Amid a flowering of marijuana legalization, one group of concerned parents is taking a stand for stringent drug laws. Protect Our Kids PAC, a newly formed anti-drug group in
, “said it will target legislative and congressional campaigns nationwide to combat candidates who support marijuana legalization and boost those who oppose drug use,” .The PAC
itself as “a group of parents who are tired of lax drug policies that harm our kids.”“When parents stand together, real change can happen,” reads the message on the PAC’s
.With one state after another lining up to end prohibition on recreational pot use over the last decade – and with Congress potentially on the verge of ending the federal ban on marijuana – the anti-drug group PAC’s timing might feel a bit off.
But according to the
, Luke Niforatos, the executive director of Protect Our Kids PAC, said “goal is not to roll back legalization tomorrow but to ‘not be a rubber stamp for the marijuana industry.’”“The goal is to hold them accountable, regulate them tightly and do a better job of protecting our kids,” Niforatos told the
.In its first order of business, Protect Our Kids PAC is throwing its support behind various like-minded candidates – and targeting incumbents deemed too lax on cannabis policy.
Anti-Drug Group Sets its Sites on Rep. Nancy Mace
The group’s “first salvo is aimed at U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican congresswoman from South Carolina, over her support for federally decriminalizing marijuana use,” according to the Gazette, with Niforatos indicating that the PAC aims to unseat her in a primary.
Mace, currently serving her first term in Congress, has emerged as perhaps the most vocal legalization advocate in the Republican Party.
In November, Mace announced legislation, known as the States Reform Act, that would decriminalize marijuana on the federal level and permit states to put forward their own cannabis laws.
“Today, only three states lack some form of legal cannabis. My home state of South Carolina permits CBD, Florida allows medical marijuana, California and others have full recreational use, for example. Every state is different. Cannabis reform at the federal level must take all of this into account. And it’s past time federal law codifies this reality,”
.“This is why I’m introducing the States Reform Act, a bill which seeks to remove cannabis from Schedule I in a manner consistent with the rights of states to determine what level of cannabis reform each state already has, or not. This bill supports veterans, law enforcement, farmers, businesses, those with serious illnesses, and it is good for criminal justice reform,” Mace stated.
She continued, “Furthermore, a super-majority of Americans support an end to cannabis prohibition, which is why only three states in the country have no cannabis reform at all. The States Reform Act takes special care to keep Americans and their children safe while ending federal interference with state cannabis laws. Washington needs to provide a framework which allows states to make their own decisions on cannabis moving forward. This bill does that.”
In Colorado, Protect Our Kids PAC is backing Democratic state House Rep. Yadira Caraveo, who is currently running in a primary to be the party’s nominee in the state’s 8th Congressional District.
Last month, Caraveo drew fierce pushback from the cannabis industry after introducing a bill in the state legislature to limit the potency of recreational pot sold in the state. Caraveo eventually stood down and retreated from certain parts of the bill,
“a prime example of the multibillion-dollar cannabis industry’s growing clout in Colorado politics.”