{"id":2698877,"date":"2026-11-05T08:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T13:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignlegalizing-weed-created-a-health-disaster-thats-only-going-to-get-worse\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T09:07:48","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T14:07:48","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignlegalizing-weed-created-a-health-disaster-thats-only-going-to-get-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignlegalizing-weed-created-a-health-disaster-thats-only-going-to-get-worse\/","title":{"rendered":"Legalized Weed Created Is A Disaster That&#8217;s Going To Get Worse"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignlegalizing-weed-created-a-health-disaster-thats-only-going-to-get-worse%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2698877&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Four years after the 2022 midterm elections legalized recreational cannabis in additional states, early warnings about the consequences have proven accurate. Commercial interests have outpaced medical understanding, ultra\u2011potent products have changed the risk landscape, and illegal markets persist despite promises of regulation. As Massachusetts considers Proposition 8 &#8211; a ballot effort to repeal voter\u2011approved commercial recreational sales &#8211; other states are reexamining their approaches.<\/p>\n<p>though few states have identical repeal measures now, several have tightened rules or debated new restrictions: Louisiana and Missouri have moved toward harsher penalties for use near sensitive sites, Maine organizers are pursuing repeal petitions, and places such as Minnesota and South Dakota have considered legal THC potency caps. It remains unclear whether this will trigger wider reversals.<\/p>\n<p>The question of whether recreational legalization was premature is now acute. Opponents of Proposition 8 point out that Massachusetts\u2019 cannabis taxes generate roughly $300 million, with over 70 percent funding drug treatment and costs tied to increased teen use &#8211; an example of revenue being used to address harms created by legalization. What was once a policy debate has become an entrenched public\u2011health and regulatory challenge.<\/p>\n<p>The retail cannabis market has dismantled the notion that cannabis is like a modest, natural product akin to a glass of wine. Compared with illicit cannabis of decades past (typically 2-5% THC), legal dispensaries now sell flower commonly above 25-30% THC and concentrates with purity approaching 90%. Consumers were not given a voice in whether highly concentrated,quasi\u2011synthetic products should be marketed as everyday wellness items.<\/p>\n<p>Edibles and beverages have followed tactics similar to historic tobacco marketing, expanding forms that appeal to young people &#8211; gummy candies, syrups, sodas, and baked goods &#8211; removing prior consumption barriers and making accidental ingestion and routine adolescent dosing more likely. Predictably, accidental exposures among children and frequent dosing among teens have risen sharply.<\/p>\n<p>Clinically observed harms are no longer anecdotal.Emergency departments in legalized jurisdictions report growing numbers of marijuana\u2011related emergencies: acute cannabis toxicity, cyclic vomiting syndromes, and severe behavioral crises. Doctors are seeing more patients with chronic,debilitating abdominal pain,repeated vomiting,dehydration,electrolyte imbalances,and kidney injury linked to chronic,high\u2011potency use. Psychiatric risks have become clearer as well: adolescents and young adults who use cannabis show higher rates of bipolar and psychotic disorders, and hospitals are treating more acute depressive and suicidal crises associated with heavy, high\u2011potency use.<\/p>\n<p>Economic promises that legalization would eliminate the black market and dismantle cartels have also fallen short. High taxes, zoning rules, licensing costs, and compliance burdens have made legal products expensive, pushing many consumers to purchase cheaper, untaxed goods from illicit sellers. Illicit and transnational criminal operators have in some cases scaled up production, using legal markets as cover to grow and traffic unregulated products &#8211; sometimes contaminated with banned pesticides, heavy metals, or solvents.<\/p>\n<p>State budgets have grown dependent on cannabis revenue, which was originally promised for education, infrastructure, and prevention but is increasingly consumed by bureaucratic costs and health and emergency services. That dependency reduces political will to impose stricter potency limits or roll back retail availability.At the federal level,reclassifying cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III may ease tax burdens for businesses (by eliminating restrictions like IRC Section 280E) and invite greater corporate investment and marketing,but it doesn\u2019t automatically enforce packaging rules,potency ceilings,or consistent nationwide testing. Reclassification could thus legitimize and accelerate commercial growth without introducing the tight clinical controls typical of pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n<p>The harms already delivered to today\u2019s youth won\u2019t be fixed by relabeling or minor regulatory tweaks. Over the next five to ten years, rising cannabis\u2011related psychoses in people under 25 will further strain mental\u2011health systems that lack capacity for the growing number of dual\u2011diagnosis patients. As the industry consolidates,large multi\u2011state operators are likely to mount legal defenses against liability claims,mirroring past tactics used by tobacco and opioid companies. Meanwhile, chemically modified, unregulated cannabinoids sold outside regulated channels will continue to reach teenagers.<\/p>\n<p>The legalization debate was framed in terms of social justice and individual rights,but it also served as a major corporate chance. The consequences are visible in emergency rooms, psychiatric wards, and communities dealing with unregulated grows. Addressing the problem will require abandoning the idea that modern industrial THC products are harmless, acknowledging the scale of the commercial experiment\u2019s harms, and enacting strict, enforceable potency caps before further generations are affected. Any short\u2011term revenue gains will likely be dwarfed by long\u2011term health costs.<\/p>\n<p>Author note: Dr. Mark Haskins is managing director of Themis Risk Advisors and formerly led the USDA Food and Nutrition Service Special Investigations Unit. A recognized expert in government program fraud and pharmaceutical diversion, he has more than 20 years in law enforcement investigating white\u2011collar and healthcare crimes. He holds bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in criminal justice and a Ph.D. in conflict analysis, teaches as an adjunct professor at Purdue University Graduate School, and lives in Palm Beach, Florida.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Four years ago, the 2022 midterms brought recreational cannabis to several new states. Even then the warning signs were already clear. The commercialization of marijuana would outpace clinical reality, high-potency formulations would transform the risk, and the black market would endure despite promises of clean government oversight. As Massachusetts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.state.ma.us\/divisions\/elections\/research-and-statistics\/2026-Information-for-voters\/2026-ballot-question8.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prepares<\/a> to vote on a ballot measure (Proposition 8) that would make Massachusetts the first state to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >repeal voter-approved commercial recreational marijuana sales<\/a>, other states are beginning to second-guess their own laws.<\/p>\n<p>While no other state has a similar initiative on this year\u2019s ballot, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wafb.com\/2026\/05\/30\/louisiana-toughens-drug-penalties-around-schools\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Louisiana<\/a> and Missouri <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mpp.org\/issues\/legislation\/key-marijuana-policy-reform\/#:~:text=It%20includes%20employers%20of%20workers%20who%20operate,15%25%20in%20flower%20and%2030%25%20in%20concentrates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">have enacted or debated<\/a> harsher penalties for consumption near sensitive areas, and states like Maine <a href=\"https:\/\/mainemorningstar.com\/2026\/06\/22\/as-out-of-state-group-resurrects-anti-cannabis-petition-locals-prepare-to-push-back\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">have started<\/a> full-repeal petition drives. Lawmakers in other states, like Minnesota and South Dakota, have proposed statutory THC potency caps. Whether we see a snowball effect is perhaps too early to predict.<\/p>\n<p>Were the legalization and sale of recreational marijuana premature? Perhaps so, and yet one cannot help but wonder whether these measures are akin to trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Currently, the argument against Proposition 8 is that of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/05\/19\/business\/marijuana-taxes-cannabis-repeal-ballot-question\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$300 million<\/a> in tax revenue generated from taxing marijuana; more than <a href=\"https:\/\/massbudget.org\/2025\/09\/15\/show-me-the-money-cannabis-revenue-in-massachusetts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">70 percent<\/a> goes toward drug treatment programs and the costs of rising marijuana use among teens. Therefore, the argument is that we created this problem, and now the money we said would reduce the overall tax burden is going to address the problems we created by legalizing it. Talk about a circular firing squad. The transition from early warning to structural reality was ignored. The landscape has shifted from legislative debate to an entrenched, industrialized public health crisis.<\/p>\n<p>The original premise sold to the public that cannabis is an organic, natural plant roughly equivalent to a glass of wine has been deliberately dismantled by the retail market. The illicit market of 30 years ago, <a href=\"https:\/\/nida.nih.gov\/research\/research-data-measures-resources\/cannabis-potency-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">averaging<\/a> 2 percent to 5 percent THC, bears little resemblance to the modern commercial catalog. Dispensary shelves are stacked with hybrid flower with THC levels exceeding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/chrisroberts\/2020\/06\/16\/science-reveals-the-cannabis-industrys-greatest-lie-youre-buying-weed-wrong-and-so-is-everyone-else\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">25-30 percent<\/a>, along with concentrated extracts and vape cartridges approaching <a href=\"https:\/\/www.getsmartaboutdrugs.gov\/news-statistics\/2025\/01\/16\/many-risks-cannabis-and-high-dose-thc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">90 percent<\/a> purity.<\/p>\n<p>The consumer base was never invited to debate whether super-concentrated synthetic-grade cannabinoids should be sold as everyday wellness products. The edible and beverage sectors have replicated the mid-20th-century Big Tobacco playbook by aggressively expanding delivery methods into sweetened, shelf-stable, and covert forms. Gummy bears, syrups, sodas, and baked goods have removed the deterrents and respiratory barriers that once served as a natural speed bump for young consumers. The outcome was entirely predictable, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationwidechildrens.org\/newsroom\/news-releases\/2026\/08\/cirp_drugingestions_study\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">exponential rise<\/a> in accidental ingestions among young children, alongside seamless daily dosing among adolescents, was a foregone conclusion. Yet they still ignored the warnings.<\/p>\n<p>The acute medical fallout predicted four years ago is no longer limited to informal observations by emergency department physicians. It is now a documented clinical fact. Emergency rooms across legal jurisdictions <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aamc.org\/news\/emergency-departments-see-startling-rise-marijuana-induced-illness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">consistently handle <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwnytv.com\/2026\/08\/09\/hospital-visits-condition-linked-frequent-marijuana-use-rise-cdc-study-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a rising volume<\/a> of cases of acute cannabis-induced toxicity, intractable cyclical vomiting, and severe behavioral decompensation.<\/p>\n<p>Emergency departments have seen an increase in cases of chronic, debilitating abdominal pain accompanied by severe, intractable retching. Patients are repeatedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cedars-sinai.org\/health-topics\/cannabis-hyperemesis-syndrome-chs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">admitted<\/a> for profound dehydration, electrolyte disturbances, and acute kidney injury, driven entirely by downregulation from chronic, high-potency use. <\/p>\n<p>The link between high-concentration THC and psychiatric disorders has shifted from a hypothesis to a documented risk. Psychiatric admissions alone show that adolescents and young adults who use cannabis are <a href=\"https:\/\/priceschool.usc.edu\/news\/teenage-cannabis-use-mental-health-study\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">twice as likely<\/a> to be diagnosed with a bipolar or psychotic disorder.<strong> <\/strong>Emergency departments are now the frontline triage for severe depressive crises, paranoid ideation, and acute suicidality tied directly to rising potency and use.<\/p>\n<p>The central economic promise of the legalization lobby, as previously discussed, was that regulated commerce would instantly bankrupt the cartels, dismantle illegal grows, and redirect illicit profits into state coffers. That promise has completely failed. High state excise taxes, cumbersome local zoning, expensive licensing requirements, and compliance overhead have priced legal dispensaries out of the competitive retail market.<\/p>\n<p>Consumers frequently <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC11373389\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bypass <\/a>dispensaries to buy cheaper, untaxed products from legacy street dealers. More dangerously, transnational criminal organizations and illicit operators have exploited the legal umbrella. Rather than disappearing, black-market grow operations have expanded dramatically in states like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/article\/2024\/may\/30\/california-comedown-how-illicit-cannabis-farms-have-left-a-wilderness-where-youre-lucky-to-see-a-lizard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">California<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kosu.org\/news\/2023-08-14\/with-cheap-land-and-low-fees-oklahoma-grown-marijuana-fuels-the-black-market-in-other-states\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Oklahoma<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/world-nation\/story\/2022-05-12\/cartel-financed-pot-farms-in-oregon-expand-to-growing-indoors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Oregon<\/a>. Illicit operations use legal states as industrial manufacturing bases to export untaxed, unregulated product across state lines, often heavily cut with <a href=\"https:\/\/krcrtv.com\/news\/local\/black-market-cannabis-infiltrates-licensed-california-dispensaries-with-chinese-pesticides\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">banned pesticides<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/cannabis-unlicensed-weed-e-coli-lead-and-salmonella-study-finds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">heavy metals<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC6791536\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">residual solvents<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, state governments have trapped themselves in fiscal dependency. Tax revenues, initially promised for public schools, road infrastructure, and youth drug prevention programs, are quickly absorbed by administrative bureaucracy or diverted to cover rising municipal health care and emergency service costs. Having baked cannabis revenue into state operational budgets, legislators have little political appetite to enforce stricter potency caps or roll back retail presence.<\/p>\n<p>At the federal level, administrative pushes to move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act do not solve the underlying crisis. In practice, Schedule III reclassification provides targeted tax relief for corporate operators by nullifying Internal Revenue Code Section 280E. It allows commercial enterprises to deduct standard business and marketing expenses, supercharging corporate investment, venture capital liquidity, and retail advertising reach. Again, it\u2019s about the money.<\/p>\n<p>Rescheduling does not automatically impose federal packaging restrictions, potency limits, or standardized nationwide testing protocols. Instead, it legitimizes the commercial infrastructure without establishing the rigorous, clinical boundary controls used in standard pharmaceutical manufacturing. Institutional money and institutional lobbying have taken the driver\u2019s seat, following the precise consolidation path forged by Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco.<\/p>\n<p>The damage already inflicted on the current generation of youth cannot be instantly undone by alterations or label redesigns. Over the next five to 10 years, several irreversible trends will play out.<\/p>\n<p>The spike in cannabis-attributable psychotic episodes among people under 25 will place an unsustainable burden on an already strained public mental health infrastructure. Community treatment facilities and psychiatric bed capacity are structurally unprepared for the volume of dual-diagnosis patients entering adulthood over the coming decade. Make no mistake: As bad as it seems now, it\u2019s about to get worse.<\/p>\n<p>As the industry consolidates, major multi-state operators will mount extensive legal defenses to shield themselves from product liability, using shifting regulatory compliance as an affirmative defense against claims of consumer harm or marketing to minors. If it sounds a lot like the tobacco and opioid settlements, it should.<\/p>\n<p>However, even as we speak, the proliferation of chemically modified, unregulated cannabinoids sold at gas stations and convenience stores outside the state-licensed system will continue to circumvent federal legislation, preserving an open pipeline of cheap, highly concentrated synthetics directly to teenagers.<\/p>\n<p>The public debate was manipulated from the start and framed as a social justice and individual civil liberties issue, but it was little more than an aggressive corporate land grab. The consequences are recorded in emergency department intake logs, adolescent psychiatric wards, and communities struggling with unregulated illicit grows. <\/p>\n<p>Restoring public health will require abandoning the fiction that modern industrial THC is harmless, accepting the catastrophic scale of the commercial experiment, and enacting aggressive, enforceable potency caps before another generation pays the bill. Make no mistake, the lost revenue now will be dwarfed by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-calls-travel-lid-for-wednesday-an-hour-after-bobulinski-interview-airs\/\" title=\"Biden Calls Travel Lid for Wednesday an Hour After Bobulinski Interview Airs\">health care costs<\/a> to come. You\u2019ve been warned, again.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Dr. Mark Haskins serves as the managing director of Themis Risk Advisors and previously held the position of branch chief at the United States Department of Agriculture\u2019s Food and Nutrition Service Special Investigations Unit. He is widely recognized as a leading expert in government program fraud and pharmaceutical diversion. With more than 20 years of experience in law enforcement, Dr. Haskins has investigated white-collar crime, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-president-trump-gives-pardons-to-73-individuals-and-commutes-another-70-sentences-steve-bannon-is-included\/\" title=\"BREAKING: President Trump Gives Pardons to 73 Individuals and Commutes Another 70 Sentences \u2013 Steve Bannon Is Included\">health care fraud<\/a>, and pharmaceutical crimes. He holds a bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degree in criminal justice, as well as a Ph.D. in conflict analysis. Additionally, Dr. Haskins functions as an adjunct professor in criminal justice and homeland security at Purdue University Graduate School. He resides in Palm Beach, Florida.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legal cannabis risk grows; black market persists<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1543,"featured_media":2698878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Copy-of-Untitled-12.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[87492,77240,73006,67408,87493],"class_list":["post-2698877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-drug-policy-2","tag-marijuana-legalization-2","tag-policy-debate-2","tag-public-safety-2","tag-social-impact-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Copy-of-Untitled-12.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1543"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2698877"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2698896,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698877\/revisions\/2698896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2698878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2698877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2698877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2698877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}