Legal recreational marijuana states (New York) — and those states that are considering legalization (Pennsylvania) — would do well to take note.

It’s both embarrassing and galling that an elected University of Colorado regent — who also happens to be the state’s most politically connected marijuana dealer — tried to squelch a public health campaign alerting parents to the perils her products pose to youth.

Denver pot shop owner and first-term CU Regent Wanda James at first claimed, preposterously, the campaign was racist. Then, she denounced it as “recycled junk science” even if — oops — its author was no less an authority than the Colorado University School of Public Health. Outrageously, she even tried to use her clout to crush the campaign.

It all backfired on James last week. The Board of Regents voted to censure her for her misuse of her public office in a shameless bid to defund the campaign.

No one — least of all, a public official — can afford any longer to be cavalier about the devastating impact of today’s high-potency THC on our youth. It’s not the pot of Cheech & Chong; it’s power packed and is permanently bending the minds of our kids. It’s infused into concentrates and loaded into disposable vape pens, ideal for curious, naive middle-schoolers to conceal in their backpacks and discreetly use on their lunch break.

Make no mistake; it is destroying young lives — as illustrated powerfully in a new documentary.

“Cannabis Induced Psychosis — Sam’s Story,” produced by Texas Pictures, tells the tragic tale of Colorado youth Sam Yeager, who died at 23 in an April 2021 face-off with law officers that was triggered when he experienced cannabis-induced psychosis. As recounted by The Gazette of Colorado Springs, Yeager and a college friend had smoked marijuana during a hike when the friend called 911 after feeling threatened by Yeager, who brought a rifle with him to shoot after the hike. The friend told authorities Yeager had been “acting irrationally” and made statements suggesting paranoid delusions before being dropped off along an interstate.

During an ensuing encounter with Douglas County Sheriff’s Office deputies, Yeager pointed his rifle repeatedly at responding officers before a deputy shot him three times, killing him.

Yeager’s mom, Whitney Yeager, decided to tell the heart-breaking story in the documentary in hopes of alerting other parents to the potential dangers of pot use. Her account and others presented in the documentary attest to the effects of cannabis-induced psychosis, caused by consuming concentrated tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, pot’s psychoactive ingredient.

Yeager told The Gazette’s news staff her son’s high-potency cannabis use led to a series of obsessions, isolation, delusions, lost relationships and, ultimately, his death.

“There are countless families who are impacted by CIP,” Yeager said. She says she wants to educate those families — and she wants state policymakers to get serious about regulating high-potency pot.

“I’m fighting for Sam’s spirit right now,” Yeager said. “I’m seeking justice for him to make sure that nobody else has to die unnecessarily by using high-potency marijuana.”

She’s not alone; questions are being raised as never before about Big Marijuana as an industry and the perils of pot itself. Evidence is mounting about the dire health consequences of consuming the drug and about its safety record as a retail product. There’s depressing data, like how 43% of Colorado teens 15-19 years old who die by suicide have THC in their system at the time of death.

Shamefully, Colorado’s Legislature — where many ruling Democrats march in lockstep with Big Marijuana’s lobby — killed an effort this year to add some reasonable restraints to marijuana sales to keep it from falling so easily into kids’ hands.

Might Sam’s story change their minds? Watch it on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cCSy2eYIWQ&t=29s.

— From Tribune News Service