SAM, at Rx Summit, attacks MORE Act and commercialization of cannabis

Abstract

The MORE Act, recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and supported by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D‐N.Y.) and others, would fully commercialize the legal nonmedical use of cannabis, something that the advocacy organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) is dead‐set against. Last month at the Rx Summit in Atlanta, SAM announced the creation of a broad coalition of groups to oppose the current momentum of cannabis legalization. Among the key risk factors that the bills fails to address, according to SAM, are: lack of data on how marijuana use impacts people with underlying mental health issues, particularly among youth; lack of public information, education or regulatory solutions around the impact of increased tetrahydrocannabinol concentrations; increased usage among minors; an increase in marijuana‐related traffic fatalities and the takeover by “Big Tobacco” of the cannabis industry. Tobacco giant Altria has already invested more than a billion dollars in the industry, which SAM refers to as marijuana instead of cannabis. SAM supports removing criminal penalties for low‐level marijuana possession and “recognizes people of color have been disproportionately impacted,” said Kevin Sabet, Ph.D., founder of SAM. M ass commercialization and marketing will distort the public's understanding of the harm the drug poses to public safety and health, according to SAM. “No one should go to jail for a joint, but Chuck Schumer and the MORE Act in the House are creating a commercial addiction industry overnight with a blank check to Big Tobacco stapled to the bill,” said Sabet. “Weed has been supercharged by this industry to a level we have never seen before. To hastily legalize the drug with few safety measures is certain to produce the same failures we have seen in California, Colorado, Oregon and other states. If we allow it to become commercialized, we'll see the industry follow Big Tobacco's example of suppressing information about health and safety risks and profiting from the most vulnerable communities.”