SAM’s News

ON THIRD ANNIVERSARY, NEW MEXICO’S COMMERCIAL POT SALES CONTINUE TO DAMAGE PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY

Lawmakers Starting to Understand the Damage Being Done, But More Reforms are Needed (SANTA FE, NM) – Dr. Kevin Sabet, President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and a three-time White House drug policy advisor, released the following statement upon the third anniversary of commercial marijuana sales in New Mexico:  “New Mexico’s commercial pot marketplace has been […]

SABET: NOMINEE CARTER KNOWS WELL THE DESTRUCTION OF DRUGS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES ON INDIVIDUALS, FAMILIES, COMMUNITIES AND SOCIETY

Statement from Dr. Kevin Sabet on President Donald Trump’s Nomination of Sara Carter as ONDCP Director (WASHINGTON, DC) – Today, the Trump Administration announced that Sara Carter will be nominated to lead the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Dr. Kevin Sabet, co-founder and president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and […]

GLENN YOUNGKIN GETS IT: PSYCHOACTIVE DRUG SALES WILL FUEL ADDICTION, MAKE VIRGINIANS LESS SAFE

Governor’s Veto Puts Public Health Over Corporate Greed (RICHMOND, VA) – Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) President Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D., a former three-time White House drug policy advisor, released the following statement today in response to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s veto of legislation that would have allowed commercial sales of high-potency THC drugs and marijuana in Virginia:  […]

“POT FOR POTHOLES” IS NOTHING MORE THAN SAME OLD PROPAGANDA

New Bill Peddles Big Pot’s Fantasy about Big Revenue, Ignores Massive Costs (NASHVILLE, TN) – Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) President Dr. Kevin Sabet, a former three-time White House drug policy advisor, released the following statement in response to HB0703, the “Tennessee Pot for Potholes Act,” which would legalize commercial sales of high potency marijuana to use the […]

DANGERS OF DRUGS-FOR-PROFIT, FAILURES OF LEGALIZATION HIGHLIGHTED IN ADVANCE OF THE UN COMMISSION ON NARCOTIC DRUGS

Pot Profiteers Seek Future Generations Hooked on Addiction to Fuel Corporate Profits (VIENNA, AUSTRIA) – As nations around the world continue to deal with the repercussions of the addiction industry’s efforts to inject more dangerous, psychoactive drugs into populations, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions (FDPS) President Dr. Kevin Sabet heads to the 68th Session […]

Forbes: Republicans Seek To Block Marijuana Tax Deductions Amid Potential Rescheduling

Seven Republican representatives have introduced a bill to block businesses from claiming tax marijuana deductions for expenses, even if the substance is federally rescheduled. Republican Rep. Jodey C. Arrington, Chairman of the House Budget Committee, introduced a bill last week—co-sponsored by six colleagues—to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and uphold the ban on […]

HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE CHAIR INTRODUCES BILL TO PREVENT $2 BILLION MARIJUANA INDUSTRY TAX BREAK AHEAD OF BUDGET RECONCILIATION 

(Washington, DC) — Today, U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Jodey Arrington introduced Smart Approaches to Marijuana Action (SAM Action)-drafted legislation to prevent a $2.3 billion tax cut for the marijuana industry.  Arrington’s legislation (H.R. 1447) a companion bill to S.471 introduced recently by Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE), would amend Section 280E […]

Bills to legalize, decriminalize weed in Indiana fail to move forward

INDIANAPOLIS– Despite a record amount of marijuana bills filed by both Indiana Republicans and Democrats this legislative session, all efforts to legalize and decriminalize weed failed. ”This is really just not a priority for people; it’s also not a priority for the leaders of Indiana,” said Jaime Zerbe with Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM). SAM […]

SAM covered in North Carolina news

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) Opponents of marijuana legalization have often cited safety concerns, a point brought up by Jordan Davidson, who serves as the Government Affairs Manager for Smart Approaches to Marijuana. “We want people to have safe and effective medicine that’s able to be prescribed by doctors that go through (rigorous scientific) review. Unfortunately, that […]

NEW REPORT DEMONSTRATES CONTINUED DANGERS OF PSYCHOACTIVE DRUG COMMERCIALIZATION 

(WASHINGTON, DC) – A new report released today by the Common Sense Institute finds that state-level normalization and legalization of drugs—especially marijuana—is having profound consequences on use rates, overdose rates, and perceptions of harm, as well as costing states billions.  According to the report’s findings, early adopters of marijuana legalization like Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska each […]

SAM APPLAUDS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S APPOINTMENT OF HON. MIKE STUART AS GENERAL COUNSEL FOR HHS

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) President Dr. Kevin Sabet, a former three-time White House drug policy advisor, today offered praise for the Trump Administration’s appointment of SAM ally and former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia and West Virginia State Senator Mike Stuart (R-Kanawha) as General Counsel to the U.S. Department […]

Sabet in Washington Times: A new vision is needed to tackle the drug crisis

Cutting government waste is a good aim, but to tackle the drug crisis, we need a bold new vision and priorities. After the nation was losing more than 100,000 Americans to overdoses each year, this number is finally beginning to decline. This is promising. The Trump administration’s focus on curtailing government spending should lean into what is […]

SENATORS ON KEY COMMITTEES INTRODUCE BILL TO PREVENT $2 BILLION MARIJUANA INDUSTRY TAX BREAK AHEAD OF BUDGET RECONCILIATION

(Washington, DC) — Today, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) of the Finance Committee introduced Smart Approaches to Marijuana Action (SAM Action)-drafted legislation alongside Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) of the Budget Committee to prevent a $2.3 billion marijuana industry tax cut. Their bill (S.471) would amend Section 280E of the tax code to include marijuana by name. According to […]

Anti-Legalization Group Vows To Go On ‘Offense’

Law360, National Harbor, Md. — The head of a leadinganti-drug nonprofit on Thursday pledged to go on the offensive by lobbying to undo thefederal law legalizing intoxicating hemp, fighting a pending proposal to loosen federalcannabis restrictions and attempting to reverse state-level legalization. Kevin Sabet, president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, kicked off theorganization’s […]

Retail marijuana sales bill passes in Virginia Senate

Retail marijuana sales are one step closer to becoming a reality in the Commonwealth. For the second time, a marijuana bill is making its way through the General Assembly. The bill would allow for marijuana licenses to be issued to business owners by the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority beginning this September. “Every year that we […]

MISSOURI’S COMMERCIAL POT SALES CONTINUE TO DAMAGE PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Dr. Kevin Sabet, President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and a three-time White House drug policy advisor, released the following statement in advance of the anniversary of commercial marijuana sales in Missouri on February 3:  “Trends across the nation have universally shown that sales of today’s high-potency marijuana and THC-infused drugs are resulting […]

NEW YORK’S LEADERS MOCK THOSE SUFFERING FROM ADDICTION WITH “CELEBRATION” OF $1 BILLION IN SALES OF DANGEROUS PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS

Hochul Administration, Legislators Ignore the Science and Harms Being Inflicted by NYS Pot Sales (ALBANY, NY) – New York Lawmakers are ignoring the science and celebrating addiction in Albany. Nearly four years after New York’s politicians legalized the sales and use of high-potency, psychoactive marijuana and THC drug products, the science and the consequences keep getting worse. That’s the message Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), a group co-founded […]

TRUMP CAN’T MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN AND SUPPORT ADDICTIVE DRUGS IN OUR COMMUNITIES

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions (FDPS) President Dr. Kevin Sabet, a three-time White House drug policy advisor, released the following statement today upon the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States of America:  “In November, voters across red and blue states rejected the legalization of drugs like marijuana […]

DOORDASH’S DRUG DELIVERY SERVICE SKIRTS FEDERAL DRUG POLICIES, RISKS PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY

(WASHINGTON, DC) – Parents whose children have been negatively impacted by today’s commercially-produced THC drugs are sounding the alarm after national online delivery service DoorDash announced it is now offering on-demand delivery of hemp-derived THC and CBD products, including gummies and beverages – substances known to be associated with mental and physical health consequences, especially […]

Newsweek: ‘Making America Healthy Again’ Must Start With Better Drug Policy

The Trump-Vance administration has the opportunity to take decisive action to curb the devastating effects of drug normalization and addiction. Americans, meanwhile, are waking up to the harms of the failed experiment of pot legalization—voters rejected 7 of the last 10 ballot measures to legalize the drug. Prevention is key, and we cannot forget that […]

Another Voice: Let’s not prop up lie on ‘Big Pot’

New Yorkers aren’t stupid, but apparently Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes thinks we are. The architect of the state’s dubious marijuana “social equity program,” is proposing we throw more taxpayer dollars at the pot industry to prop up the insidious lie that commercial weed would be an economic boon to minority communities. Her “social equity loans” have […]

CONNECTICUT’S COMMERCIAL POT SALES CONTINUE TO DAMAGE PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY

(HARTFORD, CT) – Dr. Kevin Sabet, President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM)and a three-time White House drug policy advisor, released the following statement in advance of the anniversary of commercial marijuana sales in Connecticut:  “Trends across the nation have universally shown that sales of today’s high-potency marijuana and THC-infused drugs are resulting in more THC-related […]

CALIFORNIA’S COMMERCIAL POT SALES CONTINUE TO DAMAGE PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY

(SACRAMENTO, CA) – Dr. Kevin Sabet, President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and a three-time White House drug policy advisor, released the following statement in advance of the anniversary of commercial marijuana sales in California:  “Trends across the nation have universally shown that sales of today’s high-potency marijuana and THC-infused drugs are resulting in more THC-related […]