Breaking: SAM Issues Statement Regarding Marijuana Justice Act
BREAKING: Senator Cory Booker Introduces Marijuana Justice Act; SAM Pushes Back
(Alexandria, VA) – Today, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker introduced the Marijuana Justice Act, a far-reaching proposal that would federally legalize marijuana. This bill would completely remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act, making it legal to manufacture, advertise, and sell 99% pure THC extracts and candies, gummies, and other edibles.
“Whether he knows it or not, the giants of Big Tobacco and Big Pharma are cheering Senator Booker’s introduction of this bill,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, president and founder of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. “I trust that Senator Booker has his heart in the right place. There is much that can be done to help those who have been disproportionately harmed in minority communities but unleashing a new Big Tobacco on the country only serves the overwhelmingly white men in suits behind Big Marijuana.”
“Marijuana legalization doesn’t accomplish any of the social justice that its promotors like to talk about,” said Will Jones, III, Outreach Associate for SAM. “What it does accomplish is placing marijuana storefronts on every corner in disadvantaged communities, much like the liquor and tobacco shops near my home. Corporate interests and legislators are co-opting issues of systemic injustice for their own profit in a booming new industry.”
About SAM:
Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) is a nonpartisan, non-profit alliance of physicians, policy makers, prevention workers, treatment and recovery professionals, scientists, and other concerned citizens opposed to marijuana legalization who want health and scientific evidence to guide marijuana policies. SAM has affiliates in more than 30 states.
Evidence shows that marijuana – which has skyrocketed in average potency over the past decades – is addictive and harmful to the human brain especially when used by adolescents. In states that have already legalized the drug, there has been an increase in drugged driving crashes, youth marijuana use, and costs that far outweigh pot revenues.These states have seen a black market that continues to thrive, sustained disparities in marijuana arrest rates, and tobacco company investment in marijuana.
Marijuana is not a harmless drug. View the stories of its victims here.
For more information about marijuana use and its effects, visit www.learnaboutsam.org