Twitter Criticized Over Drug Abuse Warning Atop Marijuana Trending Topic

Source: Bill Tompkins / Getty

Marijuana is still a controversial talking point for some, despite current trends pointing to decriminalization and flat-out legalization. Despite the devil’s lettuce reported uses on a medical level and mounting evidence of the benefits of cannabis, some on Twitter are criticizing the social media service for slapping a substance abuse help hotline atop a trending topic about the plant.

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Marijuana began trending Tuesday morning in the wake of Sen. Chuck Schumer’s tweets regarding actions he and other Democrats are taking, and it has been reported earlier this month that the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on the MORE Act on Sept. 21. The bill, which will most likely not pass in the Republican Party-led U.S. Senate, will aim to decriminalize and deschedule marijuana. Sen. Schumer spoke to that reality in a series of Monday tweets.

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The battle for marijuana legalization has been raging for years with patient advocates and activists pointing to the plant’s myriad benefits and the potential for revenue for states who go wide and allow recreational use. This fall, a handful of states are voting on legalization efforts in a bid to join 33 other states, with 11 of those states fully recreational which allows anyone to purchase cannabis and not just medical users.

The states that have measures on their local ballots that would greatly shift the tide on legal cannabis are Arizona, New Jersey, South Dakota, Montana, Mississippi. Nebraska was potentially set to vote on a medical marijuana measure but that effort failed to go forward.

Despite alcohol causing more of a public health concern than marijuana according to most policy and medical experts, Twitter saw fit to affix the addiction message and hotline as the lead message on the trending topic, which several users have angrily pointed out for its assumed hypocrisy. We’ve got those reactions below.

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Photo: Getty

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Facts, though.

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A lot of big facts here.

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