In 2017, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin is pushing a “reefer madness” era talking point about how marijuana is causing “overdoses.”
Approximately 60 percent of Americans support legalizing recreational marijuana and close to 90 percent support medical marijuana. But you can’t count Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin as one of them.
The governor made a statement about marijuana that sounded like it could have been a deleted scene from the 1936 propaganda film Reefer Madness. As mg reported, a Kentucky lawmaker has proposed a bill to legalize recreational marijuana use in order to collect taxes and keep the state government funded. As it stands, Kentucky is considering holding back pension payments to state workers because of a budget shortfall.
But Governor Bevin wants nothing to do with legalizing marijuana.
“So a lot of toked-up people gambling, that’s the solution for Kentucky?” Bevin asked while discussing legalizing marijuana and gambling on a WHAS radio segment. “I would say no and no. Not while I’m governor. Those are sucker’s bets. We’re not going to legalize marijuana in this state.”
The governor then went on to describe marijuana overdoses and the scary situation in Colorado since they legalized.
“It has not been good for that state, and states like us would be wise to look at that and realize that’s a sucker’s bet,” the governor said.
Although the governor refers to legal marijuana as a “suckers bet,” Colorado has collected over $162 million in tax revenues for the first eight months of 2017. These funds are being used to fund important social programs.
Marijuana cannot cause an overdose. Anxiety is the primary cause for those who have gone to the hospital after marijuana use. This does not mean that there are no concerns about over ingesting marijuana. In Colorado, a college student fell off of a balcony after consuming six times the recommended amount of a marijuana-infused edible. Colorado authorities have since passed stricter regulations when it comes to edibles packaging and warning labels.
