It's Medically Illogical To Treat PTSD With Pot, Cannabis Legalization Equals Communism Say Kansas Opponents

Kansas state senator Mike Thompson (R) is pushing for more time for lawmakers to look into and decide on medical marijuana legalization. Thompson, a chair of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee said at a Wednesday meeting that more research on marijuana is still required, reported Kansas Reflector.

Senate Bill 171 is the first veterans' medical marijuana (MMJ) legislation to regulate the growing, distribution, sale, possession and consumption of medical marijuana.

Opponents of the measure, such as Steve Howe, Johnson County DA pointed to other states where MMJ programs didn’t turn as expected. He called MMJ a ‘trojan horse’ that would lead to full legalization in Kansas.

“In Missouri, there are no restrictions, despite what the medical community says, for you getting the ability to have medical marijuana,” Howe said, reported the Kansas City Star.

Howe said it was insulting for veterans with PTSD to have legal access to medical marijuana.

“It’s offensive to use veterans to be the selling point for this type of legalization or medical marijuana,” Howe said. “The last thing you want a person to do who’s suffering from PTSD is to get them high. That just flies in the face of all logic in the medical community.”

Cannabis Legalization Tantamount To Communism?

Brian Surber, deputy director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, shared Oklahoma’s experience with MMJ legalization, pointing to a recent investigation linking sex trafficking, prostitution and drug trafficking to marijuana farms across the state. These illegal activities are purportedly part of an Asian organized crime network.

Legal medical cannabis contributed to the development of the black market and drug cartel operations, said Surber who brought the Cold War into the argument.

“It reminds me of people who support communist regimes, that support socialism, ‘It’s like well, Cuba just wasn’t done right.’ Because every one that has been done so far has been a failure.”

Thompson highlighted Surber’s testimony on Oklahoma in an interview with the Reflector after the committee meeting.

“It is literally the wild west, and that’s why they’re having so much problem with the cartels, black market issues, things of that nature,” Thompson said. “That’s scary to me, frightening, in fact.”

At the committee meeting, Thomson concluded that more time is needed to process the situation.

“They didn’t have this kind of volume of evidence and data, and so I feel like this is necessary before we even think about where we’re going to go with this,” Thompson said. “So at this point, we’re still in data collection. Do we want to make a decision in a hasty fashion? I don’t want to.”

The committee is scheduled to hear further testimony on marijuana legislation Thursday.

Photo: Courtesy of CRYSTALWEED cannabis on Unsplash