Yes, you read that right. Patrick Kennedy, former Congressman from Rhode Island, has started Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), a group to fight the increasing legalization of marijuana.

Accuracy in Media posted an article yesterday showing some of the reporting on the new group::

The paper (The Washington Post) said Kennedy wants “to shift the debate from legalization to prevention and treatment—despite what appears to be a growing social acceptance of the drug.”

That “growing social acceptance” is being driven by the drug-friendly media, the pro-drug entertainment industry, and a dope lobby led by the Drug Policy Alliance that is mostly funded by billionaires such as George Soros.

I don’t know a lot about marijuana–I am so old that there were no drugs in the schools when I was in high school. The general concept of a drug addict in the early 1960’s was someone with a needle injecting drugs, and there was no way that was socially acceptable. However, I have been exposed to teenagers and adults who have used marijuana, and I can honestly say that I have never seen anyone whose life improved due to drug use. I am not convinced that we truly understand the effect of marijuana on the human body–long term or short term.

The article further reports:

Kennedy’s involvement follows other experts who have been discussing marijuana’s threat. Mental health expert Clayton Cramer tells Accuracy in Media, “The studies that have been done on the subject clearly demonstrate not just a correlation between mental illness and marijuana use, but a causal connection.”

However, the pro-marijuana movement is on the move, with the state of Oregon sinking so low as to authorize the use of “medical marijuana” for a 7-year-old child with leukemia. The child’s father, who is divorced from the girl’s mother, reported the marijuana use to child welfare officials and said that he found the little girl “stoned out of her mind.”

The prospect of Patrick Kennedy’s involvement gives hope to those who believe the U.S. has been surrendering the war on drugs.

It is good news that Patrick Kennedy has taken up this cause. Hopefully we can stop the legalization train before we become a nation of narcissists smoking pot to avoid facing reality.

I would like to mention something that I noticed on a visit to California, where medical marijuana is legal. The last two pages of the Sunday newspaper were filled with advertisements from doctors stating that they prescribed marijuana for headaches, digestive problems, etc. It was obvious from the ads that all you had to do if you wanted to smoke marijuana legally was go to one of these doctors and complain that you had a headache. In states where marijuana has actually been legalized, it is not even necessary to visit a doctor, but in California, a doctor’s visit is necessary before you can legally smoke pot.

I rather doubt that increasing drug use is an indicator of a healthy society. The obvious questions here is, “Who profits by making marijuana legal?” I don’t have the answer to that questions, but I suspect it would explain a lot.