New national marijuana policy alliance formed

A new national alliance, Project SAM, was launched today in Denver.  Following is their from press release:

A new national alliance, Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) is launching today in Denver, Colorado to start a new national dialogue on marijuana policy based on public health. Chaired by former Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, Jr., Project SAM is a bipartisan alliance of lawmakers, scientists, and other concerned citizens who want to move beyond simplistic dichotomies of “incarceration versus legalization” and instead focus on practical changes in marijuana policy that neither demonizes users nor legalize drugs. Former George W. Bush Speechwriter, Newsweek/Daily Beast columnist David Frum, Harvard Professor Sharon Levy, University of Kansas public health specialist Kimber Richter, and former Obama and Bush advisor Kevin Sabet will also serve on the board of SAM. SAM focuses on a “third way” approach to marijuana, and will be working with state partners to reach the local level. The first state partnership will be Smart Colorado, chaired by Bob Doyle.

“I have devoted my life to mental health awareness and the establishment of a modern health system that recognizes the importance of preventing and treating mental illness,” remarked Patrick J. Kennedy, Jr. “I am extremely concerned about how America’s current rush toward marijuana legalization, however, could increase our health problems by allowing a permissive environment for addiction.”

Project SAM, funded through volunteers, will focus on four main goals:

1. To inform public policy with the science of today’s marijuana

2. To have a conversation about reducing the unintended consequences of current marijuana policies, such as lifelong stigma due to arrest

3. To prevent the establishment of “Big Marijuana” — and a 21st-Century tobacco industry that would market marijuana to children. Those are the very likely results of legalization

4. To promote research of marijuana’s medical properties and produce pharmacy-attainable medications

“A world of legal drugs will be a world in which the fates of the top one third of Americans and the lower two thirds will diverge even more than they already do. We have opened more and more roads to self-harm. Must we now open another?" remarked David Frum, former presidential speechwriter.

While Project SAM will work on getting information to lawmakers and the public about the perils of marijuana addiction and legalization, it will also focus on cost-effective solutions to marijuana use such as the expungement of records for those with arrests for small amounts of marijuana.

“To be against legalization is not to be anti-reform,” remarked Kevin A. Sabet, former advisor to the Obama Administration. “Marijuana arrestees should be referred to brief health interventions or treatment, if appropriate, and given opportunities to find a way out of drugs as opposed to a way into the criminal justice system.”

Project SAM will be particularly focused, however, on preventing a 21st-century tobacco industry focused on a new product line – marijuana.

”The tobacco industry is a worldwide public health disaster. We should learn from our mistakes, not repeat them with marijuana,” remarked Kimber Richter, a renowned tobacco researcher at the University of Kansas.

SAM will also focus on the impact of marijuana on children. “As a physician for kids, I know marijuana legalization would be a disastrous public health policy for them,” said Christian Thurstone, child and addictions psychiatrist and researcher, University of Colorado Denver. “The developing brain should be shielded from harm, not exposed to it.”

Finally, there will be a push to increase research into the medicinal properties of marijuana that does not involve ingesting the whole drug, as per “medical” marijuana by state referenda. “Cannabis-based drugs dispensed by pharmacists and prescribed by doctors represent an exciting area of current research,” remarked Kennedy. “But more can be done to incentivize researchers and the government to focus on this area. Our coalition looks forward to helping with that agenda.”

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Teens don't use marijuana because . . .

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Loopholes weaken drug regulations

Much of the current debate around drug policy includes the notion that regulations keep legal drugs -- alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs -- out of the hands of teenagers.  Regulations certainly can keep drugs out of the hands of youth and WASAVP often advocates on behalf of stronger regulations and higher taxes on drugs.  However, regulations often fall short -- sometimes because drug industries finds loopholes in regulations.  The tobacco industry provides a perfect example.  From Sunday's New York Times:

Give the tobacco industry credit for ingenuity. Just when it looked as if federal regulators could block their ability to addict children and young adults, several companies that make cigars and pipe tobacco have sidestepped the barriers by taking advantage of loopholes in federal law. 

One loophole involves a law enacted in 2009 that raised the federal tax on cigarettes, small cigars and roll-your-own tobacco, partly to deter smoking among young people and partly to help pay for a children’s health insurance program. Larger cigars and pipe tobacco, however, were taxed at a much lower rate.

Some manufacturers then relabeled “roll-your-own tobacco” as “pipe tobacco” to qualify for lower taxes. Similarly, some cigar makers made their small cigars slightly heavier to qualify for the lower rate. With just a small increase in weight, a small cigar can qualify as a large cigar, for tax purposes, even though it more nearly resembles a typical cigarette and can cost as little as seven cents a cigar.

It seems clear that the regulatory steps designed to keep tobacco products out of the hands of young people are not working as well as they could. This is no accident. A report issued on Aug. 27 by Representative Henry Waxman . . . cited internal documents from several manufacturers that revealed deliberate plans to manipulate existing products and create new ones to evade taxes and flavor bans.

As we continue our conversation about marijuana legalization, the strength of regulations should be considered.  Not the theory of regulations, but the realities of how regulations are implemented and enforced.  A legal and regulated marijuana industry would be no different than the current legal and regulated drug industries. 

Free webcast: Understanding Your Influence

"Understanding Your Influence" 

  

Thursday, June 28th, 2012   

10:00-11:00 a.m.

Influence: the action or process of producing effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of another or others.

Coalitions and the dedicated people who work with them have far-reaching influence in their communities. Working to change laws, regulations, ordinances, and policies is frequently involved.

Policy change is often the fastest way to see population-level impacts and enhance drug-free environments for youth and families. You can make a difference at the local, state and national level.

During the hour-long webcast "Understanding Your Influence", learn how to find your inner advocate and how coalitions can use the power they have to create positive change in their communities. Find out what coalitions can and can't do as far as advocacy and lobbying are concerned. See how changes to laws and policies can improve enforcement, reduce access and availability of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, and increase social disapproval of drug use.

Key Concepts: 

-       Understand the difference between lobbying and advocating

-       Learn what coalitions can and can't do with their funds

-       See how statewide and local coalitions change laws and policies

-       Gain new insight and communications tools to be an effective