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Dear Members of the Idaho House, My name is Joe Evans, and I am the executive director of Kind Idaho. I am writing to respectfully request that you vote against House Joint Resolution 4. HJR4 harkens back to the era of prohibition, when the state attempted to enforce “temperance” regarding the use of alcohol. Section 24, "Promotion of temperance and morality," prioritizes virtue and sobriety. Instead, the state is currently promoting alcohol consumption through advertising and subsidies to the wine and beer industries. The actual "gateway drug" in America is alcohol, not weed, and has ruined more lives than cannabis ever could. Most cannabis users are not interested in using other types of pain relief, including addictive prescription drugs that, like alcohol, have killed more people than cannabis ever has. There has never been a case of an individual dying from a marijuana overdose. Meanwhile, according to the CDC, hundreds of alcohol overdose deaths occur in the United States each year. If the state of Idaho was promoting “temperance”, it would shut down its state-run liquor stores and end subsidies to the wine and beer industries. Instead, it is debating whether to try and prevent one citizens’ initiative: Kind Idaho’s effort to decriminalize cannabis in Idaho. Thus far, no cannabis-related initiative has ever come close to making it onto our ballot. Maybe it's because there is no “outside Big Marijuana Money” for this effort. The nearly 30,000 Idahoans who cross the border weekly to participate in nearly $4 million in cannabis sales indicate that people are already making this choice for themselves and their health. Increased education initiatives on beneficial and medicinal uses of cannabis has led to this current level of acceptance and use. In states with legal access to cannabis products, we see a reduction in abuse, misuse, and the unintended consequences of black market products. The intent of HJR4 -- to prevent a single-issue citizens’ initiative -- is excessive and unnecessary. No one is coming into Idaho with dark money attempting to turn us into a den of iniquity. There simply isn't any money in it for them.
Please vote NO on HJR4.
Sincerely, Joe Evans and the Board Kind Idaho
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