Marijuana Growth in Cottonwood Contributes to Social and Financial Hardships – not Prosperity

As a pastor, as a father of teenagers, as a member of the community, as the husband of a teacher and as a business owner, I have deep concerns about expanding marijuana production services in Cottonwood. I’d like to share a few of those concerns:

Marijuana is linked to serious mental difficulties including depression, violent behavior, anxiety, fits of rage, apathy, paranoia and suicide. Marijuana has been documented to bring about sudden ADD and ADHD symptoms. Studies have shown that it has also been linked to an increase in bronchitis, dementia, Alzheimer’s, cancer and long term memory loss. It is also linked to a permanent decreases in IQ levels. All those factors bring about both social and financial hardships to both families and communities at large. The medicinal benefits of today’s Marijuana are not thoroughly tested. Experts say that it is very naïve to think that you can take a psycho-active compound, ingest it and then expect that it would not cause permanent damage in the brain. The known consequences of its use are tragic.
Harvard studies have shown a link between today’s more potent marijuana and both psychosis and schizophrenia in some patients. The extreme potency of modern marijuana causes these people to lose touch with reality. Overdoses of today’s powerful marijuana are not uncommon. These overdoses are leading to serious illnesses and emergency hospitalizations. In both cases, its use overwhelms medical facilities.

I do not see how that the tiny little bit of additional income the marijuana industry will produce in Cottonwood will be worth the additional social, legal, financial, medical and moral problems it creates. I would rather see our city’s economy based on an industry that we could be proud of. I’m ashamed that we grow marijuana here and that as a community we are contributing to hurting so many families. I don’t see how expanding marijuana services in Cottonwood is in the best interest of our city or of its citizens.

About the Author: Mark Stafford

Pastor Mark Stafford served on staff at Canyon Bible Church of Prescott Valley for almost 6 years. He and his wife, Lara, felt called to church planting and Canyon of Prescott Valley sent them to plant a new Canyon Bible Church in the Verde Valley. Mark is a graduate of the Biblical Studies department at Arizona Christian University with highest honors and has served for more than a dozen years in full-time pastoral ministry. Mark loves music and is an active musician playing electric and string bass, acoustic and electric guitar, & keyboard. He has served with several professional Christian touring groups and has been nominated for a Dove award. Pastor Mark is currently bi-vocational while he plants Canyon Verde. He owns a small printing and design company called Ablaze Media. When he is not preaching, leading small groups, playing music or designing graphics, you might find him in his F250 cruising around the back roads of the local national forests, cycling with his sons on the streets around the Verde Valley, or running in a 10K. Pastor Mark and Lara have 4 children and have been married for over 15 years.