As the President Seeks to Designate Marijuana as Less Dangerous, His Own Advisers Say Otherwise - Why this is important for Wyoming

by Wyoming Liberty Group

Just because the president of the United States wants something doesn't make it so.

That's especially the case with Biden's favorable opinion on marijuana.

Lately, the president has been publicly pushing to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III, which would designate it as a less dangerous drug, despite a half century or so of wisdom to the contrary.

The seismic shift would open the door for marijuana businesses to receive tax breaks and push the public perception that weed is not a threat to human health, which, of course, it is.

But perhaps lost in the shuffle is a recent report that made few waves. And yet it's significant because that report came from President Biden's very own advisers on drug policy—the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, otherwise known as ONDCP, or the office of the drug czar.

Indeed, in their report, the president's drug policy advisers noted the grave problem of marijuana, among other drugs, all over the country, including in Wyoming, where it remains illegal despite repeated efforts by pro-pot forces to crack open the market.

The upshot of that report by the White House's drug policy office? That the legalization of marijuana has not dampened the market for illicit pot from drug dealers nor has legalization diminished concerns of law enforcement agencies across the country about such illegal weed.

And for what it's worth, the concern is a familiar refrain from previous years by the White House drug czar. Marijuana was, is and remains a significant threat to human health, whether in states that have legalized the mind-altering drug or not.

Remember that important fact, by the way, when pro-pot forces make another run to pry open the Wyoming market.

In the Michigan region, for instance, the state legalized adult-use marijuana in 2018 but the federal report noted that "black market marijuana is still being trafficked and remains a threat." What's more, weed "produced in Michigan is illegally distributed to other states."

Alarming, right?

How about this: In the Nevada region, where marijuana is legal, the federal report noted that "resources have been prioritized toward illicit drugs causing significant overdose deaths in the state rather than black market marijuana which is produced in illegal clandestine grows in California and more often indoor grows in Las Vegas."

The report added ominously, "The black-market marijuana continues to thrive virtually uncontrolled due to criminal justice complications with managing the problem."

That can't be good.

Nor is this: In the Ohio area, marijuana is "ranked as the fourth greatest drug threat," and the "legalization of medical marijuana in Ohio has led to an even greater amount of marijuana usage in the region."

The threat of legalization is perhaps even greater in the northern California region, where, according to the federal report, illegal pot "presents a unique set of threats," including "violence and illegal weapons associated with outdoor trespass grows on public land and tribal territories; the trading of high-quality marijuana for more life-threatening drugs like fentanyl or methamphetamine (or fentanyl-laced methamphetamine); robberies and burglaries of marijuana dispensaries; labor and sex trafficking associated with marijuana cultivation; the devastating environmental impact of illicit marijuana; and fraudulent marijuana businesses feigning legitimacy under state law."

Did you catch that? Violence? Robberies? Sex trafficking?

And what about us in Wyoming?

The White House drug czar raised serious concerns about marijuana in our Rocky Mountain region, according to the federal report: "MDTOs [Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations] are the principal suppliers of wholesale quantities of fentanyl (in both pill and powder form), methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin to the region from locations along the Southwest border, while West Coast-based DTOs [Drug Trafficking Organizations] supply high potency marijuana to the region from sources in California, as well as from within Colorado."

Law enforcement agencies are already working to target, dismantle and disrupt these drug cartels. "Criminal interdiction initiatives have been established in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Montana in an effort to address DTOs [Drug Trafficking Organizations] that transport illicit drugs into and through the region," the report stated.

But let's not lose sight of the big picture. Even if the president of the United States wants to give marijuana a less dangerous name, it doesn't obviate this simple fact: Even his own drug policy advisers explain in no uncertain terms that the mind-altering drug is dangerous for all of us. And that includes us in Wyoming, where highly-organized drug dealers are peddling their hazardous wares.