Marjuana Study may be delayed until after election
In 2017 the Utah legislature passed a state funded clinical study into Marijuana's effects.
The move was seen as an effort to placate medical marijuana advocates and conservatives, but the medical marijuana pushers balked and blamed the legislature for dragging their feet and kicking the can down the legislative road.
It was from that move that the medical marijuana initiative, that will be on November's ballots, took off. The proponents of medical marijuana decided the vote needed to be put to the voters, and take it out of the hands of the elected representatives.
The problem is while there appears to be some valid medical use for parts of the marijuana plant, there does not appear to be adequate evidence supporting the use for the entire plant.
"The Utah Medical Association has opposed the initiative in part because it says there is not enough reliable research into the medical benefits of the whole marijuana plant, what side effects are associated, what types of patients could benefit, or what doses would be appropriate. It also believes the initiative would allow overly broad access that paves the way for recreational use."
Here's the article the quote was from, "Delays may now push Utah-funded marijuana study results past Election Day" https://www.ksl.com/?sid=46354496&nid=148
The director of the initiative campaign claims there are "literally thousands of clinically studied reports" from around the world analyzing the medical properties of marijuana.
Personally, such a statement puts up red flags to me. What kinds of studies are these? Were they on certain parts of the plant, or whole plant use? Who funded them? Were they peer-reviewed, double-blind studies?
When I read this article my thought was, what if the study produces evidence that marijuana may not be as good as claimed?
Because the study will likely not be concluded until after the election, it will have little effect on how voters vote. That means they will be more easily influenced by proponents of medical marijuana, especially those who don't want to be labeled as being uncompassionate towards those who could benefit from medical marijuana, or who don't want to be accused of blindly following religious leaders who have expressed concern about the initiative.
To me, this means the results of the initiative will be even more indicative of the willingness of the citizens of Utah to tolerate, support, uphold, and even defend evil. Many may not see it that way, but if they are willing to support an initiative that will certainly open the doors to recreational marijuana use then they are willing to allow greater wickedness to darken their minds.
It will be supported because many will:
As I've mentioned in other posts, many of the talking points of the initiative are good. The problem is in the details.
This is how the adversary works, he uses enough truth that people will begin to belief it. And he focuses on those small bits of truth. If those truths resonate with someone's beliefs, the normal course of action is the person will want to belief all of it, or believe that if one part is true then it all must be true.
In a similar but opposite vein, a story may have enough false information given that people will assume that if part of the information is incorrect then it all must be false. This is a common mis-information tactic, and it is frequently in conspiracy theories. The problem is many of the so-called conspiracy theories have some truth to them. Those who want to belief in the conspiracy theory see the truth and assume it's all true. Those who see the falsehoods will discredit the entire conspiracy, and this is the goal of those actually behind the true conspiracy: to get most people to discredit and disbelieve the conspiracy.
This is happening with the legalization of marijuana.
There is enough truth in the proponents claims that many good, but blinded, people will support it because they will want to belief the initiative will have good outcomes. Those who point out the bad parts, or claim the initiative will lead to recreational marijuana, are being labeled in a similar manner as those who try to expose conspiracies.
The truth is there are parts of the marijuana plant that can be beneficial. But, it can easily be abused and the initiative does have the very real potential to open the doors (without further legislative action) to legalized recreational marijuana use.
The move was seen as an effort to placate medical marijuana advocates and conservatives, but the medical marijuana pushers balked and blamed the legislature for dragging their feet and kicking the can down the legislative road.
It was from that move that the medical marijuana initiative, that will be on November's ballots, took off. The proponents of medical marijuana decided the vote needed to be put to the voters, and take it out of the hands of the elected representatives.
The problem is while there appears to be some valid medical use for parts of the marijuana plant, there does not appear to be adequate evidence supporting the use for the entire plant.
"The Utah Medical Association has opposed the initiative in part because it says there is not enough reliable research into the medical benefits of the whole marijuana plant, what side effects are associated, what types of patients could benefit, or what doses would be appropriate. It also believes the initiative would allow overly broad access that paves the way for recreational use."
Here's the article the quote was from, "Delays may now push Utah-funded marijuana study results past Election Day" https://www.ksl.com/?sid=46354496&nid=148
The director of the initiative campaign claims there are "literally thousands of clinically studied reports" from around the world analyzing the medical properties of marijuana.
Personally, such a statement puts up red flags to me. What kinds of studies are these? Were they on certain parts of the plant, or whole plant use? Who funded them? Were they peer-reviewed, double-blind studies?
When I read this article my thought was, what if the study produces evidence that marijuana may not be as good as claimed?
Because the study will likely not be concluded until after the election, it will have little effect on how voters vote. That means they will be more easily influenced by proponents of medical marijuana, especially those who don't want to be labeled as being uncompassionate towards those who could benefit from medical marijuana, or who don't want to be accused of blindly following religious leaders who have expressed concern about the initiative.
To me, this means the results of the initiative will be even more indicative of the willingness of the citizens of Utah to tolerate, support, uphold, and even defend evil. Many may not see it that way, but if they are willing to support an initiative that will certainly open the doors to recreational marijuana use then they are willing to allow greater wickedness to darken their minds.
It will be supported because many will:
- refuse to read the fine print and are satisfied with the talking points
- refuse to belief it could be harmful,
- want to be seen as supportive and compassionate to those who could benefit from the medical benefits.
- not want to be accused of blindly following "uninformed" church leader, or
- just vote for it in rebellion against religious leaders being against it.
As I've mentioned in other posts, many of the talking points of the initiative are good. The problem is in the details.
This is how the adversary works, he uses enough truth that people will begin to belief it. And he focuses on those small bits of truth. If those truths resonate with someone's beliefs, the normal course of action is the person will want to belief all of it, or believe that if one part is true then it all must be true.
In a similar but opposite vein, a story may have enough false information given that people will assume that if part of the information is incorrect then it all must be false. This is a common mis-information tactic, and it is frequently in conspiracy theories. The problem is many of the so-called conspiracy theories have some truth to them. Those who want to belief in the conspiracy theory see the truth and assume it's all true. Those who see the falsehoods will discredit the entire conspiracy, and this is the goal of those actually behind the true conspiracy: to get most people to discredit and disbelieve the conspiracy.
This is happening with the legalization of marijuana.
There is enough truth in the proponents claims that many good, but blinded, people will support it because they will want to belief the initiative will have good outcomes. Those who point out the bad parts, or claim the initiative will lead to recreational marijuana, are being labeled in a similar manner as those who try to expose conspiracies.
The truth is there are parts of the marijuana plant that can be beneficial. But, it can easily be abused and the initiative does have the very real potential to open the doors (without further legislative action) to legalized recreational marijuana use.
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