Plenty of Colorado parents who supported legalizing marijuana on the 2012 ballot may be experiencing buyer’s remorse today. Not because they feel any different about why they and a lot of others voted for it — i.e., “you shouldn’t go to jail just for smoking a joint” — but because of the ballot proposal’s fine print, which few voters thought about at the time.

Notably, the creation of a whole new retail industry that delivers supercharged pot at a potency — and consumable in a variety of products — unimaginable a mere dozen or so years ago. And it is falling into Colorado kids’ hands even though it theoretically is available only to adults.

Today’s pot is infused in concentrates and loaded into disposable vape pens. Curious, naive middle-schoolers can conceal it in their backpacks and discreetly use it on their lunch breaks.

And pot’s toll on our kids has been tragic. A lot of damage has been done — from surging traffic fatalities on Colorado’s roadways to THC-induced psychosis in Colorado’s youth. The grim data is amassing.

That’s why it was troubling to learn from national news reports last week that President Trump may continue down the Biden administration’s path toward “reclassifying” marijuana under federal law.

Pot currently is designated as a Schedule I controlled substance under federal drug laws, meaning federal authorities regard it as having negligible value and worthy of stiffer sentences under criminal law. Big Marijuana’s lobby seeks, as a next step, to change that designation to the less restrictive Schedule III. It would let the marijuana industry tap into tax breaks and financial services like banking. Reclassification also could reduce the social stigma against pot.

It’s the last thing the country needs.

The original premise for decriminalization among rank-and-file voters — the vast majority of whom don’t use pot — is moot and has been for a long time. Whether in states like Colorado that have decriminalized or in other states that wisely have avoided that pitfall, the reality is that virtually no one goes to jail anymore for simple use or possession of small amounts.

So, the only benefits from reclassification would flow to the industry itself, and it reportedly has been lobbying the Trump administration hard to make the change. We don’t need to shovel more money into greedy and cynical Big Marijuana’s coffers.

Engorging the industry only will better enable it to do what it does best — undermine society and especially our youth.

There is mounting evidence of the dire health consequences of consuming the drug and of its safety record as a retail product under Colorado’s far-from-rigorous system of regulation. A Denver Gazette investigation found Colorado’s retail-marijuana regulations are riddled with loopholes that allow consumers to be deceived about everything from pot’s potency to the prevalence of dangerous pesticides, solvents and mold.

A landmark investigative report by The New York Times, reprinted last year by The Gazette, explored how doctors are contending with the effects of an “explosion in the use of the drug and its intensity.” The report found “with more people consuming more potent cannabis more often, a growing number, mostly chronic users, are enduring serious health consequences.”

Alongside all that is a lot of depressing, hard data. Like the fact that 43% of Colorado teens 15-19 years old who die by suicide have marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient, THC, in their system at the time of death. For Hispanic teens in that age range, the number climbs to 49%. For Black teens it’s a devastating 67%. That’s according to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment’s Violent Death Reporting System.

Don’t compound the mistake of state-by-state legalization by easing up at the federal level. And don’t reward an industry that trades in misery.

the gazette editorial board