Terry McAuliffe’s guns, Andrew Cuomo’s marijuana

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Politicians must find their way in all the smoke between advocates for blazing guns and others for blazing reefer.

Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic governor of Virginia and a potential presidential candidate in 2020, is a member of the latter group. His bud Andrew Cuomo is, too.

Mr. Cuomo, like progressives elsewhere in this freedom-loving country of ours, has said it is time to remove “the criminal penalties that too often result in the over-prosecution and jailing of nonviolent individuals” because of pot prohibitions. While advocating decriminalization out of one side of his mouth, Mr. Cuomo used the other side to insist that the “illegal sale of marijuana cannot and will not be tolerated in New York state.”

That’s like another law-and-order reality: Punish the prostitutes, leave the Johns alone.

How Mr. Cuomo parlays his public safety position into support between now and 2020 must not be viewed through a single lens, and the American College of Pediatricians is quite succinct on the subject:

“Although increasing legalization of marijuana has contributed to the growing belief that marijuana is harmless, research documents the risks of its use by youth are grave. Marijuana is addicting, has adverse effects upon the adolescent brain, is a risk for both cardiorespiratory disease and testicular cancer, and is associated with both psychiatric illness and negative social outcomes. Evidence indicates limited legalization of marijuana has already raised rates of unintended marijuana exposure among young children, and may increase adolescent use.”

What’s more is that the cultivated marijuana that’s been available the past several years during the legalization push is three to five times stronger than the illegal weed on the streets a decade ago or so ago, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions already has said that increased use increases violence.

So what does pot do to young minds? It can create distorted perceptions, psychotic symptoms, difficulty with thinking and problem solving, disrupted learning and memory, and impaired reaction time, attention span, judgment, balance and coordination.

Think about that, and consider this example.

A young man who has been smoking pot since he was a teen gets behind the wheel of a car, pulls on a joint, miscalculates a bridge ramp, overcompensates by swerving in another direction and hits two oncoming vehicles. Scared out of his wits, he pulls out a legally registered handgun and pulls the trigger twice and police approach his vehicle. Scared out of his mind, he jumps from the vehicle and flees on foot. Police eventually find him crouching like a little boy in his grandma’s basement.

Whether the gun is legal or illegal is the issue for politicians like Mr. McAuliffe, who cannot seek a second term as governor. Firearms are the red-hot button to push when the push is for higher office — and especially when you aim to get the White House back into the hands of Democrats.

Second Amendment activists are gunning for a national concealed-carry initiative with President Trump. Theirs is surely an ambitious effort, and there’s no telling where the ambitious Mr. McAuliffe will stand come 2020.

Mr. McAuliffe’s future stance will surely be interesting, considering he OK’d legislation that allows Virginia to recognize gun owners’ conceal-carry permits from other states. Touch for a pol who acknowledges that Virginians like their guns and Second Amendment rights as much as their brethren in other states.

Know, too, that Mr. McAuliffe, head of the National Governors Association, is a strategist, a prolific Democratic fund-raiser, a party kingmaker, and liberal to his core.

And guess where he lives. Northern Virginia. Not so far away to smell the stench of incestuous politics, but close enough to lead the charge of the jackasses while Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress.

Mr. Cuomo and Mr. McAuliffe are of the same generation, having come into their own governorships after giving close-ups to Bill Clinton, who twice became president, and Hillary Clinton, who twice did not.

And get this: Mr. Cuomo is so smooth that he just announced the launch of his spanking new New York-Israel economic panel to encourage investment in Israel and strengthen law enforcement.

Ha! Guns, pot and 2020. Bring on the munchies. America’s gonna need ’em.

• Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.