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MADISON TOWNSHIP — Earlier this month, several businessmen proposed a brick and mortar ‘medical’ and recreational marijuana facility in Madison Township with hopes of beginning the process this coming June. While representatives of Backroad Wellness claim their business will generate tax revenue for the township, some faith leaders believe the cannabis company will only be ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul.’
Last Tuesday night, two lead pastors from Madison Township encouraged the Township Board of Trustees to pass a resolution prohibiting commercial recreational cannabis. They cited a Colorado economic report indicating there was more to the story regarding supposed revenue generated from cannabis to the state. In 2018, the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University published a report in the aftermath of the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and found serious and disturbing short-term consequences. Previously Madison Trustees prohibited medical marijuana in 2018.
“For every dollar gained in tax revenue, the study found Coloradoans spent approximately $4.50 to mitigate the effects of legalization,” Pastor Dink Porter told Trustees at the public meeting. “With research showing a connection between marijuana use and the use of alcohol and other substances, the estimated costs of DUI’s for people in 2016 who tested positive for marijuana only, approached a whopping twenty-five million dollars.”
The bottom line the report said, was “Economic and social costs in this report are intentionally low and the comprehensive costs are likely much higher.”
Pastor Porter believes these findings validate what the Bible already speaks on about avoiding the influence of harmful and addictive drugs. He believes allowing the cannabis industry to enter the community does not morally and financially “make dollars and sense.”
According to Pastor Robert Kurtz, who also attended the meeting, he believes additional tax revenue is not a cure-all. “Money seems to be the attraction in the consideration of encouraging this ingestion of a substance known to debilitate those who partake. ‘The love of money is the root of all evil,’ those are GOD’s words. The fact is, there are wages to pay associated with sin and as we see from the culture today, marijuana is going to make us pay,” Kurtz said.
“Money seems to be the attraction in the consideration of encouraging this ingestion of a substance (marijuana) known to debilitate those who partake. ‘The love of money is the root of all evil,’ those are GOD’s words. The fact is, there are wages to pay associated with sin and as we see from the culture today, marijuana is going to make us pay.”
Pastor Robert Kurtz
Last October, Pastor Kurtz hosted a clergy press conference at his nearby church opposing the legalization of marijuana. The clergy, represented over one-hundred-forty congregations across twenty counties. They warned that as the general public becomes desensitized to drug abuse, the next generation ultimately will become desensitized to right and wrong.
In the last Madison Township Trustee meeting, Brian Hennessey and Jonathan Mayle of Backroad Wellness said their four-thousand square foot recreational marijuana facility would sell a variety of products. Their dispensaries in Cambridge, Lima, and New Boston, sell products with high THC potency that include products inaptly named, “High Divorce Rate Live Resin” that has 68% THC, “Problem Child Solventless Ice Hash” which has 63% THC, and Durban Poison Live Resin which has 72% THC.
The Centennial Institute report stated, “Calls to Poison Control related to marijuana increased dramatically since legalization of medical marijuana and legalization of recreational marijuana.”
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the most common overdoses among children nationwide involve ingestion of edible cannabis foods. Since ‘medical’ marijuana was legalized, Ohio’s two poison control centers have reported a significant increase in children ingesting such products. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center Drug and Poison Information Center reported seventy-nine cases of ingestion in 2020, for a 108% increase. Nationwide Children’s Hospital Central Ohio Poison Center also recorded seventy-nine cases in 2020, for a 394% increase from the previous year.
“GOD’s commands are for our good always,” Pastor Kurtz said at the meeting. “GOD commands us to view our bodies as His temple. As society continues its descent into this mess, I am asking our Madison Township Trustees to stand for what is morally right and do what you can to prohibit this poison from being sold in our community.”
Symptoms of THC overdose include respiratory distress, loss of coordination, lethargy, and loss of consciousness. If your child is sick and you suspect he or she has eaten a food containing high amounts of THC, call the Central Ohio Poison Center Hotline at 1-800-222-1222.
The Bottom Line:
The Bible says in First Timothy Six, “For the love of money is the root of all of evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
View the video produced by Centennial Institute entitled: “Video the Marijuana Industry Does Not Want You to See” (9 min.)
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