Latest News
SAM Blasts Congressional Move to Dole Out Marijuana and Psychedelics to Veterans
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) condemned the House of Representatives’ approval of two amendments to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) Appropriations bill—Amendment #84 and Amendment #32. Amendment #84, sponsored by Reps. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Dave Joyce (R-OH), would allow VA doctors to recommend medical marijuana to veterans. Amendment #32, […]
SAM DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED BY GOVERNOR ABBOTT’S VETO OF SB 3
AUSTIN, TX – Dr. Kevin Sabet, President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and a former White House drug policy advisor to Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton, released the following statement after Governor Greg Abbott vetoed SB3, which would have banned intoxicating hemp-derived THC products in Texas: “Governor Abbott’s decision to veto SB3 is a […]
Friday Fact: Veterans addicted to marijuana are dying by suicide
Data from the 2024 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report outlines another sad chapter in the story of marijuana and its terrible effects on mental health. Among all veterans who died by suicide in 2022, almost 9% were diagnosed with cannabis use disorder. Of veterans who died by suicide and had a diagnosed substance use […]
SAM Issues Strong Warning to Missouri Voters: Reject American Shaman’s Dangerous THC Deregulation Scheme
Kansas City, Missouri – Today, Luke Niforatos, Executive Vice President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), issued the following statement in response to the newly proposed Missouri ballot initiative backed by American Shaman and other hemp industry players: “What American Shaman is attempting in Missouri is nothing short of a hostile corporate takeover of the […]
SAM CALLS ON GOV. ABBOTT TO PROTECT KIDS IN TEXAS AND SIGN SB 3 INTO LAW
AUSTIN, TX — Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) has sent a formal letter to Governor Greg Abbott urging him to sign Texas’ Senate Bill 3 into law, a bill that would end the sale of all THC products in the state. In the letter, SAM detailed how the unregulated sale of intoxicating THC products, like […]
Friday Fact 6/13/2025: Big Marijuana’s Stock is Crashing
More bad news for Big Marijuana. The largest pot ETF, AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis, is getting absolutely clocked. This week saw it hovering well below $2.50, a massive climbdown from its stratospheric February 2021 high of $55.05. What put it in freefall? Hopes around federal legalization of marijuana reached a crescendo during the early days of […]
Leading Experts Warn Marijuana Rescheduling Driven by Politics in Stunning JAMA Psychiatry Report
Report Underscores SAM’s Position That Prevention Must Remain Top Priority WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a powerful new report published today in JAMA Psychiatry, two of the nation’s foremost experts in public health and law dismantle the federal government’s rationale for rescheduling marijuana. Authored by Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Bertha Madras and Heritage Foundation legal […]
BOMBSHELL FOR DELTA-8 DEALERS: FDA WARNS THEY’RE PEDDLING ILLEGALLY ADULTERATED PRODUCTS
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The FDA has put anybody selling food and beverages adulterated with Delta-8 THC on notice. Delta-8 is an intoxicating derivative of hemp previously permitted for sale under a legal loophole. The agency has now made public a March warning letter to marketplace Puredozo; the letter informs the company that what they sell is illegally adulterated, […]
Friday Fact 6/6/2025: Going to the hospital for marijuana ups your risk of death
Marijuana isn’t harmless. In fact, it’s intimately linked with dying. Or so suggests a frightening study from Ontario. It examined whether individuals who received hospital-based care for cannabis use disorder (CUD) faced increased mortality risk compared to the general population. The results? Among more than 100,000 people getting hospital-based CUD care, 3.5% died within five […]
DELTA-8 THC BAN IN BASE TEXT OF MUST-PASS APPROPRIATIONS BILL, COMMITTEE SAYS THC BAN “SUPPORTS MANDATE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House leaders struck a blow for long-overdue sanity in U.S. drug laws. The House Appropriations Committee released its FY 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Bill. Included in the legislation’s base text is language banning dangerous hemp-derived THC products, including Delta-8 THC. The Appropriations Committee highlighted the […]
Friday Fact 5/30/2025: Bad News on Marijuana, Mental Health, and Teens
More worrying news on how marijuana can drive severe mental illness: A systematic review published in Biomolecules in March found that “cannabinoids likely contribute to chronic psychotic events and schizophrenia, especially if taken during adolescence.” The review found that the odds ratio of developing psychosis-like events or schizophrenia was 2.88—with a twofold greater risk among […]
SAM Applauds the Appointment of Doug Simon as Director of the US Department of Transportation’s Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy Compliance (ODPAC)
(WASHINGTON, DC) – Dr. Kevin Sabet, President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), and Luke Niforatos, Executive Vice President of SAM, released the following statement congratulating Doug Simon on being named the new director of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy Compliance (ODAPC): “On behalf of SAM, we want to extend our […]