MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL SENDS WRONG MESSAGE

As a coalition of parents and concerned members of our community, the
Menard County School and Community Task Force would like to alert you
to the "medical marijuana" legislation. SB 1381, medical cannabis, if
passed will send the wrong message to our young people and endanger
them.

Today, more teens are smoking marijuana than are smoking cigarettes,
according to the 2010 Monitoring the Future Survey. The rise in use
among eighth-, 10th- and 12-grade students corresponds to the
favorable attitudes young people have toward the drug. More teens have
the perception that marijuana is not harmful because they are being
told it is a "medicine."

Marijuana is addictive. Marijuana is very harmful, especially to
adolescents whose brains are still developing. How many children do we
want to put into treatment? Marijuana accounts for the most adolescent
drug treatment admissions including alcohol.

In Los Angeles, where medical marijuana is permitted, marijuana has
surpassed alcohol as the major cause for treatment at public treatment
centers and 60 percent of this group is under 18! State legislators
don't seem concerned about Illinois' young people because they are
considering another vote on "medical marijuana" after the bill was
voted down two times in the last two months. "Medical marijuana" laws
make marijuana more accessible to young people and send the wrong message.

Please call your legislators and tell them to vote no on SB 1381, the
medical cannabis bill. This is about Illinois youth.

Kay Daniel

President

Menard County School and Community Task Force

Petersburg