It is no secret now that many parents have urged New York state legislatures and the federal government to ban the sale, possession and manufacturing of synthetic drugs. Reading the resolution, one may notice it is way too broad and has too many different types of drugs grouped together. There should be a resolution for each so-called drug separately.

I personally submit that these parents, or grandparents, are just plain lazy, or may not have good parenting skills. Maybe it is just that they cannot trust their troubled teens to keep themselves from making the same mistakes that they may have already made. It is the responsibility of the parent to teach the child age limits on products and why the age limits are there. We should not and we can not allow the actions, and the immature behavior of the youth, to dictate and take away the rights and freedoms of responsible adults.

Also, the report from Dr. Norma Cooney, chief of emergency services for Oswego Health, was too vague and offered no statistics or even a single mention of the herb Shaman. There are no documented overdoses or deaths by the use of Shaman.

“[The term] legal, to our young kids and our youth, is very literal,” Farnham prevention director Karen Hoffman said in a statement. “Legal is, ‘how can it hurt me? Plus I’m invincible.’”

These counselors should know that this is just a cop-out for the child. Did the child know that cigarettes are legal at the age of 18? I am sure that they knew they were dangerous. Did the child know alcohol was legal at the age of 21? I am sure that they knew it was harmful also.

This is a slap in the face to all our military personnel, past and present, especially those that have given their lives for this country fighting to protect our Constitutional liberties. When I was 18, I joined the military like many other men and women, and decided to put my life on the line for the United States, because I believed that Americans had freedom and the right to choose how they wanted to live their lives. For six years of my life I was willing to die for this country at any time I was asked to do so. I did this of my own free will, and I obtained an honorable discharge for my duty. That’s when Americans were proud, and understood what freedom and their liberties stood for. How many of these legislators, parents or grandparents have served our country to protect our freedoms?

Before any ban of the manufacturing, sale, and possession of Shaman at the state or federal level, there must first be statistics proving that these so-called synthetic drugs are more dangerous, or as dangerous as alcohol and tobacco. Each drug should have its own statistics and not be grouped together, or it is only fit to add cigarettes and alcohol to the resolution, and ask the state and federal governments to stop the manufacturing, sale and possession of these two highly addictive and potentially lethal drugs. I will not get into the statistics of how many children under the age of 18 will try their first cigarette and get addicted to this known cancer-causing drug each year. We do not even want to think about how many teens under the age of 21 will be in an alcohol-related accident and die before they even get a chance to graduate from high school or college. We all know it happens every year. Yet these concerned parents, grandparents and legislators failed to request these extremely dangerous drugs to be put on the resolution. Why? Is it because they use these drugs? Is it because they are addicted to these drugs? Or is it because they are of legal age and they have their freedom and the right to choose what they want to do.

Alcohol is the most commonly used drug among adolescents. By their senior year of high school, nearly four out of five students have consumed alcohol. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Now someone show me the statistics on the abuse and addiction of the herb Shaman. It cannot be alone.

Since I started researching the herb Shaman, I have found that it has great medical and spiritual benefits. Many of the herbs are already used in many different medications. As a responsible user of the herb for the last three months, I have had great results with my chronic pain which I have experienced for over 25 years. In 2004, I was diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease, consisting of one herniated disc and five bulging discs in my neck. I started on many strong level pain relievers consisting of Hydrocodone, Flexeral and Mobic. Even with all this medication I still constantly have a continuous pinching sensation in my neck and shoulder area, which causes me severe headaches. The Shaman herb has allowed me to reduce my medications by half. My depression medication was reduced as well.

The Constitution should be a top priority for any legislator when voting on an issue. But clearly these legislators do not feel that a person’s right to choose should matter, and just pass these resolutions along so they can move on to the next one. The more we ask state and federal governments to take stands on subjects like this, the more they tell us that we can not be competent enough to control and raise our own children, allowing them more power to invade our homes and privacy in the future.

When an adult’s freedoms and right to choose are being taken away because parents cannot trust their teens’ actions, it is time to get the legislators, including the 25 members of the Oswego County legislature, all of whom voted for the ban, out of office now.