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By L.A. Williams
Christian Action League
September 16, 2020
With tobacco and alcohol already wreaking havoc in America, why in the world would we want to legitimize and glorify marijuana by making it legal? That’s the question that the Rev. Mark Creech is asking members of Congress from North Carolina in advance of an anticipated vote on the MORE Act.
The executive director of the Christian Action League faxed a letter to the delegation Wednesday, imploring them to vote against the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act (HR 3884/S. 2227), which would decriminalize cannabis at the federal level by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act.
In his appeal, Creech cites his 20 years of experience as a lobbyist as he warns lawmakers that just as big corporations have historically promoted greater use and pushed for loosening regulations on alcohol and tobacco, pot promoters would do the same, creating a business model that preys on the American people.
“Legalization will only make it easier to obtain, glamorize it in many quarters, and cement its social acceptance,” Creech wrote.
He said arguing for legalization as an economic boon based on the nation’s experiences with alcohol and tobacco is illogical.
“These two legal drugs, conservatively speaking, cost us more than $200 billion a piece each year. Their societal costs are ten times greater than any of the tax revenue garnered on the federal and state levels combined. Alcohol and tobacco are substantive burdens on our current healthcare system,” Creech wrote.
He outlined for lawmakers the League’s longtime involvement in the fight to implement smoke-free legislation in the Tar Heel state and to mitigate alcohol-related harms. He said he is proud of how the CAL has worked to protect the public’s health.
Read Rev. Creech’s full letter by clicking here
As for MORE, he warned that young people and communities of color would be disproportionately affected by the ill-informed legislation.
“What about the nation’s youth? Don’t we have enough problems in keeping them from damaging their brains, their bodies, their futures, and their hopes with alcohol and tobacco? Now we would allow a third devil into their lives for them to have to contend with, something else for parents to have to worry about keeping out of their reach,” Creech wrote.
“What about the way the alcohol and tobacco industries have targeted communities of color? The evidence to this end is irrefutable. Do we think it will be any different with Big Marijuana? Legalization will only exacerbate contributing factors that have led to many of the claims concerning systemic racism.”
To learn more about the MORE Act, click here.
Christian Action Alert:
Contact your Representative in the U.S. House and urge him or her to VOTE AGAINST the MORE Act, a bill to legalize and commercialize marijuana federally. The House plans to vote on this legislation the week of September 21.
If you do not know who represents you in the U.S. House, go to this link on the North Carolina General Assembly’s website, and type in your residential address: https://ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators