It wasn’t surprising but still was deeply troubling that the Trump administration decided this week to move toward “rescheduling” marijuana under federal law — i.e., downgrading the federal government’s assessment of pot’s peril to the country.  Though the president had been signalin g his intention to make the move for some time, it nevertheless came as a slap, if unintended, at the millions of parents whose children have been waylaid by the “recreational” drug’s growing list of dangers. Those range from teens driving — and too often, dying — under the influence, to experiencing unprecedented levels of psychosis and suicide after using today’s high-potency THC concentrates derived from marijuana. President Trump expressed the hope Thursday’s executive order — lowering marijuana’s risk level from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug — would advance its purported therapeutic use in treating chronic pain and other maladies. However sincerely the president may harbor that notion, it’s actually a flimsy pretext ginned up by the marijuana industry.  Indeed, the medical world abounds as never before with innovative treatments for pain. And those who regrettably cling to the idea only marijuana’s mythical properties can cure what ails them can buy weed cheaply and easily right now, given how many states have legalized it.  The only real beneficiary of rescheduling is the cynical marijuana industry itself. And for the industry, it’s all about the bottom line. Downgrading to Schedule III — which still requires a lengthy bureaucratic process in which Trump’s order was the first step — will let pot’s purveyors in Colorado and elsewhere claim business expenses for the first time on their federal taxes. They’ll have greater access to banking, too. Just like your neighborhood hardware store or coffee shop, as the industry might point out. Except, hardware stores and coffee shops aren’t killing our kids. Make no mistake, it’s all about the money for Big Marijuana. But making it easier for its peddlers to do business is of no benefit to anyone else.  We would be remiss if we criticized the president for his action without also criticizing our own governor. Given Jared Polis’ misplaced boasts about our state’s supposed success with pot regulation, to say nothing of his overall cheerleading for the industry, he only can be characterized as an enthusiast. As expected, Polis publicly lauded the president’s order on rescheduling and, if anything, wondered what had taken so long.  He neglected to mention all the damage marijuana has done to our state. Perhaps it’s willful naiveté. In reality, Colorado has suffered mightily from its ready-fire-aim experience with legalization and its ever-a-step-behind regulation. Will other states that have yet to legalize it heed Colorado’s experience and look before they leap? Rescheduling makes that an even taller task. The organization One Chance to Grow Up pointed out in a commentary published in The Gazette earlier this week that, “the rest of the country, especially states that have not considered marijuana legalization, risks being caught unprepared for the effects of marijuana being rescheduled as a less dangerous, more available drug.” Rescheduling offers a false assurance, in other words. “In Colorado, our youth have been the lab rats for a policy experiment that considered human costs a reasonable tradeoff for potential profits,” the commentary notes. “Now, we know better. If our own history as a state on this topic shows us one thing, it’s that the nation as a whole is unprepared for what happens if cannabis becomes widespread.” The president’s order now makes that almost inevitable. ...read more read less