State officials trumpet $1 billion in marijuana sales while downplaying health risks, surging youth use, and meager tax revenues.
Albany’s celebration of $1 billion in commercial marijuana sales earlier this year must have been music to Big Pot’s ears. “Let us celebrate the individuals, businesses, and communities in cannabis who drive our state’s economic engine,” exulted Felicia A. B. Reid, acting executive director of the state Office of Cannabis Management.
No one would expect state health commissioner James McDonald to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with, say, Altria or Philip Morris USA to celebrate the sale of tobacco products. But here was Reid, backing drugs known to cause addiction, IQ loss, psychosis, and schizophrenia, especially in young people.
