General

Multimillion Dollar Investment Group Announces Special Conference for Marijuana Industry

MULTIMILLION DOLLAR MARIJUANA INVESTING GROUP ANNOUNCES SPECIAL CONFERENCE ON HEELS OF PRESIDENT’S REMARKS ON MARIJUANA  In an email obtained by Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), The ArcView Group, a network for investors and entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry, announced a special “Shark Tank” conference on January 23 in Las Vegas, where marijuana entrepreneurs will promote […]

Kevin Sabet: Colorado Will Show Why Legalizing Marijuana is a Mistake

Colorado Will Show Why Legalizing Marijuana is a Mistake Kevin Sabet, The Washington Times On Jan. 1, Colorado made history as the first jurisdiction in the modern era to license the retail sales of marijuana. To be sure, there were no bloody fistfights among people waiting in line and, as far as we know, no […]

Patrick Kennedy to President Obama: Pot has changed

Watch SAM’s chair, Patrick Kennedy, on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, discussing President Obama’s recent comments about marijuana.

The Oregonian: “Marijuana legalization opponent Kevin Sabet brings his message to Oregon”

“Marijuana legalization opponent Kevin Sabet brings his message to Oregon” By Noelle Crombie, The Oregonian January 16, 2014 The country’s most high-profile anti-marijuana spokesman brought his message to Oregon this week, warning that legalizing the drug will boost addiction rates, hook young people and enrich a powerful marijuana lobby. Kevin Sabet is scheduled to appear […]

Kevin Sabet debates Dan Riffle on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal

SAM’s Director, Kevin Sabet, joins the Marijuana Policy Project’s Dan Riffle on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal to discuss the recreational sales of marijuana in Colorado. Watch here.

SAM Board Member, Ben Cort, on BBC World News

Ben Cort, SAM Board Member and director of the Colorado Centre for Dependency, Addiction & Rehabilitation speaks with BBC News about the risks of legalizing marijuana in Colorado. Watch on YouTube here.

Kevin Sabet on Canada’s CTV News

Kevin Sabet, Director of SAM, talks about the use of legal recreational pot in Colorado. Watch here.

Patrick Kennedy on CNN’s AC360

Patrick Kennedy joins Anderson Cooper and others on AC360 to discuss the drawbacks of legalizing marijuana. Watch here.

Dr. Christian Thurstone on ABC Denver 9News

Dr. Thurstone discusses the medical and health concerns of legalizing marijuana in Colorado. Watch here.

Patrick Kennedy on CNBC’s The Kudlow Report

Congressman Kennedy discusses the harms of marijuana and the implications of its legalization in Colorado. Watch here on CNBC.com  

We are SAM

We are SAM. Smart Approaches to Marijuana. We are professionals working in mental health and public health. We are bipartisan. We are medical doctors, lawmakers, treatment providers, preventionists, teachers, law enforcement officers and others who seek a middle road between incarceration and legalization. Our commonsense, third-way approach to marijuana policy is based on reputable science […]

AMA OPPOSES MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION AND LEGALIZATION

AMA delegates easily defeat a proposal that would have called for decriminalization and rescheduling of cannabis The “war on drugs”—combatting the supply of cannabis and other illicit drugs through law enforcement and incarceration—is not working. That’s what AMA delegates asserted last month when they approved a report by the AMA’s Council on Science and Public […]

National survey finds that over one third of 12th graders use someone else’s medical marijuana and 60% view it as not harmful

NATIONAL SURVEY: MORE THAN ONE THIRD OF 12TH GRADERS LIVING IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA STATES GET MARIJUANA FROM SOMEONE ELSE’S “MEDICAL RECOMMENDATION” 60% OF 12TH GRADERS NOW VIEW MARIJUANA AS NOT HARMFUL The Monitoring the Future Study, the only nationally representative sample surveying students in the US, finds that marijuana is a growing problem WASHINGTON, DC […]

SAM Responds to New Uruguay Marijuana Policy

SAM RESPONDS TO NEW URUGUAY MARIJUANA POLICY Today, from a meeting on drug policy in Colombia, SAM co-founder and Director, Dr. Kevin Sabet, made the following comments about Uruguay’s legalization of marijuana: “Against the vast majority of the will of its citizens, leaders from its own hemisphere, and even medical doctors in its own legislature, […]

Scott Gagnon: Marijuana legalization is the wrong way for Maine

Sun Journal Columns and Analysis: Marijuana legalization is the wrong way for Maine by Scott Gagnon As the Portland marijuana ordinance goes into effect, and the discussion has pivoted to statewide legalization in Maine, now is the time to examine what this policy path could mean for Maine. Many Mainers may think marijuana policy doesn’t […]

Marijuana Bill Rejected by ME Legislative Council, Project SAM Commends Legislators & Senate President

PRESS RELEASE                                                                                                                                                                                     Contact: Scott Gagnon November 21, 2013                                                       […]

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OPPOSES MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION; SUPPORTS HEALTH-FIRST APPROACH TO MARIJUANA USE

Largest medical group in the US explicitly rejects calls to become “neutral” on legalization; supports full funding of the Office of National Drug Control Policy; calls for proper study of Colorado and Washington policies. It joins the American Psychiatric Association, who issued a statement last week outlining the public health harms of marijuana. NATIONAL HARBOR, […]

Kennedy and Sabet in the NY Times Opinion Pages: Ill Effects of Marijuana

Ill Effects of Marijuana, New York Times October 29, 2013 To the Editor: By focusing on changes in California marijuana use since 1996, and then citing a controversial study called into question by some leading think tanks and experts in marijuana policy, “Few Problems With Cannabis for California” (front page, Oct. 27) does not reflect […]

Economist Debates: Should cannabis be legal everywhere?

Kevin Sabet’s featured guest piece on the Economist debate: The argument in favour of legalisation has been incredibly oversimplified by its proponents, presented as a silver bullet to failed, heavy-handed law enforcement efforts. As I argue in my new book, “Reefer Sanity: Seven Great Myths About Marijuana“, neither incarceration only nor legalisation stands up to […]

SAM’s Kevin Sabet on NPR’s “Florida Matters”

Should medical marijuana be legalized in Florida? Listen here

SAM’s Kevin Sabet on Channel 4 News in the UK

Watch: “Drug Trials: Austrian Testers Tested” As six people are taken ill in England, allegedly due to batch of drugs, Cordelia Lynch visits a scheme in Austria where officials test drugs for clubbers to determine their safety. Followed by a debate by Dr Tim Williams and Kevin Sabet.  

CNN Opinion: Legalized pot would mean more addiction

SAM’s, Dr. Kevin Sabet’s op-ed on the front page of cnn.com “Legalized pot would mean more addiction“