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There is a concept in toxicology that originated from Paracelsus and is paraphrased as “The dose makes the poison.”

It reminds us that all chemicals can be toxic to humans, depending on the dose. Water can kill you if you drink more than your body can handle. Even table salt is deadly if the dose ingested is high enough.

It is also important to understand that the ability to produce toxicity has nothing to do with whether a chemical is natural or synthetic (man-made).

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California’s 70 emergency air ambulance helicopters and airplanes cover nearly 164,000 square miles and serve more than 37 million Californians in their time of need.

To protect newborns and their mothers, air ambulances evacuated an entire neonatal unit at a Redding Hospital and transported the patients to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento during devastating Carr Fire in 2018. Air ambulances fly injured firefighters and residents to burn centers to receive the urgent, life-saving care they needed.

Inexplicably, the state budget process has left out support for air ambulance. The emergency services provided by air ambulances could disappear if a funding stream that expires at the end of this year is not replaced in the pending state budget.

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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — the nation’s second most powerful Republican — and California’s Democratic state legislators completely agree on one thing: Marijuana’s cousin hemp should be fully legalized.

As the late U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill famously said: “All politics is local.”

In McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, tobacco farming is dying out. Farmers are desperate for a replacement crop. And hemp is their choice for the future.

In California, farmers also need a new crop that doesn’t use much water. That’s hemp.

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Many Americans assume that if they have a good job, they’ll have a good health care plan. And if they have insurance, they assume that they are immune from the health care debate. In reality, many of us are just one major illness away from financial devastation. I know, I’ve been there.

About a decade ago, I was severely injured after I was run off the road by a vehicle while riding my bicycle. The injury caused a series of health issues resulting in more than $50,000 worth of medical bills that I was responsible for paying, despite having good health insurance and financial security. That was $50,000 beyond my premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums that I already paid. In my case, my injury slowed my ability to work, generate income for my business, and keep up with prescription medications, follow-up procedures and large deductibles.