Rescheduling marijuana fails to protect children
Pennsylvania’s founder, William Penn, once wrote that the purpose of government is “first, to terrify evil-doers; secondly, to cherish those that do well.” A timeless reminder that moral societies do not flourish by neutrality toward harm, but by clarity about what must be protected and what must be restrained.
There are public policy issues that present unmistakable evidence of direct harm to children. For example, the devastating reality of allowing sex-rejecting medical interventions on minors has resulted in irreversible damage to young girls like Chloe Cole and Prisha Mosley. Both have shared how, at just fifteen years old, they trusted medical professionals for help, only to have healthy body parts permanently removed. Prisha is now a mother, yet clinicians “winging it” with little evidence led to life-altering consequences that now affect her daily life and motherhood.
I commend President Trump and the recent actions by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to halt these harmful procedures on children. Hospitals and healthcare systems involved in such irreversible interventions should be held fully accountable and never again be allowed to rob children of the opportunity to grow up healthy and whole.
But not every harmful policy decision is as immediately visible.
President Trump’s executive order rescheduling marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug did not legalize this addictive substance for recreational use, nor did it allow prescriptions to be filled at local pharmacies. What it did do was open the door to significant tax breaks and commercial incentives for the marijuana industry, accelerating the spread of addiction-for-profit through increasingly high-potency THC products. This is a financial green light for commercialization in legalized states of a drug that too many families already struggle with every day.
U.S. Senator Dave McCormick recognized this danger, warning that rescheduling marijuana would “cause more harm and more potential for abuse.” He’s exactly right, as it is a sober assessment of what happens when government policy rewards corporate expansion of an addictive product at the expense of public health and safety.
The corporate interests surrounding this decision should concern every parent. The CEO of Scotts Miracle-Gro participated in private meetings with President Trump during the rescheduling deliberations, and the CEO of Trulieve, a marijuana company that spent a staggering $141 million in Florida pushing a failed recreational-use ballot initiative, attended a White House celebration following the announcement.
There’s an elephant in the room, and it isn’t the Republican Party. The real conflict here is not partisan politics, but powerful corporate interests positioned to profit from expanded marijuana use.
Evidence suggests caution. A recent Wall Street Journal headline — “More Marijuana Users Are Crash Dummies” — highlights studies linking marijuana use to increased traffic accidents and fatalities. We’re well past the days of Woodstock weed and the low-potency marijuana of decades past. Today’s products often contain extremely high THC levels, which research associates with higher risks of dependence, anxiety, psychosis, and cognitive impairment, particularly in adolescents.
Jennifer Kelchner knows this reality all too well. After her son began using marijuana for medical purposes at a doctor’s recommendation, she says the decision “will haunt me forever.” He became paranoid and psychotic. “He thought the Taliban was after him. He once tried to jump out of my car while it was moving because he believed everyone was listening to him.” He has since been hospitalized thirteen times, jailed three times, and diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder — conditions with no family history.
I have spoken with too many families who tell similar stories: children drawn into marijuana use by a rapidly growing industry marketing powerful products with ease of access and minimal oversight.
Pennsylvania’s legal landscape on marijuana has drifted toward a de facto recreational program under the guise of medical use. No physician should be issuing more than 11,000 medical marijuana cards in a single year with access to virtually unlimited THC potency, yet that is exactly what’s happening. Profit incentives, rather than patient well-being, are increasingly driving regulatory decisions.
When HHS announced its action to end sex-rejecting interventions for minors, the headline was simple: “Protecting Children.” That priority must extend beyond one issue. Protecting children means restraining marijuana commercialization, reducing youth exposure, regulating potency, and ensuring that marijuana for medical use is truly medical. We cannot claim to shield children from harm while holding the shield in only one direction.
Despite this federal misstep, Pennsylvania must continue to resist efforts to commercialize marijuana for recreational use. We must fix our medical program, have honest, evidence-based conversations about youth substance use, and support medical professionals who uphold the Hippocratic oath to do no harm.
William Penn’s vision of government was about cherishing those who do well, not enriching those who profit at the expense of family well-being. Protecting our children requires the courage to resist policies that invite greater harm, regardless of political considerations or personal convenience.
Dan Bartkowiak is the chief strategy officer for Pennsylvania Family Council.
