Letters to the Editor: If California is targeting hemp products, why not go after alcohol?

To the editor: “The children! The children!” It’s always about the children. (“Cheech and Chong sue California over ban on certain hemp products,” Sept. 27)

Yes, studies show that cannabis is bad for developing brains. But, why single out only the cannabis industry to protect kids? Because it’s the newest?

Since California is implementing rules banning the sale of hemp products with a detectable amount of the psychoactive substance THC in them, then we should simultaneously rule that wine and spirits can only be sold if the alcohol content is below a certain level, and cigars, cigarettes and vapes can only be sold if the amount of nicotine in them is also below a certain level.

Does Sacramento naively think that kids don’t drink or smoke?

These products are for the legal use of adults only. It’s fine for the state to mandate that dispensaries, as with liquor stores, require IDs showing the proper age of the customer. But if the state is going to further burden the cannabis industry, which the federal government already restricts, it’s fair to recognize that the state is also restricting the rights of adults who wish to purchase those legal products.

Barry Davis, Agoura Hills

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To the editor: Isn’t it good to know the California Department of Public Health is now coming down with tough restrictions on small businesses that sell products containing hemp to protect young people? So what if they drive those folks out of business?

Of course alcohol has only one restriction: You must be 21 to buy it. It doesn’t matter how potent or how many bottles you buy. And it has far more proven dangerous effects of consumption than marijuana.

But California wouldn’t dare put more restrictions on the alcohol industry, probably because it makes big campaign donations to our politicians.

Tony Blake, Woodland Hills