USA: Pro-Weed Research Flawed!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 8, 2019
CONTACT: Colton Grace [email protected] (864)-492-6719

New Data By Koch-Funded Researchers Claiming Legalization Discourages Teen Use Is Deeply Flawed

(Alexandria, VA) – Today, a study published in JAMA Pediatrics purports to show the legalization of marijuana leads to a reduction in teen use of the substance. This study, funded in part by the pro-drug legalization Charles Koch Foundation, is flawed for several reasons:
\”To put it simply, this study is awash with problems,\” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, founder of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and a former senior drug policy advisor to the Obama Administration. \”The data here runs counter to what we see from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health: youth use is on the rise in \’legal\’ states while declining elsewhere. If you truly think that the legalization, commercialization, and normalization of marijuana has led to less young people using it, I have a bridge to sell you.\”
According to NSDUH data, the percentage of youth aged 12-17 using marijuana is declining faster in states where marijuana is not \”legal,\” and overall use is high in legal states while declining in non-legal states. Further, the percentage of youth in this age range using the drug in \”legal\” states was 7.7% versus 6.2% in non-legal states.
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\”More research will be needed on this front,\” continued Sabet. \”A perfect example of the need for additional research comes from this very same publication. In 2014, JAMA   published an article purporting that states that have legalized marijuana saw a reduction in opioid overdoses over states that did not. In the years since, this study has been among the key talking points of the marijuana industry and its supporters. Then just last month, a  study using the same methods and published in the same journal showed the completely opposite result. When it comes to drug policy, we simply cannot put all of our eggs in one basket.\”
To note, the same researchers authoring this study have also previously claimed marijuana legalization reduces traffic fatalities (although the overwhelming majority of state data shows otherwise) and reduces suicide (although numerous studies show use of high potency marijuana is  linked with suicide ideation ).
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About SAM:
Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) is a nonpartisan, non-profit alliance of physicians, policy makers, prevention workers, treatment and recovery professionals, scientists, and other concerned citizens opposed to marijuana legalization who want health and scientific evidence to guide marijuana policies. SAM has affiliates in more than 30 states.
Evidence shows that marijuana – which has skyrocketed in average potency over the past decades – is addictive and harmful to the human brain especially when used by adolescents. In states that have already legalized the drug, there has been an increase in drugged driving crashes, youth marijuana use, and costs that far outweigh pot revenues.These states have seen  a black market that continues to thrive, sustained disparities in marijuana arrest rates, and tobacco company investment in marijuana.
Marijuana is not a harmless drug. View the stories of its victims here.

For more information about marijuana use and its effects, visit www.learnaboutsam.org

 

GLOBAL – Parents PLEASE Tell Your Kids About Pot!

ALEX BERENSON EDITORIAL SUGGESTS PARENTS STEP UP TO THE PLATE

This was supposed to be the year full cannabis legalization in the U.S. moved much closer to being a reality.  Instead it has been a disaster for advocates.  Although Illinois legalized recreational use on the final day of its legislative schedule, a half-dozen other deep-blue states that were expected to legalize failed to follow – including New York.

Advocates want to believe legalization on their terms, with few restrictions on marketing and limits potentially as low as 18, remains inevitable.  Polls show that between 62% and 66%of Americans support legalization.  But cannabis supporters are wrong, and the pushback against marijuana has only begun.

Why?  Because teen use is on the rise.  And the experience of the 1970s – the last time cannabis advocates believed they might win full national acceptance – shows that the strongest voices against cannabis use aren’t police officers or even physicians.  They’re parents. …As teenage use of cannabis exploded during the 1970s, many parents became deeply concerned. The drug seemed to damage their children’s motivation, memory and grades. …

Not coincidentally, in states where legalization failed this year, wealthier suburban lawmakers proved a crucial political stumbling block.  Because of the cost of vaping, the habit seems to be more attractive to upper-middle class kids, and their parents are nw seeing marijuana’s real risks up close.  As that knowledge spreads, the media is likely to take a more skeptical stance, and national support for legalization will shrink.

Alex Berenson, The Wall Street Journal As published in the Chicago Tribune, July 3, 2019

Alex Berenson is the author of Tell Your Children the Truth about Marijuana, Mental Health and Violence and 12 other books.

For more https://poppot.org/2019/07/05/alex-berenson-editorial-suggests-parents-step-up-to-the-plate/

 

USA: Meth Booming in Washington State! The Permission Model Promotes ALL Drug Use!

Meth is back in King County, bigger than it’s been for decades

June 18, 2019

In recent years, more meth than ever has been smuggled into Washington in secret compartments. This meth was found in a tire seized in the greater Tacoma, Washington, area “within… (DEA) More

By  Scott Greenstone Seattle Times Project Homeless engagement editor

Jay walked into the emergency room at Swedish on First Hill in April and said he was trying to quit meth. The 45-year-old Seattle resident and returning student had been off the drug only a few days. His esophagus, chest and stomach were a river of pain, and he didn’t know why.

“I just wanted somebody to tell me what was wrong with me. I didn’t know and I was so sick,” said Jay, who asked that his last not be used. “I sat in the emergency room for hours, and I got nothing.”

Jay left, and went back to the drug.

The era of the American meth lab is over a decade gone, yet pure, cheap meth is back and bigger than ever in Western Washington. When Seattle residents point to needles proliferating on sidewalks, they usually say heroin’s to blame; however, a bigger proportion of those needles in recent years is actually from people injecting meth, according to King County syringe exchange surveys.

Now, more people are dying in Washington from methamphetamine than during the height of the last meth wave in the early 2000s. Rates of death from meth were four times higher in 2017 than in 2005, right before Congress passed regulations to stop its production. The increase has almost entirely taken place in the last seven years.

In recent years, more meth has been smuggled into Washington in secret compartments, such as the one hidden in this tire, seized in the Tacoma area. (DEA)

“A lot of people have thought of methamphetamine as something that just went away and had been overtaken by the opioid problem,” said Sterling McPherson, head of the Analytics and Psychopharmacology Laboratory at Washington State University. “I didn’t really hear people talking about methamphetamine until relatively recently.”

But while heroin has dominated the drug conversation in King County, meth has crept up and quietly surpassed it. Last year, for the first time, more people in King County died with meth in their systems than heroin – 164 versus 156. (That doesn’t include illicit fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, which was found in another 65 dead people last year.)

“There’s a lot more meth, it’s incredibly pure, and it’s cheap,” said Caleb Banta-Green, director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington. “In our interviews, we’re hearing people say, ‘I don’t even really want to use meth, but when I go buy my heroin, they just give it to me.’ It’s that cheap and available.”

Opioid-related fatalities in King County have started to level off with the proliferation of the rescue drug NarCan and treatment medications, but unlike heroin, meth addiction can’t be treated with replacement drugs such as buprenorphine.

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Even more distressing: As the meth epidemic has risen to stand alongside the heroin epidemic, more people shaking heroin addiction find themselves still hooked on meth. Meth use among people who were getting treatment – like methadone – for opioid use virtually doubled, from 19% in 2011 to 34% in 2017.

To many, meth will seem like a drug of the past. The state logged reports of nearly 9,500 clandestine meth labs from 1999 to 2005, the peak years of the home-cooked-meth epidemic. That year,  Congress passed laws limiting retail over-the-counter sales of drugs like pseudoephedrine, which “mom and pop” meth labs used to make meth. Since 2011, there have been just 212 meth-lab sites reported statewide, according to the state Department of Ecology.

But drug cartels south of the American border stepped in to fill demand, making more and more meth in “superlabs” in Mexico and shipping it, along with heroin and fentanyl, up Interstate 5 – hidden away in tires, paint cans and hidden compartments in semi-trucks – according to Keith Weis, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Pacific Northwest division.

In one four-week period this spring, the DEA seized 400 pounds of meth in the Pacific Northwest.

For complete article https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/meth-is-back-its-bigger-than-ever-in-king-county-and-theres-no-treatment/?utm_source=marketingcloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Morning+Brief+6-18-19_6_18_2019&utm_term=

USA: Big Pot – What Price for the People?

What Big Pot doesn’t want you to know about costs of legalizing marijuana

June 13, 2019

Lobbyists and lawmakers everywhere like to make bold-but-reality-challenged claims to advance legislation. But in its push to legalize commercial weed, the marijuana industry has taken legislative myth-peddling to brazen new lows.

New York’s lawmakers have a few days left to show the nation they won’t be duped. Here are some of the tallest of the tales that have swirled around Albany, thanks to the pot industry:

First, the industry claims high-potency commercial weed will provide social justice and economic opportunity for minority communities.

African American legislators in New Jersey didn’t fall for that, and their New York counterparts shouldn’t, either. The pot industry – backed by Big Tobacco and wealthy, mostly white Wall Street investors – is looking to line its own pockets. These multinational forces aren’t getting into pot to help minority entrepreneurs.

Remember when liquor stores and smoke shops were clustered in largely low-income and minority neighborhoods? Pot shops selling high-potency drugs engineered to create regular customers won’t lead to any more empowerment and opportunity for urban populations than clustered vice stores did.

There has been no quantifiable positive economic impact for such communities in legalized states. In fact, taxpayers and communities have had to shoulder an estimated $4.50 in social costs for every $1 in revenue, according to researchers at the Centennial Institute.

Second, the pot industry wants people to think that marijuana laws are the cause of gross racial disparities in arrest and incarceration rates. The argument: Legalize pot to reduce minority arrests.

That’s another canard. No state that passed legalization has seen a drop in prison populations. Studies out of Colorado and Washington show African Americans and Hispanics are still twice as likely to be arrested for marijuana. In Washington, DC, marijuana arrests nearly tripled after legalization.

A study funded by the National Institutes of Health showed that the density of marijuana dispensaries was linked to increased property crimes. Researchers found that in Denver, neighborhoods adjacent to marijuana businesses saw more property crimes each year than neighborhoods without a marijuana shop. Of course, crime and other social pathologies related to pot hit lower-income areas first and hardest.

People shouldn’t get locked up for having a joint in their pocket. Legislators can look to advance criminal justice reforms concerning possession of small amounts of marijuana without throwing the doors open to a predatory industry that will have significant and irreconcilable impact on public health. That’s real social justice.

Third, the industry is peddling the message that pot revenue will do everything from fix the subways to help schools in minority neighborhoods.

Jack-pot! Colorado surpasses $1B in marijuana tax revenue

But former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said it best when he called pot revenue “a drop in the bucket.” Former California Gov. Jerry Brown agreed, noting that “we knew there wasn’t going to be any money.” Revenues aren’t going to swell in New York, either. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s best estimate for pot revenue is $300 million annually, paltry for a state with annual expenditures of $175 billion.

The industry never talks about costs. Law enforcement costs to handle public safety concerns are estimated to range from $820.3 million to more than $1 billion over the first five years for new training and equipment, according to a report from my group, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, and the New York State Sheriffs’ Association. That’s to say nothing of the price of mental-health and other social-services at the local level.

A Washington state traffic study of 2,355 drivers found that only six months after introducing commercial pot, daytime drivers testing positive for THC almost tripled. Traffic fatalities that involved drivers intoxicated with marijuana in Colorado rose by 86% between 2013 and 2017, with roughly one-fifth of all traffic fatalities involving a driver testing positive for marijuana by 2017.

Finally, pro-pot activists want lawmakers to think that this is about smoking some harmless joints. They ignore the fact that the industry is investing billions in high-potency edible and vaping products that are up to 99% THC. There is a growing body of medical and scientific research that demonstrates prolonged exposure to THC is leading to drops in IQ, psychosis, suicide, depression, schizophrenia and other disorders.

Immediately following commercialization in Colorado, calls to poison centers skyrocketed 80%, because high-potency THC is a dangerous drug.

New York’s leaders shouldn’t buy the spin or allow themselves to be pawns in a corporate-funded social experiment for profit. They need to get this right.

For complete story https://nypost.com/2019/06/13/what-big-pot-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-costs-of-legalizing-marijuana/

 

UK: Cannabis \’Decriminalization\’ by stealth – The price? A Nations Health!

Cannabis laws up in smoke: Campaigners fear drug is being unofficially legalised after it emerges up to NINE out of ten people caught in possession are not charged with crime

  • Across England, an average of just 22 per cent of possession offences led to a criminal charge last year — down from 27 per cent in 2017
  • In Cornwall and Devon only 14 per cent of cases of possession led to a charge
  • Anti-drugs campaigners say figures show drug is being \’unofficially legalised\’

By SOPHIE BORLAND and IAN DRURY FOR THE DAILY MAIL PUBLISHED: 17 June 2019

Nine in ten cannabis users and growers in some areas of England are being let off without a criminal charge, a Mail investigation reveals.

Despite a string of warnings over the drug’s harmful long-term effects, many are getting away with a simple telling-off.

Figures show the proportion of users who are charged for possession of cannabis has fallen sharply.

Across England, an average of just 22 per cent of possession offences led to a criminal charge last year — down from 27 per cent in 2017.

 

But in Devon and Cornwall, only 14 per cent of cases led to a charge, while in Leicestershire it was 13 per cent and in Surrey just 12 per cent.

The remainder either escaped with a caution or a fine, an official ‘warning’ or ‘community resolution’ such as attending an educational workshop, or they had their case dropped altogether.

Separate figures for cannabis cultivation — a more serious crime than possession — show that some forces are also charging as few as one in ten offenders.

Last night, anti-drug campaigners said the figures showed the drug was being ‘unofficially legalised’ by police chiefs, and branded the approach as an ‘encouragement to break the law’.

The news comes after Northamptonshire Police revealed on Friday that officers had found a cannabis factory in what used to be a Gala Bingo hall that could have produced drugs worth about £2.8 million each year.

Cannabis has been linked to depression, suicidal thoughts and psychosis, which causes hallucinations. Many fear it acts as a gateway to harder drugs, too.

Only last month the head of the NHS, Simon Stevens, said Britain risked making a ‘big mistake’ by relaxing the laws on cannabis.

Despite the warnings, some police chiefs are actively calling for the drug to be legalised, while others have urged officers to be even more lenient with offenders. Home Office figures on cannabis possession show that in Northamptonshire — where the cannabis factory was discovered — just 18 per cent of offences led to a formal charge in 2018. In North Yorkshire, the rate was just 14 per cent.

In Hampshire, Staffordshire and West Yorkshire, more than half of possession crimes in 2018 led to a ‘community resolution.’ Usually this involves officers confiscating the substance and giving individuals a telling-off. Avon and Somerset Police have half-day education workshops for first-time offenders.

In March, the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, Dave Thompson, revealed how officers were even avoiding issuing ‘warnings’ for cannabis offences, so as not to ‘criminalise’ young people.

Additional data from 20 police forces in England, obtained using Freedom of Information laws, reveal that just 22 per cent of cannabis production crimes in 2018 led to a charge — down from 32 per cent the previous year.

West Yorkshire Police said only 10 per cent of cases led to a charge. In Durham, the rate is 11 per cent.

The dangers of \’skunk\’

Cannabis has been linked to depression, suicidal thoughts and psychosis, which causes hallucinations and delusional thoughts.

A major Lancet study in March found that use of ‘skunk’ — high-strength cannabis — increased the risk of psychosis by five-fold. Oxford University research the previous month showed that teenagers who smoked the substance were a third more likely to develop depression.

NHS figures obtained by the Mail revealed that nine-year-old children had been treated in hospital for harms caused by cannabis. They were among 3,400 under-19s admitted last year with mental and behavioural disorders directly related to the substance. Cannabis is also believed to be a gateway drug to heroin, cocaine and LSD.

David Green, director of the think-tank Civitas, said: ‘These figures provide even stronger evidence that the police have unofficially legalised cannabis in many parts of the country. Many police leaders want to legalise cannabis. Some are openly in favour of changing the law, while others turn a blind eye.

‘The tragedy is that they are doing so at a time when doctors are increasingly worried about the impact on the mental health of cannabis users, and especially our young people. Modern forms of cannabis, such as skunk, are at least twice as potent as varieties that were available in the 1970s.’

Mary Brett, of charity Cannabis Skunk Sense, said: ‘There’s a law there and it’s the police’s job to enforce it. It’s counter-productive and kids know they will be let off with a caution or a warning.’

David Raynes, of the National Drug Prevention Alliance, added: ‘It’s just stupid and irresponsible — an encouragement to break the law.’

For complete story https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7147651/Cannabis-laws-smoke-Campaigners-fear-drug-unofficially-legalised.html

 

USA: Opioid Crisis or Mental Health Crisis

Suicides and drug overdose rates are at an all-time high. So much so that US life expectancy is declining.

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A.A.L.M Media Contact
Southern California, Scott Chipman   619 990 7480[email protected]
Northern California, Carla Lowe         916 708 4111[email protected]
Our increased use of social media is fueling envy, comparison, anxiety, depression and, yes, suicide. Being bullied is a common affliction for children and teens. https://www.educationcorner.com/bullying-facts-statistics-and-prevention.html 

At the same time, the marijuana industry has been distributing false messages that marijuana is medicine, that it isn\’t harmful, that it helps reduce anxiety and it makes people happy. These are the snake oil messages for the 21st century. Many adults and some legislatures have been buying the messages that the pot industry has been selling and our young people and their families are paying the price. The price includes addiction, loss of memory, mental and physical impairment, loss of motivation, depression, more anxiety (not less), car crashes, a loss of relationships, paranoia, psychosis, full-blown schizophrenia, and suicide. In short, using marijuana (and all psychoactive drugs) eliminates no problems in the lives of users but adds several or many more problems, some deadly.

President of AALM, Carla Lowe, warns,
\”Very few people know the serious risks that come from using today\’s high strength marijuana. We must get the kids, the parents and the general public to know the truth about today\’s pot. When that was done in the 1980\’s use was cut by more than half. It saves a lot of lives and grief.\”

Opioid use is up in states that have \”legalized\” marijuana. States with medical marijuana laws had average rates of opioid overdose deaths that were nearly 23% higher than those without these laws. Since marijuana legalization, opioid-related deaths have risen 49% in Colorado. https://www.lohud.com/story/news/investigations/2019/06/10/new-york-marijuana-billboards/1371023001/ Teens indicate that when the pot runs out there is always someone with pills. Being high on pot makes a smart decision regarding taking pills very unlikely.

Scott Chipman Vice President of AALM,
\”We will never control the flood that is the \’opioid crisis\’ unless we significantly close down one of the spigots which is marijuana use. Just as important, is addressing the underlying spiritual vacuum that drives people to escape real life and try to live in a fake altered mental state. The real solution to America\’s mental illness drug use epidemic is personal connections, purpose in life, and self-worth\”

As The First Lady Melania Trump recently said, \”Love yourself more than you love drugs.\”

 

 

USA: S.A.M In Cross Hairs of MMP! Making a Difference for OUR KIDS

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Unless you are on the Marijuana Policy Project\’s (MPP) email list, you may have missed this. You know MPP – the national legalization group ran by the pot industry, known for calling legalization \”inevitable,\” and holding positions inconsistent with the National Academy of Sciences. They sent out a fundraising email trying to raise money off of the recent slew of victories WE have had across the country defeating legalization bills.

MPP resorted to distorting the facts and slandering SAM and SAM staff in the email. We\’re not shocked, but this time we responded to their baseless claims in a twitter thread you can view by clicking here.

MPP states that SAM has \”plenty of resources,\” implying we are the deep pocketed group in the debate over marijuana commercialization. In reality, MPP and its fellow pot industry promoters are touting an industry actively racking in billions from vice industries such as Big Tobacco, Big Alcohol, and Big Pharma.

As you know, SAM\’s funding comes mostly from small family foundations and concerned parents who have seen firsthand the result of legalization and want to save others from its negative impacts. We take no Pharma money.

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=fI0aBwDRnU7JBJrKcf5suF8ePQKaN47Sm_5doVvVyR8GAjRGBEXihzZLIaSsxl_gqXwkl0&fromUL=true&country.x=US&locale.x=en_US

2019 has been a banner year for SAM. MPP\’s email, in fact, proves it.

We will never stop working to put public health and safety above addiction-for-profit schemes. But we need supporters like you to help by chipping in today to help us combat the lies and slander of groups like MPP, the Drug Policy Alliance, and the National Cannabis Industry Association. These groups take the profits of the industry and put them towards expanding Big Marijuana and rolling back regulations.

If you can, please click here to chip in $100, $250, $500, or $1,000 to help us continue winning the fight for public health, safety, and commonsense.

Thank you for believing in us. Let\’s continue putting people before profit.

Dr. Kevin Sabet,

Founder and President, Smart Approaches to Marijuana
About SAM: Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) is a nonpartisan, non-profit alliance of physicians, policy makers, prevention workers, treatment and recovery professionals, scientists, and other concerned citizens opposed to marijuana legalization who want health and scientific evidence to guide marijuana policies. SAM has affiliates in more than 30 states.

Evidence shows that marijuana – which has skyrocketed in average potency over the past decades –  is addictive and harmful to the human brain especially when used by adolescents. In states that have already legalized the drug, there has been an increase in drugged driving crashes, youth marijuana use, and costs that far outweigh pot revenues.These states have seen a black market that continues to thrive, a black market that continues to thrive, sustained disparities in marijuana arrest rates, and tobacco company investment in marijuana.

For more information about marijuana use and its effects, visit www.learnaboutsam.org

 

S.A.M Weed News Roundup! What\’s REALLY Going On!

SANews Roundup
July 2019
Here is a brief rundown of marijuana news as well as an update on what we have been up to over the last month.

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Rejection of Commercial Weed Biggest Blow Yet to Big Marijuana

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Despite massive spending and lobbying by Big Marijuana and its allies, the New York State Legislature rejected commercial marijuana. This is a massive victory for SAM as we spearheaded the opposition to the bill and led a massive grassroots coalition.
\”New York legislators learned that commercializing marijuana brings along a host of significant health, safety and societal costs that result in no tax money and no social justice,\” said SAM president Dr. Kevin Sabet. \”The predatory pot industry wanted legislators to believe that this was simple. Like they did in New Jersey, they said it was inevitable. The industry told people it would rain money for a host of pet projects, that our young people wouldn\’t be at risk and drugged driving concerns were overblown. Thankfully, New York\’s parents, doctors, law enforcement, teachers and many lawmakers didn\’t fall for the con.
\”New Yorkers can be assured we will continue working to prevent the industry from making gains in further sessions, and we will redouble our efforts to protect young people and those in low income and minority communities who are subjected to relentless in targeting, exploitation and victimization by Big Marijuana. We will continue to work every day to put public health and safety over the profits of this addiction-for-profit industry.\”
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United Nations World Drug Report Castigates American Jurisdictions for Lax Marijuana Policies

SAM Chief of Staff joins C-SPAN\’s Washington Journal
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The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released the latest edition of the annual World Drug Report, specifically calling out the United States, and jurisdictions like Colorado, for their lax marijuana policies. The report found fewer young people view the drug as having harmful health impacts, average potency of products has risen, and large corporations are beginning to infiltrate the industry.
\”This report is a global wake-up call,\” said SAM president Dr. Kevin Sabet. \”Effective drug policy is one that discourages use and creates means for people to get help with substance use disorders. As this survey indicates, drug policy in the United States has instead encouraged use.\”
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SAM Chief of Staff and Senior Policy AdvisorLuke Niforatos joined C-SPAN\’s Washington Journal recently to discuss SAM\’s recent accomplishments and why we are so passionate about fighting to defend public health and safety from Big Marijuana.
\”I have spoken with a number of people who advocated on the anti-tobacco fight for many years, and they are saying with this push to legalize marijuana, all of the gains we got against tobacco are being rolled back. It was all for nothing. Unfortunately, there is so much misinformation being put out right now. People do not think secondhand marijuana smoke is the same thing as secondhand tobacco smoke, and it is. The American Lung Association tells us it is just as carcinogenic as tobacco smoke is. Science must prevail. We must listen to our public health professionals and our scientists. The thing with any public health issue, we have got to let science rule the day.\”
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SAM Marks International Day Against Drug Abuse With Special Consultative Status Granted By the United Nations

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On the occasion of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) was notified by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that it received special consultative status to the United Nations. This status allows SAM to designate official representatives to the UN headquarters in New York, Geneva, and Vienna, and submit written and oral statements to the Council.

\”We are immensely grateful for this honor,\” said SAM president Dr. Kevin Sabet. \”This decision speaks volumes to the drug policy work SAM\’s volunteers and staff does at home and abroad. Though we don\’t often tout our international work, we have been honored to be involved with several international organizations, including the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, and we look forward to further helping craft drug policy on the international level.\”

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House Adopts Amendment Blocking FDA from Protecting Children From Marijuana Industry

Congress Must Reject the Blumenauer/McClintock Amendment on Marijuana
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The United States House of Representatives narrowly voted to approve the Blumenauer/McClintockamendment to the Fiscal Year 2019 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill that will prohibit Department of Justice funding from being used to enforce federal law upon stores, facilities, and growers trafficking in so-called recreational marijuana. As a result of this amendment, the Food and Drug Administration – which uses the DOJ to take action against entities that fail to adhere to FDA guidelines – will be powerless to hold the industry accountable for marketing harmful, high potency marijuana products in kid-friendly forms.

\”Though this vote has little chance of passing in the Senate and becoming law, it is unfortunate the members of the House who voted in support of this amendment have been duped by the pot industry into thinking this amendment is a good idea,\” said Dr. Kevin Sabet. \”This amendment, spearheaded by one of the largest recipients of marijuana industry donations in Congress, is a massive handout to Big Marijuana and effectively sends the message that no matter how many health and safety harms the industry causes, it is protected from federal oversight.\”

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Pot industry supporters in Congress snuck an amendment into a recent spending bill that would essentially prevent the FDA from taking enforcement action against bad actors in the marijuana industry that refuse to take heed of warnings from the public health watchdog. SAM president Dr. Kevin Sabet penned an oped outlining why this amendment must be defeated and its intentions exposed:
\”The FDA relies on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to take enforcement action when a company refuses to comply with warnings from the FDA. Should this amendment pass into law, the FDA would be hamstrung as they would not be able to use the DOJ to bring about enforcement action against those who are actively taking advantage of the cover given by this amendment.

\”It is time our policy makers listened to the science and put public health and safety above the profits of addiction industries. The playbook of Big Tobacco is being replicated by Big Marijuana. Don\’t be duped, Congress. Reject addiction-for-profit and reject the Blumenauer/McClintock amendment.\”

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New Study Finds Pot Revenue Could Be Largely Wiped Out By Increased Costs to Law Enforcement
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A new study shows that a huge percentage of New York\’s estimated revenue from legal pot sales would need to be directed toward costs associated with law enforcement and protecting public safety. Smart Approaches to Marijuana New York (SAM NY), in cooperation with theNew York State Sheriffs\’ Association, has released a first-of-its-kind study analyzing costs of marijuana legalization on the state\’s law enforcement and emergency services agencies and local governments.

\”Big Marijuana has told legislators money will basically be falling from the sky if they approve commercial pot,\” said Dr. Kevin Sabet. \”What this study shows is by conservative estimates, just the law enforcement costs of legal pot will require either using much of the state revenue for public safety or local municipalities and property taxpayers getting stuck with a big bill.\”

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New National Poll: 62% of Registered Voters Disapprove of Marijuana Commercialization
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker Signs Marijuana Legalization Bill Into Law Putting Profits Above Health and Safety
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According to a new national poll, 62% of registered voters do not support the legalization and commercialization of marijuana when given more options than prosecuting possession or full legalization. The false dichotomy of legalization versus incarceration is pervasive in national polling and is promoted by the marijuana industry and its supporters as it makes it seem more popular than it actually is.
\”Big Marijuana pushes the false narrative that marijuana legalization is supported by the overwhelming majority of Americans,\” said Dr. Kevin Sabet. \”The more people learn the truth of what commercial pot looks like, and the more they hear of the negative impacts it has on health and safety, the more they oppose allowing Big Marijuana from setting foot in their state.\”
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Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed a bill to legalize the use of marijuana and its commercial sale into law, over the advice of the overwhelming majority of medical associations, public safety organizations, and social justice advocates.
\”With the stroke of his pen, Governor Pritzker has signed a check to his family – who are massively invested in Big Pot and laughing their way to their offshore tax shelters – and put the interests of Big Marijuana ahead of the health and safety of Illinois residents. While New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, Connecticut, Vermont, Hawaii, Minnesota and Rhode Island all rejected the commercialization of highly potency pot this year, Illinois chose to bend to the demands of this addiction-for-profit industry.\”
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SAM Releases Comprehensive Lessons Learned From Legalization Report

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SAM released its third annual  Lessons Learned Report , a comprehensive study of the data outcomes in \’legalized\’ marijuana states. This study, validated by researchers from institutions such as Harvard and Johns Hopkins University and used as primary source material by international, federal, state, and local officials, as well as countless community organizations, finds that states that have legalized marijuana are witnessing rising use rates, thriving black markets, and harms among disadvantaged communities.
\”As a handful of states are considering relaxing their marijuana laws, this  report will continue to serve as an eye-opener for lawmakers and slow the rush to legalize,\” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, president of SAM. \”The commercialization of marijuana has been profitable for the industries such as Big Tobacco, yet tax revenues are falling short and serious, costly consequences abound. It is time to admit that marijuana legalization is a failed policy.\”
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MARIJUANA: PREVENTING ANOTHER BIG TOBACCO MEDIA CAMPAIGN TOOLKIT NOW AVAILABLE

Big Marijuana is borrowing the playbook of Big Tobacco in search of the same deep profits at the expense of addicted users. It is time to combat their game with the facts! To help you do so, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) has partnered with Communities for Alcohol and Drug Free Youth (CADY) to offer a comprehensive media campaign prevention toolkit.
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As always, thank you for being a SAM supporter. If you can, please chip-in with a small donation by clicking here.

If you can\’t chip-in, then at the very least,  and help grow the SAM community.

 

CANADA: Canadian Cannabis Chaos Continues!

Toronto is resorting to giant cement blocks to keep illegal pot shops from reopening

About a dozen illegal dispensaries still operating in Toronto, city official says

CBC News Jun 07, 2019

There\’s a new weapon in the city\’s battle against illegal pot dispensaries: giant cement blocks.

Two photos posted to Reddit show the blocks stacked up in front of alleged cannabis dispensaries, blocking entry.

It\’s the latest move to put a stop to illegal dispensaries that have been able to operate thanks in part to a legal loophole in the province\’s Cannabis Control Act.

That loophole has prevented authorities from barring access to, and removing people from, suspected dispensaries that were also being used as residences.

\”This has proven to be a bit more of a substantial tactic,\” said Mark Sraga, the city\’s director of investigation services for municipal licensing and standards.

Illegal cannabis storefronts have persisted in Toronto despite raids and attempts to bar the stores\’ entryways using other means, including steel doors. Sraga estimates about a dozen are still in operation despite enforcement measures.

Bill to close loophole passes at Queen\’s Park

But on Thursday, a bill aiming to close the loophole – by removing the exception around dispensaries that might also serve as residences – received royal assent, despite objections from some MPPs.

NDP MPP Jeff Burch, for example, raised concerns that a family could be expelled from their home because another relative, or even a visitor, was selling cannabis.

\”We have some concerns on what this will mean for families,\” he said.

\”Cannabis is currently legal, and while the illegal sale of cannabis should be prohibited, giving the ability for a family to be expelled from their home because a family member –or worse, a visitor – engages in an illegal activity is unthinkable.\”

\”Going forward, a residential property that\’s being used to sell cannabis illegally, we will also be able to doing barring of entry at those places,\” said Sraga.

for more go to https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/cement-blocks-toronto-illegal-potshops-1.5166676

 

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