Etra Credit 4th Annual Inver Hills Marihuana Forum

I attended the 4^th annual Inver Hills Marijuana Forum on April 22, 2013. The first speaker was Tim Davis from the Former chair and senatorial candidate for the Minnesota Grassroots Party. He was for legalization of marijuana. He said that the nature of addiction has to do with beliefs. One of his main points was that Hem is a reliable source, for example cars can run on hem.  Laws are against you and say that you are a bad person if you do drugs but he believes that people do drugs because it makes them feel good. His last point was that marijuana can be used in the medical field for treating diseases. The second speaker was Dr. Charles Rezikoff who was for legalization but only in certain circumstances. He said that we should ignore marijuana in medical test because it is popular and doctors don’t know how to treat it yet. Doctors aren’t ready for it to be legalized yet because they don’t learn about it in medical school. His question was is marijuana a medicine? It is a good pain and nausea reliever, has medicinal effects, intoxicated effect, and can impair one’s ability and that all medicine have poisons in it. He believes that if marijuana becomes legal that it will send a bad signal to younger kids. The third speaker was Brandon Bregon who was for legalization. He believes that people should be responsible when use marijuana. He second believes is that prohibition is more dangerous than using drugs.  One of his favorite quotes was “get high don’t get higher” this was saying use your judgment and know when to stop. The fourth speaker was Ann Elliot from Inver Hills department of Nursing. She said that there are both positive and negatives about the legalization of marijuana. She was worried how people medication would affect them when they also use marijuana. She discovered that marijuana helps with appetite, pain and with chemo therapy. When they figure out more about marijuana they will have to inform patients with their evidence on how it can help them. More home care nurses are noticing that there patients are using marijuana.  As long as we know where it comes from, who should use it and who should dispense it will help the legalization process. The fifth speaker is Shane Stroup from the Inver Hills department of philosophy. We waste a lot on the government trying to stop the legalization but the truth is that the topic has risen and won’t go away any time soon. He believed that all things should be legal. There are zero deaths caused by marijuana compared to Aspirin that has caused 15,000 deaths a year.  He thinks that the benefits of legalization will be high. The last speaker is Michael Server from the Inver Hills from Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice. People can be caught with marijuana up to an ounce and a half and up to a $500.00 and it not going on your record. If marijuana was legal the best place to sell marijuana would be bars.  He thinks that marijuana send the wrong message to young children.

I’m in between on this topic. I think that if they legalize marijuana should e legalized for medical use once the medical field gets more educated on it because it can be used as a pain reliever, appetite, mood and after chemo therapy.  If marijuana becomes legalized I think that it will attract young kids and when if a person is driving it will impair them.  Overall we need to find out more information about marijuana before we decide to legalize it.