More Than 15 Million Americans Are Using THC-Laced Drugs Daily
(WASHINGTON, DC) – Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) President Dr. Kevin Sabet, a former White House drug policy advisor to Presidents Obama, Clinton, and Bush, issued the following statement today in response to the release of the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
This 2023 NSDUH data shows:
- 19,164,000 Americans (age 12+) were addicted to Marijuana (Cannabis Use Disorder or CUD)
- 188,000 more Americans were addicted to marijuana over last year, with 150,000 new instances of severe CUD;
- More than half million more Americans are now using marijuana daily, now at 15.74 million;
- More Americans (age 12+) reported vaping marijuana in the past-year and past-month; and
- More Americans are also co-using marijuana and alcohol.
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“Billions of dollars spent on misinformation campaigns and lobbying have put marijuana at the center of the nation’s addiction crisis, and it’s harming more people than ever before. Twenty years of deliberate deceit coupled with new products engineered for addiction have built an industry that will likely soon overtake Big Tobacco as America’s vice of choice. The latest data from HHS makes clear what we’ve said all along, the normalization and industrialization of today’s high potency THC drug products is a self-made public health crisis for this country.”
“Big Marijuana has set its sights on hooking a new generation of users by telling people their products are safe and even recreational. These numbers make it clear that narrative is a farce. While Wall Street and Silicon Valley investors might be happy with more addicts to fuel their bottom lines, parents, physicians, law enforcement, and taxpayers are paying the price. Young people are facing a world with even greater threats to their mental and physical health,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet.
“These drugs aren’t safe and they’re not medicine. This latest round of data should make it even more apparent that marijuana doesn’t meet the criteria to be rescheduled by the federal government. If President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and DEA Administrator Ann Milgram still choose to weaken restrictions on this predatory industry in light of this data, it’s proof positive this decision is compromised by politics, money, and influence peddling. We should be doing everything in our power as a nation to discourage drug use, support treatment, and counter misinformation.”