine?
ANSWER: No. Marijuana is a Class I illegal substance under the Controlled Substance Act, because it has been found to have no acceptable medical use, is subject to abuse, and is not safe for use even under a physician’s care.
We acknowledge that there are people who truly believe they are helped by marijuana. Contrary to the anecdotal evidence of a few people with compelling stories, however, the FDA and the top medical associations of our country, including the American Medical Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Glaucoma Society, the American Academy of Ophthalmology and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the very medical societies that advocate for patients with serious illnesses like cancer, glaucoma and MS, all have rejected marijuana as a medicine. They say marijuana has too many negative effects and that real medicines, like Marinol, work as well or better for the problems stated and are approved by the FDA, available for prescription by physicians, and reimbursable by insurance. The Marijuana Policy Project does not care about weighing benefits against negative effects. Their agenda is to legalize marijuana. They want voters to ignore science and override health care standards that have protected the public for years.
Not only is the Marijuana Policy Project misleading the general public about the intended use of marijuana as medicine for seriously ill people, the MPP is misleading and using sick people as a front for a national drug campaign to legalize marijuana. MPP’s mission statement to legalize marijuana is this country can be read on their website at www.mpp.org/about/mission-statement.html.
For seriously ill people, marijuana can do more harm than good. There is no scientific research on marijuana’s effectiveness or risks, dosages, interactions with other drugs, or impact on pre-existing conditions. Smoked marijuana has been proven to damage the immune system, leaving immune-suppressed patients more vulnerable to infection. Specifically with respect to MS, the National MS Society expressed “concerns that coordination, cognition (thinking and memory) and other functions affected by MS could be worsened” by marijuana! nationalmssociety.org/chapters/mnm/msconnectionnews/chapter-news-detail/index.aspx?nid=2399
Question #2
QUESTION: Is it true that only seriously and terminally ill patients will be getting marijuana if Prop 203 passes?
ANSWER: No. As few as 2% of the people who will get marijuana under Prop 203 will have serious conditions like cancer, AIDS, or multiple sclerosis. As much as 98% of the people who will get marijuana under Prop 203 will have headaches or mild ailments that don’t require treatment or will have no ailments at all.
The Marijuana Policy Project wants you to believe that only a small number of seriously ill people will qualify to use marijuana, but they drafted Prop 203 so anyone could get marijuana, including people with very mild symptoms and people who just make up problems to qualify. Prop 203 provides that people with “debilitating medical conditions” will be able to get marijuana. The term “debilitating medical conditions” is defined in Prop 203 to include “severe and chronic pain.” Because “pain” is easily faked and impossible to disprove, it is the most often-used excuse for marijuana recommendations by doctors in other states. People have been given recommendations for marijuana for occasional headaches, menstrual cramps, sprains and bruises. One woman was given marijuana because her high heels hurt her. The Marijuana Policy Project knows people abuse the pain diagnosis, yet the MPP specifically included this loophole in Prop 203. On top of that, MPP is waging a misleading campaign by focusing the public’s attention on a tiny group of patients who are seriously ill, ignoring the 98% with no serious medical problem. This isn’t about the good it might do. It’s about the bad we’re certain of.
Question #3
QUESTION: Will the amounts of marijuana allowed to marijuana users under Prop 203 be small?
ANSWER: No. In fact, the amount of marijuana allowed to each marijuana user will be HUGE!
Marijuana users will be allowed to buy 2.5 ounces (approximately 200 marijuana cigarettes) from a dispensary every two weeks. And, if a marijuana user doesn’t live within 25 miles of a dispensary, he can grow his own! Up to 12 plants per marijuana user! Marijuana grows fast. A cardholder can get three crops per year of 12 plants and can get up to a pound of usable marijuana per plant. He could grow up to 36 pounds per year! These amounts of marijuana suggest drug trafficking – not medicine!
Don’t be fooled into thinking even the large amounts specifically mentioned in Prop 203 are the limit. Only the amounts purchased from a dispensary will be recorded, making it possible for a marijuana user to get unlimited amounts on the black market, so long as he holds no more than 2.5 ounces at a time. The Drug Enforcement Administration warns that large-scale drug trafficking “hides behind” laws like Prop 203 in other states. Arizona has enough of a drug problem already! The national pro-drug lobby (the Marijuana Policy Project) pushing this bad law on Arizona doesn’t care about Arizona or its drug problem!
Question #4
QUESTION: Isn’t marijuana harmless to the user?
ANSWER: No. Despite the Marijuana Policy Project’s claims that marijuana is harmless, it’s harmful both physically and psychologically.
Marijuana causes the same heart and lung problems as cigarette smoking. Actually, worse, because pot-smokers inhale deeply and never use filters. The smoking-related diseases, lung cancer, heart attacks, emphysema, all can be caused by smoking marijuana as well. That is why no medical organization will ever approve or recommend any drug that is smoked—a fact the Marijuana Policy Project ignores.
Marijuana use decreases short-term memory, concentration, coordination, and ability to solve problems. It also causes loss of motivation. These problems hit adolescents the hardest, and teens who smoke marijuana regularly get worse grades, are less likely to finish school and earn less money as adults.
Marijuana use often causes panic attacks and chronic anxiety, and can cause paranoia. These are serious psychiatric problems.
Marijuana use affects a driver’s concentration, perception, coordination, and reaction time, causing increased risk of accidents. Montana checks for marijuana in the bloodstream of drivers involved in fatal accidents, and found that fatal accidents caused by pot-smoking drivers increased by 25 percent when their medical marijuana law went into effect. So much for harmless!
The harmful effects of marijuana are even greater for seriously ill people, the very people the Marijuana Policy Project claims need it! Smoking pot damages the immune system, leaving immune-suppressed patients more vulnerable to infection. This could be really bad for AIDS patients. With respect to multiple sclerosis, the National MS Society stated that “coordination, cognition (thinking and memory) and other functions affected by MS could be worsened” by marijuana.
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Cancer Society and the American Glaucoma Society do not support medical marijuana, and they represent the very diseases medical marijuana is supposed to help. It makes sense listen to the medical professionals who care about our health instead of the Marijuana Policy Project, whose real agenda is to legalize marijuana.
Also, marijuana is an addictive drug. About 6-10 percent of regular users get addicted, the same rate seen with alcohol. People addicted to pot have the same problems as people addicted to any other drug—relationship break-ups and divorce, trouble keeping jobs, and increased violence and aggression.
Marijuana is definitely not harmless.
Question #5
QUESTION: If Prop 203 passes, the Arizona Department of Health Services will be regulating marijuana dispensaries and marijuana will be safer, right?
ANSWER: No. The Arizona Department of Health Services will serve in merely an administrative capacity with no real control over the dispensaries themselves and no control whatsoever over the marijuana sold.
Based on very limited requirements, the Arizona Department of Health Services will issue marijuana cards to marijuana “patients” and “caregivers” and licenses to “dispensaries.” Criminals, even felons, can be caregivers or dispensary owners and agents.
State officials can’t inspect dispensaries unless prior warning is given. And, State officials have no authority to inspect the marijuana itself. The marijuana can be full of pesticides, fungicides, molds, or other components and additives. It is not subject to any inspection or control whatsoever by anyone. In contrast, State officials can inspect McDonalds and the food itself without warning of any kind and they’re just selling hamburgers!
Marijuana dispensaries can be located as close as 500 feet from schools. There is no restriction on distance from parks and other places children congregate. Dispensaries will bring increased crime to your neighborhoods, including drug trafficking and all of the seedy activities that go along with it. People will be smoking pot in parking lots and your kids will pass by them on their way to school. Don’t get comfortable with the Marijuana Policy Project’s claims of regulation by State officials. There is no meaningful regulation!
Question #6
QUESTION: Someone told me that a marijuana cardholder will be exempt from DUI laws. Is that right?
ANSWER: Yes. Prop 203 creates a protected class of drug users who will be exempt from the long-standing DUI laws of our State.
Marijuana cardholders will enjoy special treatment. In Arizona a person can be charged with DUI for driving impaired by alcohol, illegal drugs or prescription medication, but if Prop 203 passes, marijuana cardholders can’t be prosecuted for DUI unless there is “sufficient concentration to show impairment.” Unlike tests for blood/alcohol ratios establishing impairment, there is no test or standard for marijuana impairment. Completely contrary to DUI laws with other drugs, cardholders can claim their blood levels are too low even when they obviously are impaired. Expect this to play out in court for years, and until it’s decided, marijuana smokers will be able to drive without consequences.
Question #7
QUESTION: Will employers be able to fire a marijuana cardholder for failing a drug test?
ANSWER: No. Prop 203 creates a protected class of drug users who will be exempt from workplace safety and compliance laws.
Protections similar to DUI exemptions are given to marijuana cardholders in the workplace. Employers can’t ask cardholders about marijuana use in an interview and can’t discriminate or terminate an employee who is a cardholder on the basis of a failed drug test. Again, there is a presumption that a marijuana user always is using marijuana for medical purposes. Employers will have to prove that an employee is actually impaired due to marijuana use. There is no definition of what constitutes actual impairment, so lawsuits will ensue. Employees who use marijuana before work will pose threats to the safety of other employees and property, all at great liability to employers.
Imagine a workplace where employees show up for work after smoking marijuana, putting other employees and the public at risk, and there is nothing you can do about it! As seen in other states with these laws, insurance rates will increase, productivity will decline and new, unwelcome challenges will be presented in workplace safety and compliance. We don’t want these issues in Arizona!
Question #8
QUESTION: The Marijuana Policy Project says “stop arresting patients.” Are there seriously or terminally ill people in jail for using marijuana for medical reasons?
ANSWER: No.
Although the Marijuana Policy Project makes numerous references to “arresting patients,” there is no evidence that seriously ill people are in prison for using marijuana for medical reasons. Not only do law enforcement officers say that no seriously ill patients are imprisoned for using marijuana for medical reasons, MPP itself gives no example of such an imprisoned patient. Don’t think for one minute there is a terminally ill patient incarcerated solely for his or her use of “medical” marijuana; that person would be MPP’s poster child. Marijuana Policy Project is blowing smoke, disingenuously preying on the compassion of voters.
Drug abusers are great con artists. They know how to play on our sympathies. But don’t believe their innocents in prison stories. Yes, thousands of people are in prison on marijuana charges, but almost all of them pleaded down from more serious charges, had more serious prior offenses or were arrested with extremely large amounts of pot. This can be found in a Justice Department publication called “Who’s really in prison for marijuana? People with serious illnesses aren’t getting arrested, and the Marijuana Policy Project knows it.
This should be obvious. Any defendant can demand a jury trial. Can you imagine a jury sending a grandmother with cancer to prison for marijuana possession? Of course not.
On the other hand, as one psychiatrist who works with drug addicts said, “I’ve seen hundreds of patients who have been in jail or prison, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard one admit he deserved to be there. They all have a reason why they’re innocent. There definitely are innocent people in prison, but if someone claims he got locked up for simple marijuana possession, check it out before you believe it.”
Although the Marijuana Policy Project makes numerous references to “arresting patients,” THEY OFFER no evidence that seriously ill people are in prison for using marijuana for medical reasons. Not only do law enforcement officers say that no seriously ill patients are imprisoned for using marijuana for medical reasons, MPP itself gives no example of such an imprisoned patient. The Marijuana Policy Project is blowing smoke, disingenuously preying on the compassion of voters.
PROTECTING THE SERIOUSLY ILL FROM ARREST IS THE WHOLE REASON THEY GIVE TO VOTE FOR PROPOSITION 203, AND IT’S A PROBLEM THAT DOESN’T EVEN EXIST. PROP 203 WILL PROTECT DRUG ABUSERS WHO CLAIM TO BE PATIENTS, NOT REAL PATIENTS.
Question #9
QUESTION: I heard that, if Prop 203 passes, landlords would be required to rent to marijuana cardholders. Is that true?
ANSWER: Yes. Prop 203 creates a protected class of drug users who cannot be turned down as prospective tenants. A landlord turning down a prospective tenant who is a marijuana cardholder could be sued for discrimination.
Under current law, a landlord can refuse to lease his property to anyone for any reason (except because of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, handicap or national origin). A landlord now may refuse to lease to someone who smokes, for instance. There are very good reasons why a landlord might not want to rent to a marijuana user – for example, smoke can ruin carpet and even seep into walls, marijuana users might want to grow their own marijuana plants (which are grown inside with pesticides, fungicides, acids and bases that can create hazardous waste dumps), and marijuana users/growers might attract an unwanted criminal element to the neighborhood. In Colorado, marijuana cardholders are rewiring houses to grow marijuana indoors and starting fires. If a prospective tenant is a marijuana cardholder, a landlord may not refuse to rent to him “solely” on that basis. It would be up to the landlord to prove that his refusal to rent was based on factors other than marijuana cardholder status. Marijuana cardholders will take on the protected status similar to a religious or racial minority.
Question #10
QUESTION: Can children get marijuana cards?
ANSWER: Yes. A child under 18 can get a marijuana card with the permission of a parent or guardian and the recommendation of two doctors.
Question #11
QUESTION: If Prop 203 passes, will marijuana still be an illegal drug under federal law? I heard that President Obama didn’t care about marijuana.
ANSWER: Yes. Marijuana is an illegal drug under federal law. Although the Obama administration has indicated they would not prosecute those acting in accordance with state “medical” marijuana laws, the Drug Enforcement Administration has taken a different position. Either way, marijuana will remain an illegal drug under the Controlled Substance Act and marijuana users will continue to be subject to arrest and prosecution under federal law.
Question #12
