Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) claims to be a Republican. The senator from Montana is supposed to be a conservative. As such, his values are supposed to align with our nation’s founding principles and ones that run counter to the current generation’s shift toward prioritizing hedonistic pursuits. Conservatives are supposed to be the good guys, the defenders of morality and individual responsibility in society, and live by a code that helps improve the lives of their fellow citizens, not enable those people to get addicted to a dangerous drug.
Yet that is what Daines is doing with his support of the SAFER Banking Act, a piece of legislation that helps the cannabis industry succeed and flourish. Despite the bill’s name, it’s an ethical betrayal of monumental proportions that will do the opposite in Montana and the country. The legislation expands the marijuana industry nationwide, which, in turn, helps make marijuana accessible to more people. This, as a result, will lead to an increase in people with an addiction to the drug.
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Consider the data released on Tuesday from the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health by the Department of Health and Human Services. It revealed the devastating effects the contemporary push to legalize marijuana has had on the country. It found that marijuana was the “most used illicit drug,” with 22% of people, starting as young as 12, reported using marijuana. Additionally, the number of people who reported driving under the influence of marijuana, which is a dangerous hazard to people on roads and highways, increased by 14.8%.
Furthermore, it is affecting the nation’s youth. Among 12-13-year-old children, statistics showed there was nearly a 20% increase in past-year use of marijuana, according to the report. Additionally, the reported past-month use of the drug increased approximately 7%. For 14-15-year-olds, it was even worse. Past-year use for this demographic was slightly above 20%, but “past-month use increased 34%,” the report found.
This should raise red flags everywhere. These aren’t the results of adults smoking marijuana on a Friday night. These are children vulnerable to the toxic and dangerous political actions of people such as Daines. And as numerous recent studies have shown the dangers associated with marijuana, elected officials such as Daines shouldn’t be helping the poisonous industry flourish. Doing so is a betrayal of epic proportions.
But quicker than former House Speaker John Boehner can say “puff, puff, pass,” before the release of this report, Daines defended his support for the bill. He provided an explanation of why he was the Democrats’ lackey in helping advance pro-marijuana legalization, such as the SAFER Banking Act. It was a bunch of performative politics from a senator looking to deflect any conversation regarding his decision.
“The ‘SAFER Banking Act’ is about keeping our Montana communities safe and reducing the risk of crime, but it’s also an important opportunity to ensure all legal businesses, including firearm manufacturers and energy producers, are protected from the Left’s woke agenda,” Daines said. “No legal Montana business should be shut out of banks or credit unions. I’m glad to work with my colleagues to strengthen this bill and ensure Montana businesses are able to access financial institutions.”
First, health concerns aside, consider the political optics. Daines has aligned himself and promoted a piece of legislation prominently displayed on the Senate Democrats’ website. It’s a bill lavishly praised by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) because of the benefits it will bring to the marijuana industry. Daines is supposed to be the Republican senator from Montana, not Schumer’s "pot puppet" in the Big Sky State.
Next, it’s a bill that facilitates the growth of the marijuana industry. And as the industry grows, more people start to use it. The increase in usage will correspond to a rise in people experiencing dangerous health conditions associated with the drug, studies have shown. Using marijuana has been linked to everything from suicide ideation, psychosis, loss of intelligence, and heart failure and heart attacks. Moreover, it also makes driving less safe in states that have legalized the drug.
Furthermore, Daines’s efforts raise several questions: Why is he working so hard to help Democrats endanger and poison the people of the country? Did Daines secretly attend the John Boehner School of Marijuana Betrayal in Politics? Have profits always mattered more to him than principle?
Republicans are the people who have traditionally been the nation’s moral compass. Daines is betraying this tenet of Republicanism. He should care more about the welfare of his country’s men and women rather than the almighty buck. All the money in the world won’t replace the lives of people who will, unfortunately, suffer because the nation’s elected officials didn’t take the studies that warned of the dangerous effects of marijuana seriously.
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Daines should be ashamed of his pro-marijuana efforts, especially since they have shown to be an ever-increasing danger to children. How could someone look at themselves in the mirror while supporting such legislation and claiming to be a conservative Republican? Moreover, how could someone look at themselves in the mirror knowing that what Daines is doing as a politician has shown to endanger the lives of young people between 12 and 15 years old?
Putting profit before principle is one thing. Putting it before the safety of the nation’s most vulnerable population is another disgusting and immoral thing altogether. Senators are supposed to help protect children, not do things in office that poison them.