Posted on November 16, 2022 View all news
Joe Tilton
Yep, we got the so-called press release too, but WOOD TV fell for it, and so did another area newspaper. TV showed up to watch David Overholt, Sheridan’s pot proponent, hand out free marijuana from his “Compassion Club,” but there’s little question about the action being promotion or compassion.
A California resident, Roger Morgan, who is a member of California’s Alliance for Retired Americans, is educating his state’s residents about the increased risk of serious consequences to individuals using cannabis. He writes, “Cannabis in smoke form, or vaping or dabbing, adversely impacts the lungs and respiratory system. Cannabis consumed in any manner adversely impacts the body’s auto-immune system. Not only are the users at heightened risk personally, but by keeping dispensaries open with long lines of people, bumper to bumper, to get their drugs, they heighten the risk of exposing themselves and others to the virus. Delivery services of this illicit drug should stop as well.”
He includes a frightening thought. “As one senior to another; if ultimately we are competing with a younger pothead for a life-saving ventilator, we probably won’t be the one selected.”
Morgan called on President Trump to shut down all dispensaries and deliveries of marijuana. “The U.S. Surgeon General has confirmed marijuana is not medicine. Anyone that ever wanted it can get it from the black market. So, to say dispensaries are ‘essential services’ is an affront to our collective intellect and clearly in conflict with the President and Governor’s stated mission to keep people safe.”
Information about a very sad case in Utah relates how two children in a family in need of food because jobs were lost, ate candy their parents picked up at a food bank. The treats contained high levels of THC. Of course, both children are hospitalized. Is pot so prevalent now that we can’t trust food some families need for survival during this virus crisis? And, right here in Montcalm County, we have a free-pot promotion going on without instructions, warnings of side-effects or notifications? Was a single scientific evaluation provided to people with “conditions” the free weed is supposed to “help?” Have you ever heard of a pharmacy handing out drugs for free? Why is it okay to allow curb-side distribution of a drug that changes the brain, is addicting for a sizable percentage of people, and has caused death and destruction, crime and loss of IQ? And what sense does it make to hand out a brain-changing drug for a respiratory disease?
Mr. Overholt received regional “coverage” of his promotion, still studies of marijuana/cannabis indicate its use is certainly not compassionate, but a sales gimmick to entice veterans, of all people, to shop in Sheridan for your mind-altering substance now legal in Michigan. He has been unsuccessful opening a dispensary in Grand Rapids, but that community knows now where to go to buy pot. How is such a move compassionate and not greed motivated?
WOOD’s reporter noted how MSP patrol came by and how there were no sheriff’s patrols in the area when they recorded the event. During this virus issue, it’s dangerous to pack more people into the jail. What an opportunity to push the legal system when law enforcement is reluctant to make more arrests.
That free-pot event made sense only for the promoter. We did not advertise or cover the event because we know the science, and we won’t unleash that curse on our readers.