Marijuana – is it a harmless plant, a medically beneficial substance, or a dangerous, destructive drug? Depending on who you ask, the answer will vary widely.

Dr. Karen Randall speaks to this question based on her experience as an ER physician and a resident of Pueblo, Colorado. This community has first-hand knowledge of the devastating effects of legalized marijuana for “medical” and recreational use.

Dr. Randall explains the science that proves the marijuana of today is not the same as the comparatively low-potency pot that baby boomers smoked in the sixties and seventies. She warns about the danger of edibles, the increase in homelessness and chronic absenteeism in schools, and the strain and drain on social service agencies, law enforcement, medical facilities and professionals, and taxpayers. Drawing from her emergency room experience with adolescents, Dr. Randall discusses the alarming trend toward cannabis use disorder, psychotic episodes, and schizophrenia in younger users.

Liberal leaders and legislators don’t want you to hear what Dr. Randall has to say. Unless we want to suffer the same fate as Pueblo and the state of Colorado, we must spread the truth about legalized recreational marijuana. Please share this video with family and friends!

Take ACTION: Please click HERE to send a message to your state representative and state senator to urge them to oppose any and all efforts to legalize marijuana. Ask them to oppose SB 7, and tell them you don’t want your more impaired workers on job sites, more impaired drivers on the road, more young people being sucked into a life of addiction and local hospitals having to deal with all of this.

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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As you know, IFI is very concerned about the move by certain state lawmakers to legalize “recreational” marijuana in Illinois. In 2014, so-called “medical” marijuana became legal in the Land of Lincoln. Over the past four years, state lawmakers and bureaucrats at the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) have dramatically expanded the qualifying medical conditions. Today, anyone determined to use pot can easily apply for and receive a medical cannabis registry identification card.

According to IDPH’s July Update, there are currently over 39,800 qualified users in the state’s “medical” marijuana registry and there are 55 authorized dispensaries statewide.

In July 2016, Illinois state lawmakers passed legislation to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana (under 10 grams) to a $100–200 fine. In addition, records are expunged twice a year.

But these actions are evidently not enough for some lawmakers and for pro-marijuana activists like George Soros. It seems that to satisfy these enthusiasts, the floodgates must fly open and the right to pursue addiction, vice and intoxication must be made readily available for anyone over the age of twenty-one. (Yet in Colorado, the evidence suggests that teen use has grown dramatically.)

Proponents will argue that there is big money to be made from taxing “recreational” marijuana. What they won’t tell you is that the tiny tax revenue stream from marijuana sales is dwarfed by the enormous social service costs incurred due to addictions, unemployment, mental illness and homelessness, as well as the increase in highway accidents, emergency room visits, and additional burdens on law enforcement. Then there are the costs to regulate this problematic industry.

There is a tremendous amount of misinformation about today’s high potency marijuana. We cannot emphasis enough how important it is to become fully informed about the consequences of this insidious agenda to legalize pot in our state. While the video below was created by DrugFree Idaho, Inc., the information and revelations therein are germane to any state considering “recreational” use laws.

Please watch this video to learn what the media won’t tell you, and the proponents don’t want you to know:

Chronic State from DrugFree Idaho, Inc. on Vimeo.

It is also important to note that the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) includes the psychiatric illness now known as Cannabis Use Disorder. Symptoms include:

• disruptions in functioning due to cannabis use,
• development of tolerance and the subsequent need for higher doses,
• cravings for cannabis, and
• development of withdrawal symptoms, such as the inability to sleep, restlessness, nervousness, anger, or depression within a week of ceasing heavy use.

Make no mistake, this reckless public policy will create significant problems for families, businesses, and communities throughout Illinois.  Marijuana use leads to greater cognitive deficits, lower IQs, loss of fine motor skills, immune system suppression, apathy, drowsiness, lack of motivation, sensory distortion, mental illness and anxiety.  Absenteeism and dropping out of school are common behaviors in marijuana users who start at a young age and continue to use regularly. Legalizing “recreational” marijuana will certainly encourage its use and complications.

Socialist George Soros and his drug legalization allies in the Illinois General Assembly are pushing an agenda that would result in more Americans being doped up, dumbed-down, distracted, disabled and dependent on marijuana and big government. If we truly care about our neighbor’s well-being, if we truly care about the next generation, we cannot afford to remain silent on this issue.

There is a tremendous amount of misinformation about today’s high potency marijuana. Overdose rates have increased in states that have legalized such as Colorado, which legalized ‘recreational” marijuana in 2014.  As a result of legalization, they’ve also seen significant increases in youth pot use, homelessness, and workers failing drug tests. That and the alarming number of hospitalizations and even deaths, plus car accident fatalities are on the rise from those driving under the influence of marijuana should give us pause about this policy. But what should cause parents to flood lawmaker’s offices with urgent pleas to oppose legalization is this destructive consequence of marijuana use.

Learn more:

IFI Resource Page on Marijuana

Video Presentation by Colorado Expert Jo McGuire

Illinois Police Chief Issues a Warning on Legalized Marijuana

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Recently, a Colorado expert on the consequences of legalizing recreational marijuana spoke to groups in Bloomington, Pontiac, and Naperville, in addition to doing media interviews with Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson on WIND radio, Ken and Deb in the Morning on WDLM radio, a somewhat acrimonious interview with Sam Wood on WJBC radio and a newspaper interview with Derek Beigh of The Pantagraph.

What Jo McGuire reports from Colorado is truly shocking. Illinois residents must understand the consequences of legalization and contact their lawmakers to oppose it.

Recreational marijuana has affected every part of Colorado’s culture: schools and increased youth use, poisonings, car fatalities, hospital admissions – all of which we have reported on. But what’s little known, and Big Marijuana wants to keep it that way, is the effect it’s having on neighborhoods, the environment, and homelessness.

In Colorado, in order to accomplish their goals, Big Marijuana lied, claiming it would do away with the Black Market and solve Colorado’s budget crisis. Sound familiar?  But the Black Market is doing better than ever.  In fact, they’re doing so well, cartels now purchase million dollar homes for cash in beautiful gated communities, gut them and start growing pot. Incredibly large amounts of marijuana are shipped elsewhere, including Mexico. And none of it is taxed, which was also their promise.

Like Colorado, Illinois’ bill allows for 5 plants per adult. Home grows, she said, are impossible to monitor plus it created another large non-taxable market referred to as the “grey market.” Home growers have discovered they too can make money selling it cheaper than the taxed and regulated pot dispensaries (which outnumber Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Walmart by double). Furthermore, explosions from butane extraction labs set up in these homes to produce concentrates are common.

Watch Jo McGuire’s full presentation here — and please share this information widely:

Worldview Conference May 5th

Worldview has never been so important than it is today!  The contemporary culture is shaping the next generation’s understanding of faith far more than their faith is shaping their understanding of culture. The annual IFI Worldview Conference is a phenomenal opportunity to reverse that trend. This year we are featuring well-know apologist John Stonestreet on Saturday, May 5th at Medinah Baptist Church. Mr. Stonestreet is s a dynamic speaker and the award-winning author of “Making Sense of Your World” and his newest offer: “A Practical Guide to Culture.”

Click HERE to learn more or to register!