Hawaii marijuana bill goes up in smoke

Honolulu (AP) - A bill that would have legalized marijuana in Hawaii has died in the state House.

House judiciary committee Chairman Karl Rhoads said Tuesday that he decided to kill the bill after learning from House leadership that the initiative does not have enough votes to pass the House.

Key lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled House supported the measure, including the speaker and the majority leader.

I'm a substance abuse counselor, would you mind informing the rest of the folks here how it didn't screw over all those folks I've counseled?

You never saw the un-screwed users because they never needed substance abuse counseling. Some people screw up their lives with marijuana, or alcohol,

Oh Yeah, I see plenty of this. Lot's of families broken up, lots of lives messed up sometimes permanently. Are you sure you want their blood on your hands?
If a guy has a fatal heart attack at 40 from a lifetime of fast food, is his blood on my hands because I didn't support a ban on fast food?

or fast food - does that authorize government to ban those things for everybody?

... When God reviews all who have fallen from your promotion of drugs and all their families who have been affected, what will you say?

Gen 1: 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

John 1:1ff- 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

God made everything. Eve did not eat from an apple tree, It was the fruit from the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil", (Gen 2:9). God banished them from Eden because it also contains the "tree of life". God left them to survive lives of hardship and toil.

If you pick grapes, break their skins and put them in a closed container for a few days, you will have wine...

If you take some buds from a hemp plant, and smoke them to get high, you may end up like Noah! Though he was intoxicated from wine, he tore off his clothes and his sons had to hide his nakedness from the girls...

Noah was the second beginning for this world!

Don't use God as your excuse for your counseling. You are just another legalist figuring it is the drugs or alcohol that are the problem. If you read some of Paul's writings, you will se that it ain't the drugs. It is the sinful nature God allowed us to have. We call it "free will"...

I have smoked pot. It made me high. I stopped smoking it. I still worked all my life and made a good living (for my kids!!!). I now smoke Acid cigars and drink single malts. BUT, always in moderation!!!

Marijuana is not the problem.

Eph 3: 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. ...

Don't use God as your excuse for your counseling

Addiction begins in the mind long before the first pill, the first sip, or the first time in bed. It begins with the thought that one is the captain of one's fate and that one can handle whatever comes. God is pushed far from the mind and self is fully on the throne of one's life.

From their, the serpent's whispers come. Sometimes from so-called friends, sometimes from the media, and sometimes from the turbulence inside one's self. Sometimes all three together, but once self is exhaulted the soul is ready for all kinds of addictions.

I can hear folks on the street and know that they are already addicted, don't know it, and don't know which form it will take. Sometimes it's an attitude, a haughty look, or just a pride that says they will be able to handle everything better than anyone else.

Then there are those who say 'I can do anything with my body I want to', 'There's nothing wrong with it' and 'nobody tell's me what to do'. It's obvious to me what state they are in and that there is little I can do.

Some of these promote what they are doing and I can only warn them with a phrase they typically disdain. The disdain in their voices is the give away how far it has progressed. The higher it goes, the higher the fall. It doesn't matter what the addiction. I can only pray that it, by mercy, be limited and of short duration.

And I know how to see it because of my own addictions and the ones, by the Grace of God, that He has delivered me from. For I am no different than anyone else, deserving mans and God's disdain. But because of the Love and Grace He has bestowed on the undeserving, and not for anything I would do, because of His love, I go along side those who have gone down the all way too common path who say "It's killing me".

For those, there is hope, there is a Savior that delivers from all kinds of addictions, all kinds of guilt trips, and all kinds of brokenness. I know from their words, that the tale of my own brokenness and what God did and does for the undeserving, may be heard.

And by the Grace of God, some are delivered from their addictions. Some get their wives back, some get their children back, some get their health back. And usually some scars remain to remind those of His scars and to live a life in His love instead of the love of self.

Without that sheepskin, of Faith upon the Lord Jesus and the dying to self, all the errors come back to haunt no matter how small. Jesus said 'every jot and tittle of the law' (there is no grading on the curve). Every sin and every effect of sin will be accounted for - the price to be paid in full for eternity.

For those who say they can 'do it' and are 'covered' by the sheepskin, I know they are not. It doesn't matter whether it is drugs, alcohol, sexual, the mind, self or other addictions - the path is obvious.

To you and to all who are watching, I only say there is a Savior who saved a wretch like me and to throw themselves upon Him sooner than later.

There are two type of folks in eternity, those who cannot stop praising Him for what He has done and those who worship Him as as slow burning incense, alone and un-moving, forever.

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