Commentary: Educate children about risks of newly legal marijuana
With California passing a law legalizing the growth and sale of cannabis, I have major concerns about potential greed and lack of understanding. As a state, we will be able to collect taxes from any sales of this plant, but are we compromising, rather than coming up with, smarter alternatives?
For example, has anyone ever heard of “the local drugstore?” Why aren’t these stores the ones to be managing cannabis? Why do we keep putting cannabis in the alcohol category?
Cannabis alters the mind, and I am concerned that the youth will be hurt by this decision. Most kids want to have a social life and fit in. Most have not figured out who they really are, and are not willing, or just plain not strong enough, to say no.
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Former first lady Nancy Reagan popularized the slogan, “Just say no,” and I think we need to get back to that. But we need to say much more than just no; we need to educate kids regarding the potential perils of cannabis. Youth often blame parents for their bad choices, but if we did our best to educate them, they can at least make informed decisions and have a higher likelihood to just say no.
Parties that kids go to will now be filled with legal cannabis, in addition to or instead of, alcohol, and there is fear cannabis will slow their natural God-given reflexes and intuition. The girl who has somehow kept her innocence will be more likely to compromise when she inhales cannabis. What will happen to the boy whose parents finally conceded and trusted their son to drive their car to his first high school party? Will he be driving home with mind-altering chemicals in his blood system? The crash and the call is the nightmare we all hope to never get.
Youth are looking to adults for guidance, and we need to be louder than the media and peer pressure. I understand that kids will be kids, but how many of our kids are we willing to lose while justifying actions of our lawmakers and drug dealers?
How are we being helped from cannabis being legalized? Are we getting richer, or will legal cannabis cause our future to look bleak and our pocket books to empty? What will it cost to help addicted youth sober up and mitigate damage caused?
As a country we should be focusing our time and resources on helping children cope in life situations, naturally, teaching them how to deal with their stresses and anxieties, or we will continue to see our country decline.
If we teach our children that we do not use substances as our crutch in life, but learn to deal in a more natural way, then how would our future look?
We need to remember that it is we who need to make wise decisions, it is we who need to stick up for what is right. It is we who need to fight for our kids, and it is we who need to stand in the gap and protect our children, educating them on all of the above.
All it takes is our voice and standing our ground for what is right, and when the pressure comes, just remember what you are doing it for, our children and our country’s future.
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VIRGINIA VARGAS lives in Costa Mesa.