Tinian is next!

We still have a wall of skepticism standing in the way of progress and I want to take this opportunity to try and dispel some of the skepticism and concerns raised at the Senate hearings on Rota in hopes that the Tinian hearing will reveal more support for the moratorium and full legalization. I can’t impress upon people how important it is for us to take on the entire issue of full legalization and not just for medical use. Just think, we will still have to deal with recreational use anyway so why not deal with the entire challenge now, especially when a proponent for medical use only just wrote that “marijuana is the safest therapeutic substance known to man to alleviate pain and treat those suffering from serious medical conditions with little to no side effects.” Needless to say, most of society is already in agreement with this statement yet if marijuana is so good and safe for medical use, why is it so bad for recreational use? It defies logic and it should be obvious that something is wrong with this perspective as the effects on those who are not sick is the same as the effects on those who are sick. Certainly if marijuana is good for the sick then it is good for those who are not sick. I submit that it is only the fear of the unknown that is supporting the wall of skepticism against full legalization as people only need to be fully educated on this issue.

It seems those who only want medical marijuana being made legal associate it with pain but there are cognitive /emotional issues and illnesses like stress/hypertension and the daily events of being upset that can be helped and even alleviated with marijuana use. But try taking a drink under some of these stressful conditions and you can easily end up wanting to fight or even worse—that’s the true reality between alcohol and marijuana. A lot of the so-called recreational use of marijuana is actually “mentally therapeutic” not associated with physical pain. People needing marijuana for mental therapy will not be included mainly due to the difficult financial challenge of finding and paying for a psychologist that is not covered under most insurances. Marijuana use is about all people and not just those in physical pain as emotional pain can be just as challenging and just as deadly. There are a lot of people who might still be alive if they had just sat down and smoked a joint!

There were still some people showing concern for children going crazy to smoke if it is legalized. This is a good example of why people of the CNMI need to be educated on this issue because there were no major reports by the school systems of mass changes in youth behavior and use of marijuana in Colorado or Washington State. There were only some isolated incidents that could be attributed solely to the ignorance of the child. People holding this fear need to let go and trust in our education system to help them in deterring the use of marijuana by our youth. FYI readers, we can’t maximize an aggressive fight against marijuana use by our youth until we legalize marijuana for all use. There is also the fact that if you really want to stop locking up our youth for a marijuana cigarette, we need to fully legalize it.

It was suggested that the marijuana issue be given to the people for a vote. If people are going to vote on something, it is best that the people see and understand what they are voting on first, which is why I proposed a moratorium. Obviously these people didn’t know about the moratorium I proposed as this approach would give the people an opportunity to see how full legalization would work out in the CNMI before voting—a simple scientific approach that would answer all the questions and reveal the true realities of their skepticism and concerns. So if you want to vote on the matter you should support the moratorium so you can see what you are voting on based on pure facts and not skepticism. Based on scientific research, human consumption of alcohol is the most toxic, followed by heroin, cocaine, tobacco, Ecstasy, meth or ice, with the least toxic dose being marijuana. This is scientific proof that we should be using more marijuana and less alcohol for recreational purposes! Are we really that oblivious and even stupid to ignore the science on marijuana use? I pray not! Give progress a chance before you say no. You owe it to our children and their future and our quality of life today.

For almost a decade the CNMI has been wondering how to turn our economy around and institute a higher quality of life in the CNMI. We literally need a miracle to totally turn things around as it will still be years before we feel the full effects of the casino(s), which the governor has even told us is still not the full solution. The full legalization of marijuana in the U.S. mainland has opened the door to a virtual economic miracle in revenues for governments, created thousands of good jobs, improved funding for education, improved medical services, and government subsidies that help to improve the quality of life for all people. Do we try to cash in on this financial miracle or do we let unwarranted skepticism with no factual basis stop us? You would think that given the success in other states it wouldn’t be a question of if but how. However, as usual we are slow on island time and are still dealing with the if when the rest of America including Guam have skipped the if stage to the how.

Finally, no one has a right to dictate to any person which natural growing herb they can or cannot use in its natural state as you will be playing god! People need to look in the mirror before they start dictating to other people on what they can or cannot do for their personal use and satisfaction. Any herb can be used in its natural state, which was given to us all by our creator to use. No one has that right to take away anyone’s “natural right,” which is the foundation of our American philosophy of life and governing based on our natural rights theory in a state of nature by Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, who gave us the natural rights theory for governing. People actually have a right to use marijuana for any reason. Marijuana grows naturally and can never be eradicated and people will always want to use it for recreational purposes so do we continue to live in denial and perpetuate the problem or do we take control through full legalization? It is really that simple!

What I can’t understand is that we have those saying no to recreational use when our society should clearly be worried more about our youth and our adults drinking alcohol. Big signs saying “medical use only” is a ridiculous display of ignorance when alcohol is destroying people’s marriages and lives every day and even kills and is still killing while marijuana is already commonly known to be one of the safest therapeutic substance known to man! We must get rid of the unfounded skepticism and speculation and see first-hand during the moratorium period. So make sure you attend the public hearings and let it be known that you want to see what full legalization is like under the moratorium to eliminate any guessing or speculation. Voters should want to make well-educated informed decision about legalization based on their own observations and not something someone said while playing god. Support the scientific approach of a moratorium on full legalization so you can know for yourself.

Ambrose M Bennett
Kagman, Saipan