The effects of alcohol and tobacco on the body

That was the title of the talk I gave my 7th grade class 61 years ago. Buried in my aging brain for decades, It surfaced reading the hilarious scare stories decrying the push to legalize recreational cannabis in Illinois. Back in '58 we newbie teens were tasked with a 15 talk on a serious subject. I picked booze and tobacco because of my confusion whereby most adults condemned them to us kids while imbibing themselves. Three years earlier my buddies and I tried ciggies we could easily purchase at any local store as long as we had the quarter per pack fare. Fun for just a couple of weeks, we gave up trying to find isolated areas to inhale out of those pesky grownups' prying eyes. Though booze was still several years off in '58, I decided that the twin vices would grab my classmates attention, and it sure did. I spent the entire talk armed with research from the encyclopedia and Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, the internet of its day. After reciting the lengthy list of devastating effects on our one and only bod, a pert classmate raised her had and asked "Can you die from smoking"? I replied "Of course" though I really didn't believe that myself, as my eventual 7 year pack a day habit verified.

If I could offer a 2019 version of that long ago talk, I might title it "How cannabis can relieve dozens of medical conditions and is substantially safer that alcohol and tobacco as a recreational drug." Yet today, tens of millions in 17 states are not even allowed to legally access cannabis for painful and debilitating physical conditions. And in 40 states over a hundred million are forced to give their recreational cannabis money to the criminals profiting from its bizarre and harmful illegality. One effect of national cannabis legalization is that usage of the true health evils, alcohol and tobacco, will continue to decline. Let's work for the day Illinois becomes legal cannabis state number 11...and not bring up the caboose of a truly sane, national cannabis policy train.