XPost: alt.politics.marijuana, alt.politics.republicans, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: falling@from.trees   
      
   Colorado’s ever-pragmatic Gov. Jared Polis is well aware of the threat the   
   cynical marijuana industry poses to our kids. But he also must figure it’s   
   toothpaste that ain’t going back in the tube — recreational pot was   
   legalized in our state well before he was elected — so he might as well   
   make the best of it. And who knows? Maybe it could be leveraged at some   
   point to stoke the Gen Z vote for his rumored presidential ambitions.   
      
   Which could explain his continued support for a pending move by the Biden   
   administration to “reschedule” marijuana under federal law, effectively   
   decriminalizing it from a a Schedule I to a Schedule III substance. Polis   
   even has gone so far as to declare — glibly, if inaccurately — “While   
   opioids killed more than 80,000 people last year, cannabis use killed no   
   one.”   
      
   That was in a letter he signed onto with five fellow Democratic governors   
   last December urging President Biden to follow through on steps by his   
   administration to downgrade the federal criminal status of marijuana. The   
   policy shift is intended to remove banking barriers and other financial   
   and legal hurdles to the marijuana industry in states like Colorado, where   
   it’s legal.   
      
   As we observed here at the time, it all amounts to whistling past the   
   graveyard.   
      
   Scientific evidence is mounting, and a consensus in the medical world is   
   growing, about the devastating impact of marijuana use on our youth’s   
   mental health. Dipping tax revenue from legal pot sales in Colorado is   
   amounting to a few drops in the budgetary bucket. Meanwhile, it is now   
   easier for a middle-schooler in our state to stash a small plastic jar of   
   legally retailed, super-potent pot concentrate in his backpack — than to   
   steal a bottle of mom and dad’s beer.   
      
   The tragic consequences are clear.   
      
   According to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment’s Violent   
   Death Reporting System, 42.9% of Colorado teens 15-19 years old who die by   
   suicide have marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient, THC, in their system at   
   the time of death. For Hispanic teens in that age range, the number climbs   
   to 49%. For Black teens, stunningly, it’s almost 67%.   
      
   And that’s not even to mention the pot-induced carnage on Colorado   
   roadways.   
      
   “Cannabis use killed no one,” Governor? Really?   
      
   A report this week in Colorado Politics notes the Biden administration may   
   have run into a hurdle with its plans to implement the new, relaxed pot   
   regulations by Sept. 20. Critics of the imminent development — including   
   one of Big Marijuana’s biggest foes, the advocacy group Smart Approaches   
   to Marijuana — reportedly may push for extending the public comment period   
   on the rules. That could delay their implementation past Election Day.   
      
   The administration may indeed be hoping, as its critics charge, that the   
   Sept. 20 target for de facto decriminalization turns into a political   
   payday on Nov. 5 by shoring up Biden’s faltering support among young   
   voters.   
      
   Critics of the move, in turn, may be hoping a delay — and Biden’s defeat —   
   could smother the proposal for good.   
      
   The most compelling argument against rescheduling is it would be a boon to   
   a marijuana industry that already has done so much damage to Colorado kids   
   — and would be empowered to wreak more havoc on children across the   
   country.   
      
   Our own politically savvy governor must know all that. But it’s a safe bet   
   he first wants to gauge how the whole issue plays out for the White   
   House’s current occupant.   
      
   https://gazette.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-feds-should-not-relax-   
   rules-on-pot/article_87229166-3349-11ef-ad3d-ab0fe22c9a60.html#tncms-   
   source=infinity-scroll-summary-siderail-next   
      
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