Law360, National Harbor, Md. — The head of a leading
anti-drug nonprofit on Thursday pledged to go on the offensive by lobbying to undo the
federal law legalizing intoxicating hemp, fighting a pending proposal to loosen federal
cannabis restrictions and attempting to reverse state-level legalization.
Kevin Sabet, president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, kicked off the
organization’s two-day drug policy summit outside of Washington, D.C., by citing recent
wins notched by anti-legalizers, including the near-total defeat of drug legalization
ballot referendums on Election Day, and outlining some of the policy goals the group was
pursuing on Capitol Hill.
“I think we are beginning to turn the ship around … We’re going on the offense in ways
that we haven’t been before,” Sabet said.
At the local level, Sabet said the group was working with advocates and legislators in
Montana to roll back the legalization of recreational marijuana in that state, where voters
approved a ballot referendum to legalize adult-use cannabis in 2020, with 57% of the
electorate in favor.
In Washington, Sabet pledged that SAM would continue fighting a bill known in its most
recent iteration as the SAFER Banking Act, which would shield from criminal liability
financial institutions that work with state-regulated cannabis businesses.
According to Sabet, the legislation, if enacted, would “open up institutional investment” in
the cannabis industry. He disputed the bill-backers’ argument that it would help make
cannabis shops, which are generally reliant on cash, less of a target for robberies.
“I’m sorry, they’re already magnets for crime because they have a very lucrative
product,” he said. “Jewelry stores are magnets for crime, but they take credit cards. It’s
not about cash or credit.”
SAM’s other federal policy goals included attaching language to appropriations bills that
would mandate the gathering of data on the impact of high-THC products on teenagers
and preventing efforts to change marijuana’s status as a Schedule I drug under the
federal Controlled Substances Act.
Sabet briefly addressed a pending proposal to reschedule marijuana, which a Drug Enforcement Administration administrative law judge paused last month while pro-rescheduling parties pursue an interlocutory appeal to address alleged coordination between SAM and the agency.
“With rescheduling, we have no idea what’s happening. No one has a crystal ball. It’s
paused,” Sabet said. “That’s a good thing, I think, that it’s paused.”
Sabet also highlighted a recent, since-withdrawn amendment to a pending fentanyl bill,
offered by Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., which would statutorily change the administrative
drug rescheduling process to make it more difficult to update marijuana’s status.
The Clyde amendment would bar the attorney general from making a drug rescheduling
recommendation without the DEA administrator’s approval and would enshrine in statute
the criteria for “currently acceptable medical use,” which the agency generated internally
in the early 1990s.
At the summit, SAM presented an award to Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., in acknowledgment of
her work to curb hemp-derived intoxicants. Miller last year introduced an amendment to
the House of Representatives’ version of the next federal farm bill that would effectively
rewrite national hemp policy if it became law.
The current definition of hemp pegs its legality to its concentration of delta-9 THC, the
primary psychoactive compound in marijuana, while leaving unaddressed other THC
isomers, such as delta-8 THC, which can be synthesized from hemp-extracted CBD.
As originally adopted in committee last year, Miller’s amendment would redefine federally
legal hemp to exclude products with detectable amounts of THC or any THC isomers that
had been synthesized.
In her remarks, Miller credited SAM advocates with bringing the issue of hemp-derived
intoxicants to her attention.
“The 2018 farm bill … inadvertently created a loophole for delta-8 THC. As a mom and a
grandma, I was horrified that this allowed retailers to deceptively advertise THC-laced
candies, like gummy bears, to children in prominent places, like convenience stores,” she
said. “Delta-8 THC is highly addictive, intoxicating and psychoactive, much like its
counterpart, delta-9 THC, that is found in traditional marijuana.”
The congresswoman said she was “hopeful” that her amendment would be included in the
version of the farm bill considered by the chamber this session.
“My amendment returns the definition of hemp to Congress’ original intent, which was for
industrial purposes and not intoxicating, synthetic derivatives of hemp,” Miller said.
Sabet also vowed to fight psychedelics reform, which he called “the next chapter in the
goal of legalizing and legitimizing drugs,” via SAM’s sister organization, Foundations for
Drug Policy Solutions.
“What we don’t want to see is things that are going to get people more sick, and we
certainly don’t want that when it’s really about addiction for profit, which is what it is,”
Sabet said. “That’s what this whole thing is about.”
He added, “Legal weed is corporate greed. That’s what it is. It’s addiction for profit.”