This past week, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser tweeted that he was suing the family that principally owns Purdue Pharma, the maker of many opioids that have devastated our state. His tweet mentioned that Purdue was “the definition of an irresponsible company… who profited from its wrongdoing.”

I applaud the Colorado lawmakers who are putting Coloradans first by challenging commercial drug makers who are harming our fellow citizens. While our elected officials are rightfully taking on opioids and vaping, why do they refuse to provide proper oversight on marijuana? In fact, this past legislative session, Colorado lawmakers went the opposite direction, giving marijuana companies more freedom to acquire more users. 

The Colorado legislature approved the use of marijuana, including high-potency pot, for children with autism. There is little research and sparse evidence that marijuana helps with autism and plenty of evidence that marijuana severely harms developing brains. In fact, daily high-potency marijuana use can increase the likelihood of developing psychosis nearly fivefold.

Despite a dramatic increase in marijuana-related traffic fatalities, legislators approved marijuana clubs where people can smoke marijuana and then drive.

When I challenged the attorney general to include the marijuana industry in his efforts to hold “irresponsible” companies accountable for their “wrongdoing,” he demurred regarding the negative social consequences of marijuana.

Many Colorado politicians have deflected on marijuana’s harms by claiming that opioids have killed 47,600 people in America annually and no one overdoses on marijuana. This is an ignorant failure to analyze the developing marijuana market. In recent years, big tobacco, which kills 480,000 Americans each year, 10 times the amount opioids do, has invested heavily in marijuana. 

Altria, the maker of Marlboro and other cigarettes, has invested nearly $2 billion in the marijuana industry. The former Speaker of the House John Boehner, who sat on the board of Reynolds American, the company that makes Newport and Camel cigarettes, now sits on the board of a marijuana investment firm. He famously said to potential marijuana investors, “Frankly, we can help you make a potential fortune.”

We get on the same drug merry-go-round again and again. Whether it is tobacco, opioids, vaping, or marijuana, it follows the same playbook. Doctors are used to legitimize the drug. Commercial drug companies invest a lot of money to get as many people using the drug as possible. Politicians, receiving funds from the drug companies, reduce regulations to improve market opportunities. The drug companies make a lot of money, and citizens are left to clean up the mess.

If politicians are willing to challenge tobacco, opioid and vaping companies, why not marijuana companies?

Colorado leaders should do three things today to address the marijuana-related problems we are facing in our state. First, refuse to take any future campaign funds from marijuana companies and prioritize Coloradans rather than marijuana companies during the next legislative session. Second, prevent untested, high-potency pot, from being used on kids. Third, launch immediate research into the impact marijuana has on violent crime, poverty, healthcare, traffic fatalities, and suicide in our state.  

Last November, the Centennial Institute released a study detailing how Coloradans spend $4.50 to mitigate the social consequences of marijuana for every $1 we take in from marijuana tax revenue. The marijuana industry is getting richer, and everyday Coloradans are stuck with the bill. It’s time for our politicians to put Coloradans first.

Jeff Hunt is the director of the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University. You can follow him on twitter at @jeffhunt.