Efforts to expand marijuana use in Missouri are growing, but, thankfully, so is opposition to this invasive threat.
Proposals to legalize use of both medicinal and recreational marijuana have been advanced as legislation and as initiative petitions.
We reiterate our opposition to both approaches, opposition shared at a rally last week by members of the Keeping Missouri Kids Safe Coalition.
The rally at the Capitol included members of the local Council for Drug Free Youth (CDFY), which will sponsor a presentation, "Weed Out the Myths," at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Missouri River Regional Library.
We believe medical marijuana initiatives are a smoke-screen to open the door for recreational marijuana use.
Why? Because we know of no reputable medical organizations that support the proposal.
At the Capitol rally, Christian County Prosecutor Amy Fite said: "There is no organization that indicates that the smoking of marijuana has a medical benefit to anyone, so the idea that there is a medicinal purpose to smoking marijuana is misplaced.
"We do not legislate medicine; we have a process for that," she added, referencing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's responsibilities to regulate medicinal drugs.
Bridget Klotz, a representative of the state branch of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, added: "Smoking anything is a crude and dirty delivery system. That's why we don't smoke any other medicines."
The ultimate goal of pro-marijuana advocates is legalization of recreational use, which - based on the experiences in other states - creates its own set of concerns and consequences.
Joy Sweeney, CDFY executive director, said: "In the states that have approved medical marijuana, the well-financed legalization movement has made significant advances and spent millions of dollars to decriminalize and legalize marijuana. But the data show that legalization drives up crime, deaths and hurts children the most."
She encourages Central Missourians to attend Wednesday's presentation, "because Missourians are being fed misinformation and we want to make sure our community knows the truth."
We see no benefit to legalizing a mood-altering substance in Missouri.
But don't take it from us. Learn from the examples in other states. Attend Wednesday's presentation and hear the facts.