The Pulse - September 20, 2016
President Dan McVeigh opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and thanking Jon Snyder (Snyder Commercial Real Estate) for donating the wine for the wine reception, thanking Kevin Williams (KVIE) and Aaron French (Zanker Road Resource Management) for the introductory musical interlude, Set Up Crew Ted White (Sacramento Delta Property, and Art Breuer, and greeters Laura Heintz (Stanford Youth Solutions) and Kathy Herffelt (Home Care Assistance).
In preparation for our speaker’s topic on the question of legalizing marijuana, Robyn DeLong’s (Coldwell Banker), “Thought for the Day” consisted of both thoughtful and hilarious quotes around the theme of keeping an open mind and challenging one’s assumptions when discussing a controversial issue. Very mind expanding! Thanks Robyn!
After the Pledge of Allegiance, President Dan introduced the head table: Chair of the Day P.P. John Frisch (Cornish & Carey Commercial), our guest speaker Jeff Hastings, meeting sponsor Ted White, member Jay Lowden (YMCA of Superior California), and New Members Virginia Varela, Denise Santiago, and Mike Cook.
Sargent-at-Arms Tom Bacon (Kidder Mathews) then introduced our Guests, Prospective Members and Visiting Club members. Of particular note was Sanar Singh Karki visiting from Kathmandu, Nepal, whom we heard from later in the meeting.
President Dan announced that the Sponsor of the Day was Ted White who graciously donated his time to Jay Lowden of the YMCA of Superior California. In particular Jay urged everyone to consider attending the Camp Capital City event on September 24. Camp Capital City is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for adults to relive beloved camp days - featuring a gourmet barbecue dinner and s'mores dessert bar beer by Bike Dog Brewing, wine by Bogle Vineyards, live music by Ross Hammond, and your favorite camp games and activities - including archery, rock climbing, horseshoes and more! PLUS, a wine-pull and live auction with packages including a Disneyland family getaway, a 7-night Oregon coast retreat, a weekend stay at Bear Valley Y Camp in the High Sierra, and more!
It was time for one of the best parts of any meeting which is the induction of new members, all three of which are in leadership positions for Golden Pacific Bank. They are President and CEO Virginia Varela, AVP and Branch Manager Denise Santiago, and Senior Vice President Mike Cook. Welcome all!
Rotary Club of Sacramento Foundation President Jim Leet (Boutin Jones Inc.) was invited to step forward to recognize several longtime members for their generosity. Len McCandless was honored for his 30th year with the RCOS and his 4th Eddie Mulligan, P.P. Hal Bartholomew (Bartholomew & Wasznicky LLP) for his 31st year with the RCOS and his 5th Eddie Mulligan, P.D.G. Fred Teichert (Teichert Foundation) for his 30th year with the RCOS and his 7th Eddie Mulligan, and Don Brown for his 35th year with RCOS and his 7th Eddie Mulligan. That’s a total of 126 years and 23 Eddie Mulligans for those of you keeping score at home!
P.P. Susan Sheridan then had the honor of introducing our guest Sanar Singh Karki of the Rotary Club of Kathmandu, Nepal. P.P. Susan noted that Nepal is still recovering from the devastating 7.8 earthquake that hit Nepal in April of 2015. During her term the RCOS raised $14,000 which was sent to the Rotary Club of Katmandu, but it still is in dire need of help. Rotarians from our Club have now made 3 annual trips to Nepal. Our 4th trip departs this October 31st, and returns November 11. Each year Rotarians from our Club participate in our English Literacy Project in Nepal, targeted to high school students from the lowest caste in Nepal. By learning English, these students can obtain jobs in Nepal, which is based largely on a tourism economy. Nepali youth need to speak English if they want to work in a hotel, restaurant, a trekking company like Sanar's business, or at the airport. Sanar addressed the group to express his heartfelt thanks for its support and friendship.
After some announcements President Dan called on Barbara Arnold (Barbara J. Arnold MD Inc.) who spoke to her great love of painting, and of a great honor she received for the upcoming KVIE Art Auction. Barbara (donated an original painting she painted titled Sacramento River Trees which was not only awarded a Juror’s Award, but Best in Show for her category. To honor the occasion Barbara donated $100 each to her Eddie Mulligan and Paul Harris!
P.P. John Frisch then introduced our speaker, Jeff Hastings of ARCpoint Labs which endeavors to create drug free workplaces for employers, schools, and sports teams across the United States. His presentation was titled “Legal Weed and The California Workforce: Is This Really a Good Idea?” He noted that some may not like his message but he is basing his comments on research that he was happy to share links to if anyone was interested.
Jeff’s presentation was centered around a number of myths about marijuana and its potential legalization. He noted that the Medical Marijuana Compassionate Use Act (Prop 215) was passed in 1996. Today the average age of a person with a medical marijuana card is 32 with 25% under age 21, with no history of chronic illness. Only 2% are seriously ill. Usually the reason for the card is past drug abuse. It takes 93 seconds to get a card as no doctor is involved in the process.
It has not been approved by the FDA which typically takes 10 years and $2.5B, with only a 12% success rate. The only marijuana based drug is Marisol which increases appetite for those undergoing chemotherapy or other such treatments which suppress appetite. Four states make it outright legal and 29 have laws allowing it for medical purposes.
Vesting interests in its legalization are political payouts to politicians who support it, tax revenue and advertising dollars.
The marijuana today is much more powerful than what was used in the 1960’s and ‘70s. Back then it had a THC content of about 3%, today it can be as high as 30% with concentrated “dabs” being 90%.
Research indicates it has adverse health effects with an increase of psychotic events (a leading cause of emergency room visits, greater than heroin and meth combined), heart disease, lung disease, cancer, stroke and IQ loss in young people.
While is it claimed that marijuana isn’t addictive, 1 in 6 children get addicted and 1 in 10 adults do.
Another claim is it can be regulated like alcohol. In fact it is metabolized differently than alcohol and it is hard to test for it. There is currently no roadside test than can measure how much THC is in one’s system.
To the claim that it isn’t a gateway to harder drugs, 2 in 5 users move on to other drugs.
And some claim it is safe to be high on marijuana and drive when in fact you are two times more likely to have an accident if you are on marijuana.
With that, President Dan dismissed everyone wishing them a g