Politico By BEN LEONARD

02/06/2023 05:30 AM EST

When Gallup asked about legalizing weed last year, two-thirds of Americans supported it — up from 12 percent when the pollster first asked in 1969.

Under a Rock

Recognition of cannabis medical benefits, punitive drug policies, and the prospect of new tax revenue to fund popular services, have driven that change in attitudes and led 21 states to legalize recreational sales.

But the policymakers overseeing legalization were flying blind about its effect on public health. Only recently has a steady flow of data emerged on health impacts, including emphysema in smokers and learning delays in adolescents.

But the Tax Money is so Good…

Lawmakers’ reaction to the bad news raises the prospect that the loosely regulated marijuana marketplace, worth $13.2 billion last year and growing 15 percent annually, could come under pressure.

Even some of those most supportive of legalization, such as the co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), are calling for more regulation and better oversight.

“One of the reasons I have fought so hard to be able to legalize, regulate and tax is because I want to keep this out of the hands of young people. It has proven negative consequences for the developing mind,” said Blumenauer, Capitol Hill’s unofficial cannabis czar.

Here’s things that are way more important…

Drug Overdose Death Rates

Money talks. If they really cared about anything they would control the flow of fentanyl which is killing a hundred thousand plus people.

National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics Drug Overdose Stats

Fentanyl Awareness

“Fentanyl is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered,” said Administrator Anne Milgram. “Fentanyl is everywhere. From large metropolitan areas to rural America, no community is safe from this poison. We must take every opportunity to spread the word to prevent fentanyl-related overdose death and poisonings from claiming scores of American lives every day.”
Faces of Fentanyl

Animal Sedative ‘Tranq,’ The ‘Zombie Drug’ Worsens Fentanyl Crisis

News outlets cover tragedies of the opioid crisis, with a New York Times report highlighting how animal tranquilizer drug xylazine is being mixed with illicit fentanyl, making its impact “even more devastating.” An expert quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle called the U.S. drug crisis a “national poisoning.”

The New York Times: Tranq Dope: Animal Sedative Mixed With Fentanyl Brings Fresh Horror To US Drug Zones In her shattered Philadelphia neighborhood, and increasingly in drug hot zones around the country, an animal tranquilizer called xylazine — known by street names like “tranq,” “tranq dope” and “zombie drug” — is being used to bulk up illicit fentanyl, making its impact even more devastating. Xylazine causes wounds that erupt with a scaly dead tissue called eschar; untreated, they can lead to amputation. (Hoffman, 1/7)

The Washington Post: A Teen Died Of A Fentanyl Overdose. The Man Who Sold The Pills Got 20 Years “It should send a loud and clear message to drug dealers and drug traffickers,” Cole Finegan, the U.S. attorney for the District of Colorado, said in a news release. “Our law enforcement partners will track you down and we will prosecute you if you peddle this poison in our communities. Lives are at stake, and we will use every available tool to combat this deadly epidemic and stop these tragic losses.” (Melnick, 1/9)

Bangor Daily News: Daughter’s Overdose Death Sends Maine Lawmaker Into Battle Against Opioids Addiction is hitting virtually all Mainers, regardless of wealth, education or location, something state Sen. Brad Farrin knows personally. Farrin’s 26-year-old daughter, Haley, was working at her accounting job one day in July. The next day, she died of a fentanyl overdose. (Marino Jr., 1/9)

In California —

San Francisco Chronicle: A ‘National Poisoning’: Expert On U.S. Drug Abuse Says Conditions In S.F.’s Tenderloin Are Tragically Familiar Sam Quinones, one of the nation’s foremost chroniclers of American drug abuse, took a stroll around San Francisco’s Tenderloin last week to take a hard look at the beleaguered neighborhood’s street addict scene. Like anyone else who’s taken that stroll lately, he saw the brazen fentanyl and methamphetamine use — and the grim consequences of unchecked addiction — that’s become a dispiriting calling card for that part of town. Nothing much surprised him. (Fagan, 1/8)

Los Angeles Times: In San Francisco, Regular People Carry Narcan To Prevent Fatal Overdoses Monica Clayton was standing in line at a Burger King on Market Street in downtown San Francisco just before 7 a.m. when a frantic man ran into the restaurant. “Somebody call 911, my girlfriend is overdosing,” he yelled. (Arredondo, 1/7)

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