"We're from the government and here to help you.

Raise taxes temporarily and they'll sunset when no longer needed. Lobbyists don't write laws. Marijuana will make you free."

And if you buy that last line, you might as well buy the whole paragraph.

Ten years ago this month Coloradans passed Constitutional Amendment 64, legalizing pot for adults over 21. As we speak, a new multi-billion-dollar cannabis industry is strategizing how to end Idahoans' long-standing love affair with functioning brain cells. An initiative to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes is gathering signatures to be on Idaho's 2024 ballot.

Meanwhile, Pot, Inc. is courting politicians on all sides. Among liberals they tout "acid Marxism," a belief the oppressed escape the "shackles of the oppressor" through inhaled or injected chemistry. On the right, cannabis moguls underwrite any crusade that mixes a little reefer madness with Fox News.

But while the last 10 years have proven marijuana vendors politically savvy and economically powerful, they leave in their wake neither enlightenment nor freedom.

The International Academy on the Science and Impact of Cannabis (www. IASIC1.org) has tracked the medical, developmental and societal consequences of marijuana usage since its legalization in Colorado. Their findings include:

• Slowed brain development: All the way up to age 27 the developing brain is engaged in synaptic pruning, selecting the best pathways and habits for cognitive thought. Marijuana usage can slow and even halt development.

• Psychosis: Multiple studies now show a marked spike in the mental illnesses of psychosis and schizophrenia among routine marijuana users.

• Depression and suicide: Marijuana usage is "strongly correlated" with diagnosed depression and suicidal ideations.

• Pain and opioids: Cannabis has proven a poor pain reliever, so the tendency has been to escalate to opioids for relief of pain, exacerbating an already problematic trend.

• Addiction: Cannabis use disorder occurs in 9 percent of adults and 17 percent of teens who use marijuana.

• Withdrawal: Cannabis withdrawal is reported by up to 30 percent of regular users.

• Emergency room visits: Admissions to emergency care where cannabis is involved have tripled in Colorado since 2012.

• Motor vehicle collisions: Risk of motor vehicle collision increases two-fold after smoking marijuana.

• Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome: Chronic marijuana usage is associated with intense abdominal pain and vomiting, also known as "scromiting."

• Neonatal exposure: Long-term marijuana use can impair fetal brain development and increases the risk of stillbirth 2.3 times.

• Drug interaction: Marijuana-derived chemicals, including both THC and CBD products, can have hundreds of adverse interactions with various medications.

• Contaminants: Marijuana, even from licensed dispensaries, has been found to contain infectious contaminants resulting in death.

• Cardiovascular and pulmonary health: A study, published earlier this month in the journal Radiology, found marijuana could cause increased risk of emphysema greater than tobacco. Marijuana smok-

• Cannabis hyperemesis syndrome: Chronic marijuana usage is associated with intense abdominal pain and vomiting, also known as "scromiting."

• Neonatal exposure: Long-term marijuana use can impair fetal brain development and increases the risk of stillbirth 2.3 times.

• Drug interaction: Marijuana-derived chemicals, including both THC and CBD products, can have hundreds of adverse interactions with various medications.

• Contaminants: Marijuana, even from licensed dispensaries, has been found to contain infectious contaminants resulting in death.

• Cardiovascular and pulmonary health: A study, published earlier this month in the journal Radiology, found marijuana could cause increased risk of emphysema greater than tobacco. Marijuana smok-