GOP IS PUSHING OUR KIDS INTO THE ARMS OF CRIMINALS

Republicans are pushing our children into the arms of criminals. It is
well known that marijuana is a young person's drug, and most teenagers
experiment with it. By destroying the medical marijuana industry,
Republicans are throwing away millions of dollars and pushing cannabis
back onto the black market, a criminal enterprise that leads our
children to much worse things. Today they go to a dispensary and enjoy
legal protection.

If the Republicans have their way, our kids will be forced into the
shadows, into the underground. If they are caught with marijuana, they
go to jail and it goes on their permanent record, affecting their
future. If marijuana becomes vilified again it will look even more
attractive to children who are looking to be different. Since
Republicans killed medical marijuana, the kids will have to go see the
local drug dealer who will try to get them to engage in criminal
behavior and introduce them to hard drugs like cocaine and meth.

A few individuals are responsible for this mess, but we can let them
know that tyranny will not be tolerated. The citizens of Montana want
regulation for the medical marijuana industry, but no reasonable
person wants to see a billion-dollar industry destroyed. People
support medicinal marijuana because it is the easiest way to provide a
stepping stone around federal law. Cannabis use is not criminal behavior.

When people voted in 2004, they knew what they were doing; they were
protecting innocent lives from incarceration. The law has worked
exactly as intended. It protects people from having their lives ruined
by the justice system. Marijuana is less dangerous than aspirin, and
it is time for people to give up the tired old biases. Opposition
comes from simple bigotry.

Ronald Dyson

Bozeman