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PA shouldn’t allow recreational marijuana

Pennsylvania should just say no to recreational marijuana legalization.

I recently met with a group of very concerned Blair County residents. We discussed the legislative situation in Pennsylvania with the proposed legalization of recreational marijuana products.

The gist of that discussion revolved around state government deliberately ignoring the overwhelming opinion of professionals in psychiatry, counseling, drug and alcohol treatment facilities, law enforcement, as well as the massive negative evidence accumulating in states that have preceded Pennsylvania in doing this.

There are a multitude of reasons to continue discouraging Pennsylvanians to shun the recreational (and, in most cases, medicinal) use of marijuana products. The state is lured by promises of riches to be obtained from taxation of merchants, commercial producers, home growers as well as users.

Their dreams of a pot of gold at the end of the marijuana rainbow cause them to be willfully blind (at best) and deliberately deceptive (more probable) concerning the multitude of problems that will arise when smoking and/or consuming cannabis products becomes the new norm in Pennsylvania.

Politicians are demagoguing this issue, assuming that we the voters are too stupid to recognize the real reasons why the mental, psychological and physical well-being of Pennsylvanians all come in a distant second to their thirst for another cash cow to bleed.

It’s for the schools and the children? Oh the irony and deception couched in that sugar-coated mantra. Does anyone really believe that the Lt. Governor’s “Listening Tour” was really exploratory?

It was a cynical and insincere attempt to tell the voters “we listened to you,” while they ignore the educated opinions of every treatment facility, drug and alcohol counselor, psychiatrist, and any one else who has a working knowledge of substance disorder issues.

Politicians promote laws that serve themselves and their interests best. Statesmen promote laws that truly protect and serve their constituents, even if they have to stand against the tide of uninformed opinion or against those who would profit while doing harm to others.

God, please deliver us from politicians.

Dr. John Wells

Hollidaysburg

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