{"id":5352,"date":"2016-01-11T23:19:45","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T23:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/?p=46161"},"modified":"2016-01-11T23:19:45","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T23:19:45","slug":"head-of-dnc-takes-cash-from-booze-pacs-calls-weed-gateway-drug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/head-of-dnc-takes-cash-from-booze-pacs-calls-weed-gateway-drug\/","title":{"rendered":"Head of DNC Takes Cash From Booze PACs, Calls Weed Gateway Drug"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/head-of-dnc-takes-cash-from-booze-pacs-calls-weed-gateway-drug\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>Demonstrating that she&#8217;s beholden to the deep pockets of the alcohol industry, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz conveyed her frenzied opposition over\u00a0the idea of legalizing marijuana last week to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/01\/10\/magazine\/debbie-wasserman-schultz-thinks-young-women-are-complacent.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\">New York Times<\/a> \u2014 as\u00a0the industry&#8217;s political action committee (PAC) continued to stuff some serious cash into her campaign coffers.<\/p>\n<p>Ignoring <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marijuana.com\/?s=+Bernie+Sanders+Hillary+Clinton\" target=\"_blank\">the pro-pot logic of the two Democratic front-runners<\/a>\u00a0competing to be the next President of the United States, the DNC&#8217;s Chairperson, a House Democrat from the Sunshine State, explained, \u201cI just don\u2019t think we should legalize more mind-altering substances if we want to make it less likely that people travel down the path toward using drugs. We have had a resurgence of drug use instead of a decline. There is a huge heroin epidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So rather than focusing on the real problem, like say the alcohol industry, addiction, or <a href=\"http:\/\/hereandnow.wbur.org\/2015\/08\/04\/pill-mill-crackdown\">Florida&#8217;s prolific pill mills.<\/a>\u00a0Wasserman Schultz, who collected $18,500 from big booze PACs, has decided that demonizing a medicinal herb is a far safer bet when it comes to getting reelected.<\/p>\n<p>Representing the 5<sup>th<\/sup> biggest pile of money\u00a0thrown at the Florida congresswoman, Ms. Schultz has been pandering to the alcohol industry during her re-election campaign, collecting blood money\u00a0from the likes of Bacardi USA, the National Beer Wholesalers Association, Southern Wine &amp; Spirits, and the Wine &amp; Spirits Wholesalers of America<\/p>\n<p>According to the CDC, \u201cExcessive alcohol use led to approximately 88,000 deaths and 2.5 million years of potential life lost (YPLL) each year in the United States from 2006 \u2013 2010, shortening the lives of those who died by an average of 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Wasserman Schultz was confronted with the ugly reality of Florida&#8217;s prolific problem with opiate addiction\u00a0and whether or not Florida should outlaw opiates? Wasserman Schultz noted there\u2019s \u201c <em>a difference between opiates and marijuana<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No doubt.<\/p>\n<p>During 2014, heroin was found to be a contributing cause of death for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/news\/publicsafety\/state-report-shows-florida-heroin-deaths-reached-all-time-high-in-2014\/2247848#State%20report%20shows%20Florida%20heroin%20deaths%20reached%20all-time%20high%20in%202014\">447 Floridians<\/a>, and in 2012 there were <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alcoholalert.com\/drunk-driving-statistics-florida.html\">818 alcohol-related deaths<\/a>. Meanwhile, two years after legalization took hold in Colorado, there\u2019s yet to be any reported loss of life due to marijuana abuse.<\/p>\n<p>(Photo Courtesy of <a href=\"http:\/\/act.credoaction.com\/sign\/DWS_Resign\/\">Credo<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Demonstrating that she&#8217;s beholden to the deep pockets of the alcohol industry, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz conveyed her frenzied opposition over\u00a0the idea of legalizing marijuana last week to the New York Times \u2014 as\u00a0the industry&#8217;s political action committee (PAC) continued to stuff some serious cash into her campaign coffers. Ignoring the pro-pot logic of [&#8230;] <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5039,5040,199,5041,5042,5043,344,855,2437,9,5044,1,3],"tags":[5045,5046,2777,5047,5048,5049,2922,3428,2443,5050],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5352"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5352\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}