Proclamation on Medical Marijuana

[moksha]

Did everyone get the former Mormon Church's Proclamation on Medical Marijuana urging the faithful to vote against the ballot proposition allowing marijuana, for those with a limited number of medical conditions, in the upcoming Utah general election? Check your email if you have not yet received it. It will probably be reiterated by Dallin Oaks in the upcoming General Conference.

Will members really buy into thinking that it will cause reefer madness among the young and that the former Mormon Church will be required to provide such marijuana in the Temples? Well, you know the thinking has already been done for them.

At least there is an acknowledgment that this new scriptural addition was written by the law firm of Kirton McConkie.

[sunstoned]

The 6:00 news had coverage of this, and how the church had sent a letter out to all the wards to be read over the pulpit. For an organization that is constantly banging on the religious freedom key, they are always trying to push their influence in Utah politics. Separation of church and state is almost nonexistent here.

[DPRoberts]

Yes, I got the email. Remember when Gordon B Hinckley told Mike Wallace that they don't tell members how to vote?

I had my reservations about prop 2 and was not sure how I would vote. Until today. TSCC has made this about a bigger issue in my mind, namely the first amendment. That makes my mind up for me. I am considering walking out of sacrament meeting when this is read, and I would be noticed. It would totally blow my cover.

I cannot tell you how much I would love to see the church get stuffed on this.

[Archimedes]

In a separate letter to be read over the pulpit, the Prophet has encouraged the membership to take up a new initiative, the banning of Rock and Roll music.

The 1950s called the COB. They want their politics back.

[Hagoth]

Studies have shown that the majority of people using opioids would opt for safer and less addictive marijuana if they had the option.

BUT we can't have that because marijuana is a gateway drug. A gateway drug to what? To opioids!

[wtfluff]

BUT we can't have that because marijuana is a gateway drug. A gateway drug to what? To opioids!

A gateway to using LESS opioids? That might impact the LDS Corporation's investments in big pharma. We can't have that!!!

A giant real-estate corporation that can't keep it's dirty tentacles out of the political realm SHOULD BE PAYING TAXES.

[alas]

BUT we can't have that because marijuana is a gateway drug. A gateway drug to what? To opioids!

A gateway to using LESS opioids? That might impact the LDS Corporation's investments in big pharma. We can't have that!!!

A giant real-estate corporation that can't keep it's dirty tentacles out of the political realm SHOULD BE PAYING TAXES.

I suspect this is more the real reason.

You notice the church’s statement says that not only does it have to be prescribed by a doctor, it has to be sold through a *pharmacy,* which is going to take a change in federal law. Not going to happen and Utah has no control over it, so if the church kills this initiative, they kill any chance of medical marijuana in Utah. Don’t think they do not know this. It was lawyers who wrote it up.

[Kishkumen]

[RubinHighlander]

A giant real-estate corporation that can't keep it's dirty tentacles out of the political realm SHOULD BE PAYING TAXES.

A Fing Men to this!

[Rob4Hope]

The fact the church is going this route makes me angry. I have not used pot. I do, however, have a legitimate medical reason why marijuana would be prescribed for me. But the church, in its wisdom, has decided to make the decision for me.

ARGGGGG!!!!!!

They are SOOO ARROGANT!

-------------------
I hope the entire LDS population sleeps during election day...and only those in favor will turn up.

[DPRoberts]

They have been crossed a line they have been flirting with for while, and it looks like a move of desperation. They've had crap (and I do mean crap) on their website that related to this issue, trying to give members the hint. Despite this, Utah polls have shown proposition 2 being favored by a large majority. So they have actually stepped over the line telling members how to vote. Of course they did not use the words like "command", "direct" and so forth. But they "urged" members to vote against the measure, and that is more than enough for the flock.

I am wondering how unprecedented this is since pioneer times. They have come close to the line with their recent get out and vote letters which refer members to visit LDS.org to get the church's, Even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsTM's position on issues. Don't they remember how much resentment that caused historically? If prop 2 fails, the involvement of the Church, Even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsTM will be seen as pivotal, and those who suffer or know others who suffer from maladies that can be helped by medical marijuana will have a clear target on which to focus their resentment. If loved ones die from opioid overdose when they could have safely managed pain with pot, look no further than Even the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsTM as your whipping boy.

They have crossed this line at their peril.

[Bremguy]

The fact the church is going this route makes me angry. I have not used pot. I do, however, have a legitimate medical reason why marijuana would be prescribed for me. But the church, in its wisdom, has decided to make the decision for me.

ARGGGGG!!!!!!

They are SOOO ARROGANT!

-------------------
I hope the entire LDS population sleeps during election day...and only those in favor will turn up.

I have a legitimate reason also. I am saddened by the Church getting involved in this issue. It is an agency thing for me. It should be for the Church, after all, the Church says we all have free agency. Well, let the people of Utah decide that it is ok to use Marijuana. I am so lucky that I live in a state that has legalized the usage of marijuana. I live within a 10 minute drive of at least 5 stores that sell it and paraphernalia.

[Rob4Hope]

The fact the church is going this route makes me angry. I have not used pot. I do, however, have a legitimate medical reason why marijuana would be prescribed for me. But the church, in its wisdom, has decided to make the decision for me.

ARGGGGG!!!!!!

They are SOOO ARROGANT!

-------------------
I hope the entire LDS population sleeps during election day...and only those in favor will turn up.

I have a legitimate reason also. I am saddened by the Church getting involved in this issue. It is an agency thing for me. It should be for the Church, after all, the Church says we all have free agency. Well, let the people of Utah decide that it is ok to use Marijuana. I am so lucky that I live in a state that has legalized the usage of marijuana. I live within a 10 minute drive of at least 5 stores that sell it and paraphernalia.

IN a few years, I will probably be moving to your state. And I'm quit serious.

[achilles]

I need medical cannabis.

The Church's statement makes me very weary in my fight. I wish I had the energy right now to type up what I've been thinking.

I currently live in Utah out of necessity. I am pursuing another degree and saving up money so that I can move to a more compassionate state. It will be a few more years, though.

As a gay Mormon, I'm kind of used to the Church using it's social and political power to make my life harder. I guess I'm not surprised, but still, I'd like to actually like the Church. I'm just racking up more reasons to hate it.

[jfro18]

My mom uses MM

I know it can be over-prescribed, but *anything* can be over-prescribed. Antibiotics can be, painkillers can be, etc... yet no one wants to completely cut them out.

My mom had a rare cancer followed by getting paralyzed by a flu-shot (one of those mega-rare complications from the flu shot)... they gave her MM because it helps them to lessen the painkillers to take some of the stress on her body as well as help her appetite.

Bottom line is that there are legit reasons to use it, and this church trying to sway the vote because it doesn't fit with their Bible fan-fiction doctrine is absurd.

I hope that whenever the next Democrat wins the White House that they start taxing them. It won't really make that much of a difference, but if these guys want to run a political department along with their real-estate empire, they should pay taxes on everything like a normal corporation would.

[moksha]

I had my reservations about prop 2 and was not sure how I would vote. Until today.

I would take the side of sick people who whose quality of life would benefit from this medical marijuana any day over a "moral opposition" that is also opposed to sundresses for moral reasons. The devil is not in this herbal remedy for the seriously ill or in bare shoulders. Further, I would argue that it is ethically wrong to oppose help for seriously ill people.

I remember as a child having Church members come around to our house urging my parents to vote against adding fluoride to the drinking water on the grounds that it would promote communism. As a child, I knew how assinine that sounded. As an adult, I can see the same quality in this latest appeal by the Church to vote against this ballot proposition.

If any of us had cancer and could not keep from vomiting our food, should we be denied something that would help simply because it displeases the Church? I would prefer that the Church have compassionate understanding in that instance.

[DPRoberts]

Well said, penguin.

[Rob4Hope]

I've told this before in another post, but during my TBM days as an Australian Missionary, I met a guy named Fred. He had a biological nervous issue that required a harsh medication. He discovered that if he drank 2 beers after 5pm, the alcohol in the beer calmed this problem in a way that negated the meds--he didn't need to take the pills.

I remember asking him in all honesty: "You drink for medicinal purposes?" (Sounds cliche and stupid if said out of context,...but this was the real deal). He looked at me with mild bewilderment and responded: "No one has ever asked me that. And yeh...I do."

Now, from my non-medical 20 year old self, I found myself with a dilemma: was it better for this man to drink beer than take those pills which have some damaging side-effects, or should he follow the WoW and not drink but take those pills? From my limited perspective, I found myself looking at the spirit of the Wow and concluding it would be better for him to drink the beer. As a 20 year old, that was my conclusion...and immediately I felt some empathy for Fred. I was not naive enough to believe other TBM members would conclude as I did; OH NO!...they most certainly did not.

Perhaps at that early stage, my shelf began to crack. Now, some 30 years later, I see the same harshness from LDS leadership.

PS: Yesterday I attended the IANDS meeting in SLC for the first time, and listened to a man who had a NDE after his body shut down from N-Stage AIDS. In his drop of blood (or whatever the measured amount is), he had all of 1 T-Cell, where most usually have thousands. His body had no immunity at all. He had lost weight like he was urinating it right out...and as after a medical professional told him he should consider medical marijuana. He took her up on that...was able to hold down food for the first time IN MONTHS, began to gain weight, and slowly was able to reduce and eliminate his pain meds. In his own mind, it saved his life.

BUT OH NO....THE LDS PROPHETS KNOW BEST!!!! THEY DON"T BELIEVE GOD WOULD WANT THOSE LIVES SAVED WITH THIS HORRIBLE HORRIBLE DRUG!!!! OH NO...THEY WOULD RATHER USE OPIOIDS CUZ WE ALL KNOW THOSE ARE SAFER!!!!

[blazerb]

Look at the drugs we use:

medical alcohol
medical cocaine
medical meth
medical morphine
medical ritalin
medical xanax
medical crazy stuff you'd never think to take

The only way the church's position makes sense is if it is simultaneously lobbying the feds to take marijuana off schedule 1. I'm betting that's not occurring.

[achilles]

PS: Yesterday I attended the IANDS meeting in SLC for the first time, and listened to a man who had a NDE after his body shut down from N-Stage AIDS. In his drop of blood (or whatever the measured amount is), he had all of 1 T-Cell, where most usually have thousands. His body had no immunity at all. He had lost weight like he was urinating it right out...and as after a medical professional told him he should consider medical marijuana. He took her up on that...was able to hold down food for the first time IN MONTHS, began to gain weight, and slowly was able to reduce and eliminate his pain meds. In his own mind, it saved his life.

BUT OH NO....THE LDS PROPHETS KNOW BEST!!!! THEY DON"T BELIEVE GOD WOULD WANT THOSE LIVES SAVED WITH THIS HORRIBLE HORRIBLE DRUG!!!! OH NO...THEY WOULD RATHER USE OPIOIDS CUZ WE ALL KNOW THOSE ARE SAFER!!!!

Here's the thing: this guy is collateral damage. We must war on drugs to save our children from the clutches of Satan. If seriously or chronically ill people have to suffer, it's very easy for the Brethren to put them on the altar and write them off as collateral damage. When you have power, it's easy to make those kind of false utilitarian decisions.

Besides, I remember the day in the 1980s that I learned AIDS was sent to punish gay people. I was at Church.