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SAM Friday Fact 2/28/2025: Study Finds that Many Qualifying Conditions for Medical Marijuana Lack Supporting Evidence
A study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes found that many state-level qualifying conditions for medical marijuana lack supporting evidence, as contrasted by the conclusions of a 2017 report about marijuana from National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). The report from the NASEM assessed the potential therapeutic effects of marijuana […]
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 […]
SAM Friday Fact 2/14/2025: Individuals Receiving Hospital-Based Care for Cannabis Use Disorder are More Likely than General Population to Die Within 5 Years
A recent study in JAMA Network Open, reported on in The New York Times, found that individuals who received hospital-based care (i.e., an emergency department visit or hospitalization) for cannabis use disorder (CUD) were 2.8 times more likely than the general population to die within 5 years. The study, based on data from 11.6 million […]
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 […]
NATIONAL DRUG POLICY EXPERTS, PARENTS, LAWMAKERS, AND LAW ENFORCEMENT CONVENE TO ADDRESS STATE OF AMERICA’S DRUG AND ADDICTION CRISES
(WASHINGTON, DC) – With the new Trump Administration taking shape,Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions (FDPS) brought together Members of Congress, parents, medical professionals, law enforcement, former White House drug policy officials, and other experts in Washington for a two-day conference to discuss solutions to the nation’s drug crisis. The conference addressed the state of the drug crisis and how […]
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 […]