A new political action committee led by parents to counter the legalization of drugs, particularly marijuana, will launch in Colorado on Tuesday.
The PAC, Protect Our Kids, is made up of parents adamantly opposed to recent policies at state and federal levels to decriminalize drugs, such as marijuana and psychedelics. It’s the brainchild of Luke Niforatos, the executive vice president of the anti-marijuana legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana.
“Whether it’s marijuana or any other drug, we want to see policies that are going to help heal addiction, reduce addiction, and reduce the drug use. So I’m working with parents that are fed up with candidates who think there’s really no political price for voting to legalize marijuana or allowing more drug use in society,” Niforatos said.
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The PAC will support candidates regardless of party who pledge to vote against measures that would legalize marijuana and other drugs. One of the candidates the PAC will target is Nancy Mace, a Republican congresswoman from South Carolina. She introduced the States Reform Act, a bill that would end the federal government’s 85-year prohibition on marijuana by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act, under which it is currently designated a Schedule 1 drug, along with LSD and heroin.
Meanwhile, the PAC will throw its support behind Washington Democratic state Rep. Lauren Davis, who is seeking reelection, Kentucky Republican Rep. Kim Moser, who is also seeking reelection in the state House, and former federal prosecutor Mike Stuart, who is a Republican running for a state Senate seat in West Virginia.
The parents who took up the cause are not politicos. Rather, they are a dozen or so parents who say their families have been hurt by youth marijuana use. For example, Sally Schindel, a resident of Arizona, lost her son to suicide, which her son attributed to his marijuana addiction in his suicide note. Another mother, Laura Stack of Colorado, became an activist and member after her son died by suicide last year after dabbing, a process in which a concentrated, highly potent amount of cannabis oil is melted and inhaled.
“Right now we’re seeing this backdrop of marijuana legalization happening in the midst of an opioid crisis, we’re seeing the fentanyls and you’re seeing marijuana addiction going up across the country, and so a lot of people are looking for answers to our addiction crisis right now,” Niforatos said.
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Proponents of marijuana legalization have bolstered their positions by citing studies that tout its benefits on stress, depression, chronic pain, nausea, insomnia, and other health issues. Some psychopharmacologists have also linked marijuana use with decreased overdoses tied to dangerous opioids, such as heroin and fentanyl.
But research on the topic is mixed. A widely cited 2014 study reported that from 1999 to 2010, states with medical cannabis laws had a 24.8% lower annual opioid overdose mortality rate on average compared to states without them. However, a more recent study taking into consideration the years 1999 up to 2019 reported that medical marijuana legalization was actually linked to 15% to 29% higher rates of opioid-involved fatalities in that period.
“There are a whole bunch of very irresponsible statements being made about the opioid crisis and marijuana legalization as a solution to it,” Niforatos said. “But people in legalized states such as Colorado will tell you, that is absolutely bogus. We’re seeing our opioid overdose deaths continue to rise even after legalization.”
