Democrats introduce bill to decriminalize Marijuana federally.
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Who Opposes Cannabis and Why (Part 1)
Written by Luke Burgess
Posted October 25, 2019
One of the most common questions we get asked about cannabis legalization is: Who opposes it?
It's a good question. If you ask around, you'll find that most people do support cannabis legalization and have for a long time.
According to the most recent Gallup polls, two out of every three American adults say marijuana should be legal.
But what about the other third?
Who are they? And why do they oppose legalization?
Today, we'll explore all that...
Generally speaking, organizations that still oppose cannabis legalization include:
According to Gallup:
You're probably not surprised by those results.
In fact, I'm sure I didn't even need to show you the poll results for you to believe older conservatives are the main opposition to cannabis legalization among private individuals.
But why?
Why are older conservatives the main opposition to cannabis legalization among private individuals?
Well, there's really no one answer I can give to that question. And that's simply because individual opinions vary.
When I ask older conservatives if they oppose cannabis legalization and why, I get a whole variety of answers ranging from “it's a gateway drug” to “it makes people lazy” to “people just don't need to get high.”
Of course, these responses are mostly untrue:
But ultimately, it really doesn't make much sense to me that older conservatives would oppose cannabis.
First, being older means you've been around longer than younger people. As such, older folks know for a fact marijuana legalization has little to no effect on society.
Cannabis has been available for recreational use in the Netherlands for almost 50 years. And the country is doing just fine — better than ever, in fact.
But moreover (and I'll talk about this again in a minute), conservatives should be the political party to mainly support legalization.
Among the core central tenets of conservatism are personal liberty, free market capitalism, free enterprise, deregulation, and limited government intervention.
It's hypocritical to call yourself a conservative and support government prohibition of a consumable plant.
So... why are older conservatives the main opposition to cannabis legalization?
Well, I believe all of the arguments against cannabis legalization from older conservatives are simply due to the fact that it's something younger liberals want.
In other words, their opposition has little to nothing to do with marijuana's effects on society. Instead, they just oppose anything associated with young liberals.
Just remember, very few people actually support one side of politics. Instead, they oppose the other side.
Ask anyone who voted for Trump: Did you vote for Trump or against Hillary? I've never had anyone say they voted for Trump. Everyone says they voted against Hillary.
And it's the same thing with cannabis. Older conservatives only oppose cannabis legalization because younger liberals support it — which is not a legitimate argument for opposition at all.
So what about organizations that oppose legalization?
Let's go through them one by one...
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Pharmaceutical Companies and Trade Groups
Not every pharmaceutical company opposes marijuana legalization. And many pharmaceutical firms that used to oppose legalization have flip-flopped.
And that's simply because they got into the cannabis business.
You might be wondering why I left out alcohol and tobacco companies from the list of those that oppose legalization. Well, at one point, the alcohol and tobacco industries did, in fact, oppose legalization. And that makes sense: Cannabis competes with their products.
But now many firms like Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) and Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) are entering the cannabis industry. So many no longer oppose it.
Similarly, big pharma companies like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE: TEVA), which previously opposed cannabis legalization, now support it because they've gotten into the business, too.
Yet there are still holdouts.
Pharmaceutical firms that still actively try to stop legalization include:
Starting to see the picture?
Pharmaceutical companies don’t oppose the legalization of marijuana because of any social, economic, or health concerns. They couldn’t give two shits about any of that. They oppose cannabis because it’s a product that competes with theirs.
A recent survey found that 92% of medical marijuana patients in California said it alleviates their chronic pain, migraines, and arthritis.
Another study from JAMA Internal Medicine found “there was about a 25% lower rate of prescription painkiller overdose deaths on average after implementation of a medical marijuana law” from 1999 to 2010.
Opposing cannabis is all about money for some pharmaceutical companies and the trade groups that represent them, like Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which is one of the largest financial backers of the anti-cannabis holdout.
And that's understandable from their perspective. But I find it absolutely egregious that Big Pharma is willing to trample on your personal liberty just for a buck.
Police, Police Unions, and Law Enforcement Associations
The police, police unions, and other law enforcement associations have other reasons they want to keep cannabis illegal aside from profit.
Of course, prohibiting pot creates police jobs — which also benefits their unions and law enforcement associations.
According to the ACLU, 52% of all drug arrests in 2010 were for marijuana — there was one pot bust every 37 seconds that year.
If marijuana were legal, we simply wouldn’t need as many police. And of course, that doesn’t sit well with police, police unions, and other law enforcement associations. But for us as taxpayers, it costs billions.
The ACLU estimates that states waste $3.6 BILLION enforcing marijuana prohibition every year.
But unlike pharmaceutical companies, cannabis opposition from law enforcement is not all about money.
Fact is, marijuana is a very loud drug — it’s pungent and easy to smell. And as long as pot remains illegal, the smell of it alone gives police probable cause to search individuals.
This simply results in making the police’s job easier.
If they smell pot on you and you’re in a state where it’s still illegal, they have probable cause to search you for other illegal things.
Keeping cannabis illegal just so the police can use it as probable cause is, once again, not a legitimate reason for prohibition.
Next Week
I've run out of time for today, but I'll be back on Monday for Part 2, where I'll cover the rest of the organizations that oppose cannabis legalization and why.
Stay tuned.
Who Opposes Cannabis and Why (Part 2)
Written by Luke Burgess
Posted October 28, 2019
Generally speaking, organizations that still oppose cannabis legalization include:
Today we're going further down that list, starting with...
Companies That Operate Prisons
You already know why companies that operate prisons lobby to keep marijuana illegal.
I don’t have to tell you companies like CoreCivic (NYSE: CXW), formerly the Corrections Corporation of America, and The GEO Group (NYSE: GEO) profit more with more prisoners.
The ACLU says that across the nation, 7,000,000 Americans were arrested for weed from 2001 to 2010. That’s all profit for prison companies.
Like Big Pharma, the corrections industry doesn’t oppose the legalization of marijuana because of any social, economic, or health concerns. It’s only about the money for them.
And like Big Pharma, they're willing to trample on your freedom for a dollar.
Religious Organizations
Many churches and religious organizations also support cannabis prohibition. Organizations known to openly contest legalization include:
Nothing.
How about in the Quran?
Nope. Nothing there, either.
Neither of these books mentions marijuana even once.
Prior to legalization, Christians most often pointed to Romans 13:1-2 as evidence smoking weed is a mortal sin. But that passage is about submission to government.
I suppose that means our Founding Fathers, who did in fact rebel against the governing authorities of the British, committed mortal sin and "shall receive to themselves damnation." But I digress.
Nevertheless, the law has now changed in many places. And in those places, that argument is no longer valid. Still, churches and religious organizations support cannabis prohibition.
Why?
Well, I have to speculate here. But my guess is that Christians and Muslims are anti-cannabis because they believe it’s a distraction from God. And any distraction from God is a bad thing.
Of course, this is just an assumption on their part and is not wholly true. And there are millions of other distractions that they choose to ignore. If smoking cannabis is a mortal sin because it’s a spiritual distraction, then going to work is also a mortal sin since it distracts you from God.
I also have to speculate that politics are at play here, too. It’s likely that some self-proclaimed Christians (who are typically older political conservatives) are simply using religious tenets to justify attacks on their political enemies.
None of this has to do with any social, economic, or health concerns.
Government Agencies
There are dozens of government agencies in the U.S. that are trying to prevent cannabis legalization. They include:
Meanwhile America’s war on drugs has cost taxpayers an estimated $1 trillion since 1971.
It's great those folks have a job. But should it be at the cost of your liberty? I don't think so.
Casinos
This one is probably the most surprising on the list. But you probably won’t be surprised about the reason casinos want to keep marijuana illegal: money.
You see, it’s against the law in places like Las Vegas to allow intoxicated people to gamble — that would include being high on cannabis. In Nevada, the law says:
When casinos have allowed people to gamble while too drunk in the past, they’ve gotten sued.
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In 2014, a California man sued the Downtown Grand in Las Vegas after he says the casino over-served him, resulting in a $500,000 loss. And in 2006, a Kentucky man sued Caesars Indiana, alleging that he was drunk when casino employees offered him $75,000 in credit, which he quickly gambled away in a drunken blur.
Of course, we can argue that individuals are responsible for how much they consume. But we must also consider that we do live in a highly litigious society. And people are going to exploit anything they can to sue each other.
So it doesn’t really matter how much responsibility the individual carries; casinos will continue to get sued for allowing intoxicated people to gamble in their facilities. They oppose cannabis legalization because they want to avoid future lawsuits over allowing people to gamble under the influence of marijuana.
Addiction Services Organizations
Addiction services organizations like Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous are also strong opponents of legal cannabis. And of all the groups and organizations that support prohibition, they have the best argument. Yet it's still not completely reasonable.
Organizations like NA and AA have a singular goal. NA says on its website:
NA does not keep track of its members. It's anonymous. However, we do know there are roughly 23,000 NA meetings per week in the United States. Those meetings can have anywhere between 4 and 400 people attend. And not all of them are members. Many times non-addicted friends and family attend NA meeting with addicts for support. So it's really impossible to know exactly how many NA members there are.
But let's just assume the maximum of 400 NA members attend the 23,000 weekly meetings. That would mean there's a maximum of 9.2 million NA members attending meetings weekly in the United States. 9.2 million people is a lot of people. But relative to the more than 200 million adults in America, we're only talking about 4% of the total adult population. And again, that's the absolute extreme maximum.
So while I understand why groups like NA would be against cannabis, it's unreasonable to prevent over 95% of the adult population from doing something that might affect less than 5%. It’s the equivalent of saying alcohol should be illegal because some people are prone to alcoholism.
Right-Wing Political Organizations and Parties
Conservative and right-wing political organizations and parties are the last group of anti-cannabis proponents we're going to talk about today.
Legitimate think tanks like The Heritage Foundation are outspoken cannabis critics, as are white nationalist groups like the American Freedom Party, National Alliance, and the American Nazi Party.
I've already touched on why these groups are anti-cannabis. They're not concerned with social, economic, or health effects of cannabis. Instead, they're only interested in opposing anything their political adversaries support.
And as I mentioned earlier, this doesn't make a lot of sense.
But moreover, conservatives should be the political party to mainly support legalization.
Among the core central tenets of conservatism are personal liberty, free market capitalism, free enterprise, deregulation, and limited government intervention. If any political party should want an end to cannabis prohibition, it should be conservatives.
Conclusion
I estimate that at least 75% of the anti-cannabis rhetoric from organizations has to do with money.
If cannabis were federally legal, it would cut into the bottom line of many companies and organizations. Most of the rest of the anti-cannabis rhetoric is just political fodder.
Does any of this surprise you?
Probably not. But I hope I was able to answer the question, "Who opposes cannabis and why?"
Agree? Disagree?
Send me a tweet and tell me what you think: @lukemburgess.
Until next time,
Luke Burgess
Who Still Opposes Cannabis Legalization?
Published on 10/29/21
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Cannabis is now legal for recreational use in 18 states and the District of Columbia, and available for medical use in 37 states, yet it remains illegal at the federal level. Although most adults in the U.S. think that it should be legal to all for medical and adult use, federal legalization continues to face insurmountable hurdles. Legislation introduced in Congress repeatedly hits walls or simply peters out. The legacy of the federally funded War on Drugs, the tortoise-like pace of any real reform on Capitol Hill, and the exorbitant amount of lobbying spending by entities with vested interests in keeping weed illegal.
Lobbying for Cannabis
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The Center for Responsive Politics reported that $5,760,500 was spent on pro-marijuana lobbying concerns in 2019 with 92 marijuana lobbyists working on Capitol Hill. Some legislators heard the lobbyists' concerns, and as recently as July 14, 2021, Senators Cory Booker, Chuck Schumer and Ron Wyden presented a discussion draft of a bill that would legalize cannabis and allow adults to possess marijuana and purchase it from dispensaries. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act would completely remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and allow states to enact their own cannabis laws. Money from federal taxes on cannabis would be used to support restorative justice and public health and safety research. Chances of the bill becoming law are slim, however, due to resistance from Republicans in the Senate.
Another bill that was recently reintroduced (it failed in the Senate previously) to Congress by House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler is the MORE Act (Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act). If it makes it past the Senate, it would legalize and remove cannabis from the CSA, expunge cannabis convictions, and establish a federal tax on marijuana to be used for community reinvestment programs.
Lobbying Against Cannabis
Capitol Hill cannabis opinions may trend toward legalization for the most part, but for every marijuana lobbyist working for reform of the restrictive federal laws, there is another, usually better funded, whose sole purpose is to keep the Capitol Hill marijuana legalization votes in the "NO" category. Those lobbyists are constantly attempting to influence members of congress via meetings, persuasive letters and phone calls. The most powerful lobbyists tend to work for corporations or associations that represent entrenched industries that do not want to see any changes that might put a dent in their bottom line or make it more difficult to do business. Lobbyists are very well paid for their work and often have established relationships with lawmakers that provide them with the access and influence that can decide whether a bill fails or becomes law.
Groups Against Cannabis Legalization
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The industries and associations that oppose cannabis legalization are extremely powerful and very wealthy. As such, their influence on cannabis Capitol Hill policy is profound. Here are some of the largest.
The Pharmaceutical Industry
"Big Pharma" companies and trade groups have long worked to keep cannabis illegal at the federal level. They fear that they will lose customers who use their products for pain relief, seizure mitigation, weight loss, anxiety, nausea and the dozens of other issues that cannabis can also address (without the dangerous side effects or high addiction rates) were it to be legal across the country. Fewer pills means fewer profits.
The most glaring instance of pharmaceutical influence was in 2016 when the DEA-approved maker of synthetic THC and drugs with opiates and the pain killer fentanyl, Insys Therapeutics, gave $500,000 to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, the key group opposing a legalization bill in that state. The measure on the ballot was subsequently defeated. Other prominent corporations who actively lobby against legalization include the highly controversial Purdue Pharmaceuticals. That company makes OxyContin.
Police
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"Probable Cause" is the main reason for the anti-legalization efforts of police unions and law enforcement groups like state associations of chiefs of police. Sure, money is a factor. More arrests for weed create the need for more cops which means for money (again, from taxpayers) for police.
But the real issue for law enforcement is the ability to use the smell (or perceived smell) of marijuana to search or simply harass people on the street, raid homes and businesses, and look for other things that might be deemed illegal in the eyes of the State.
It makes the life of an officer easier if the idea of cannabis can be used as a crutch to facilitate their work. If nothing else is found, they can still arrest the individual involved. Police arrested 545,602 people for cannabis-related crimes in 2019. Arrests for possession accounted for 92% of the arrests.
Prisons
It is a sad indication of the state of our society, but the for-profit prison industry in the U.S. is growing, and it needs prisoners to keep the cash rolling in. Private prison companies like CoreCivic that operate under government contracts (yes, using your tax dollars) lobby to keep marijuana illegal so they can maintain their "customer" base. This is capitalism at its worst. Private prisons rake in over $7 billion per year and there are approximately 40,000 Americans still in jail because of cannabis.
Other prominent groups and industries that fear and work against federal cannabis legalization include casinos, addiction groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, religious organizations like Focus on the Family, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, and conservative think tanks like The Heritage Foundation. Within the Federal Government, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy are the most influential.
Even President Joe Biden still opposes marijuana legalization. Unlike his Democratic partners on Capitol Hill, he does not agree with legislation to end the federal prohibition on pot. His prominent role in the War on Drugs in the 1980s and 90s and his current opinion place him sadly at odds with the current climate.
Who Opposes Cannabis and Why (Part 1)
Written by Luke Burgess
Posted October 25, 2019
One of the most common questions we get asked about cannabis legalization is: Who opposes it?
It's a good question. If you ask around, you'll find that most people do support cannabis legalization and have for a long time.
According to the most recent Gallup polls, two out of every three American adults say marijuana should be legal.
But what about the other third?
Who are they? And why do they oppose legalization?
Today, we'll explore all that...
Generally speaking, organizations that still oppose cannabis legalization include:
- Pharmaceutical companies and trade groups
- Police, police unions, and law enforcement associations
- Companies that operate prisons
- Religious organizations
- A whole list of government agencies
- Casinos
- Addiction services groups
- Right-wing political organizations ranging from conservative think tanks to the American Nazi Party
According to Gallup:
You're probably not surprised by those results.
In fact, I'm sure I didn't even need to show you the poll results for you to believe older conservatives are the main opposition to cannabis legalization among private individuals.
But why?
Why are older conservatives the main opposition to cannabis legalization among private individuals?
Well, there's really no one answer I can give to that question. And that's simply because individual opinions vary.
When I ask older conservatives if they oppose cannabis legalization and why, I get a whole variety of answers ranging from “it's a gateway drug” to “it makes people lazy” to “people just don't need to get high.”
Of course, these responses are mostly untrue:
- Marijuana can act as a gateway drug, but the extreme majority of people who try weed don't move on to harder drugs.
- Marijuana does not make people lazy, but instead acts as an anxiolytic — it simply decreases the anxiety of things people panic over.
- Human beings have a natural drive to seek altered and higher states of consciousness (see all of human history as an example).
But ultimately, it really doesn't make much sense to me that older conservatives would oppose cannabis.
First, being older means you've been around longer than younger people. As such, older folks know for a fact marijuana legalization has little to no effect on society.
Cannabis has been available for recreational use in the Netherlands for almost 50 years. And the country is doing just fine — better than ever, in fact.
But moreover (and I'll talk about this again in a minute), conservatives should be the political party to mainly support legalization.
Among the core central tenets of conservatism are personal liberty, free market capitalism, free enterprise, deregulation, and limited government intervention.
It's hypocritical to call yourself a conservative and support government prohibition of a consumable plant.
So... why are older conservatives the main opposition to cannabis legalization?
Well, I believe all of the arguments against cannabis legalization from older conservatives are simply due to the fact that it's something younger liberals want.
In other words, their opposition has little to nothing to do with marijuana's effects on society. Instead, they just oppose anything associated with young liberals.
Just remember, very few people actually support one side of politics. Instead, they oppose the other side.
Ask anyone who voted for Trump: Did you vote for Trump or against Hillary? I've never had anyone say they voted for Trump. Everyone says they voted against Hillary.
And it's the same thing with cannabis. Older conservatives only oppose cannabis legalization because younger liberals support it — which is not a legitimate argument for opposition at all.
So what about organizations that oppose legalization?
Let's go through them one by one...
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Pharmaceutical Companies and Trade Groups
Not every pharmaceutical company opposes marijuana legalization. And many pharmaceutical firms that used to oppose legalization have flip-flopped.
And that's simply because they got into the cannabis business.
You might be wondering why I left out alcohol and tobacco companies from the list of those that oppose legalization. Well, at one point, the alcohol and tobacco industries did, in fact, oppose legalization. And that makes sense: Cannabis competes with their products.
But now many firms like Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) and Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) are entering the cannabis industry. So many no longer oppose it.
Similarly, big pharma companies like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE: TEVA), which previously opposed cannabis legalization, now support it because they've gotten into the business, too.
Yet there are still holdouts.
Pharmaceutical firms that still actively try to stop legalization include:
- Purdue Pharma L.P. (private), maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin
- Insys Therapeutics, Inc. (OTC: INSYQ), manufacturer of the painkiller fentanyl
- Reckitt Benckiser (OTC: RBGLY), maker of painkiller Nurofen (codeine)
- Alkermes (NASDAQ: ALKS), producer of the powerful new opioid called Zohydro (hydrocodone bitartrate)
Starting to see the picture?
Pharmaceutical companies don’t oppose the legalization of marijuana because of any social, economic, or health concerns. They couldn’t give two shits about any of that. They oppose cannabis because it’s a product that competes with theirs.
A recent survey found that 92% of medical marijuana patients in California said it alleviates their chronic pain, migraines, and arthritis.
Another study from JAMA Internal Medicine found “there was about a 25% lower rate of prescription painkiller overdose deaths on average after implementation of a medical marijuana law” from 1999 to 2010.
Opposing cannabis is all about money for some pharmaceutical companies and the trade groups that represent them, like Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which is one of the largest financial backers of the anti-cannabis holdout.
And that's understandable from their perspective. But I find it absolutely egregious that Big Pharma is willing to trample on your personal liberty just for a buck.
Police, Police Unions, and Law Enforcement Associations
The police, police unions, and other law enforcement associations have other reasons they want to keep cannabis illegal aside from profit.
Of course, prohibiting pot creates police jobs — which also benefits their unions and law enforcement associations.
According to the ACLU, 52% of all drug arrests in 2010 were for marijuana — there was one pot bust every 37 seconds that year.
If marijuana were legal, we simply wouldn’t need as many police. And of course, that doesn’t sit well with police, police unions, and other law enforcement associations. But for us as taxpayers, it costs billions.
The ACLU estimates that states waste $3.6 BILLION enforcing marijuana prohibition every year.
But unlike pharmaceutical companies, cannabis opposition from law enforcement is not all about money.
Fact is, marijuana is a very loud drug — it’s pungent and easy to smell. And as long as pot remains illegal, the smell of it alone gives police probable cause to search individuals.
This simply results in making the police’s job easier.
If they smell pot on you and you’re in a state where it’s still illegal, they have probable cause to search you for other illegal things.
Keeping cannabis illegal just so the police can use it as probable cause is, once again, not a legitimate reason for prohibition.
Next Week
I've run out of time for today, but I'll be back on Monday for Part 2, where I'll cover the rest of the organizations that oppose cannabis legalization and why.
Stay tuned.
Who Opposes Cannabis and Why (Part 2)
Written by Luke Burgess
Posted October 28, 2019
Generally speaking, organizations that still oppose cannabis legalization include:
- Pharmaceutical companies and trade groups
- Police, police unions, and law enforcement associations
- Companies that operate prisons
- Religious organizations
- A whole list of government agencies
- Casinos
- Addiction services groups
- Right-wing political organizations ranging from conservative think tanks to the American Nazi Party
Today we're going further down that list, starting with...
Companies That Operate Prisons
You already know why companies that operate prisons lobby to keep marijuana illegal.
I don’t have to tell you companies like CoreCivic (NYSE: CXW), formerly the Corrections Corporation of America, and The GEO Group (NYSE: GEO) profit more with more prisoners.
The ACLU says that across the nation, 7,000,000 Americans were arrested for weed from 2001 to 2010. That’s all profit for prison companies.
Like Big Pharma, the corrections industry doesn’t oppose the legalization of marijuana because of any social, economic, or health concerns. It’s only about the money for them.
And like Big Pharma, they're willing to trample on your freedom for a dollar.
Religious Organizations
Many churches and religious organizations also support cannabis prohibition. Organizations known to openly contest legalization include:
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston
- Youth Challenge International
- Woman's Christian Temperance Union
- The Gospel Coalition
- Thousands of individual churches across the nation
Nothing.
How about in the Quran?
Nope. Nothing there, either.
Neither of these books mentions marijuana even once.
Prior to legalization, Christians most often pointed to Romans 13:1-2 as evidence smoking weed is a mortal sin. But that passage is about submission to government.
In other words, the message here is: God requires you to submit to governing authorities, regardless of circumstance, because God is the one who put the authorities in power. And consequently, whoever rebels against the government is rebelling against God.
I suppose that means our Founding Fathers, who did in fact rebel against the governing authorities of the British, committed mortal sin and "shall receive to themselves damnation." But I digress.
Nevertheless, the law has now changed in many places. And in those places, that argument is no longer valid. Still, churches and religious organizations support cannabis prohibition.
Why?
Well, I have to speculate here. But my guess is that Christians and Muslims are anti-cannabis because they believe it’s a distraction from God. And any distraction from God is a bad thing.
Of course, this is just an assumption on their part and is not wholly true. And there are millions of other distractions that they choose to ignore. If smoking cannabis is a mortal sin because it’s a spiritual distraction, then going to work is also a mortal sin since it distracts you from God.
I also have to speculate that politics are at play here, too. It’s likely that some self-proclaimed Christians (who are typically older political conservatives) are simply using religious tenets to justify attacks on their political enemies.
None of this has to do with any social, economic, or health concerns.
Government Agencies
There are dozens of government agencies in the U.S. that are trying to prevent cannabis legalization. They include:
- Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
- Drug Enforcement Administration
- National Institute on Drug Abuse
- Office of National Drug Control Policy
- Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force
Meanwhile America’s war on drugs has cost taxpayers an estimated $1 trillion since 1971.
It's great those folks have a job. But should it be at the cost of your liberty? I don't think so.
Casinos
This one is probably the most surprising on the list. But you probably won’t be surprised about the reason casinos want to keep marijuana illegal: money.
You see, it’s against the law in places like Las Vegas to allow intoxicated people to gamble — that would include being high on cannabis. In Nevada, the law says:
When casinos have allowed people to gamble while too drunk in the past, they’ve gotten sued.
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Insider investor who called the Bakken oil boom makes his boldest prediction yet. One that he claims is a once in a lifetime millionare maker event. And he's put together a playbook with three stocks to buy right now. You can cllaim your stake inside America's $5.9 trillion basin.
In 2014, a California man sued the Downtown Grand in Las Vegas after he says the casino over-served him, resulting in a $500,000 loss. And in 2006, a Kentucky man sued Caesars Indiana, alleging that he was drunk when casino employees offered him $75,000 in credit, which he quickly gambled away in a drunken blur.
Of course, we can argue that individuals are responsible for how much they consume. But we must also consider that we do live in a highly litigious society. And people are going to exploit anything they can to sue each other.
So it doesn’t really matter how much responsibility the individual carries; casinos will continue to get sued for allowing intoxicated people to gamble in their facilities. They oppose cannabis legalization because they want to avoid future lawsuits over allowing people to gamble under the influence of marijuana.
Addiction Services Organizations
Addiction services organizations like Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous are also strong opponents of legal cannabis. And of all the groups and organizations that support prohibition, they have the best argument. Yet it's still not completely reasonable.
Organizations like NA and AA have a singular goal. NA says on its website:
In short, it seeks to provide an environment of total sobriety with no drugs — cannabis included. It's not against cannabis because it's profitable. Instead, addiction services organizations seek the best environment for their addicted clients. And that's totally understandable. However, we're talking about the extreme minority.
NA does not keep track of its members. It's anonymous. However, we do know there are roughly 23,000 NA meetings per week in the United States. Those meetings can have anywhere between 4 and 400 people attend. And not all of them are members. Many times non-addicted friends and family attend NA meeting with addicts for support. So it's really impossible to know exactly how many NA members there are.
But let's just assume the maximum of 400 NA members attend the 23,000 weekly meetings. That would mean there's a maximum of 9.2 million NA members attending meetings weekly in the United States. 9.2 million people is a lot of people. But relative to the more than 200 million adults in America, we're only talking about 4% of the total adult population. And again, that's the absolute extreme maximum.
So while I understand why groups like NA would be against cannabis, it's unreasonable to prevent over 95% of the adult population from doing something that might affect less than 5%. It’s the equivalent of saying alcohol should be illegal because some people are prone to alcoholism.
Right-Wing Political Organizations and Parties
Conservative and right-wing political organizations and parties are the last group of anti-cannabis proponents we're going to talk about today.
Legitimate think tanks like The Heritage Foundation are outspoken cannabis critics, as are white nationalist groups like the American Freedom Party, National Alliance, and the American Nazi Party.
I've already touched on why these groups are anti-cannabis. They're not concerned with social, economic, or health effects of cannabis. Instead, they're only interested in opposing anything their political adversaries support.
And as I mentioned earlier, this doesn't make a lot of sense.
But moreover, conservatives should be the political party to mainly support legalization.
Among the core central tenets of conservatism are personal liberty, free market capitalism, free enterprise, deregulation, and limited government intervention. If any political party should want an end to cannabis prohibition, it should be conservatives.
Conclusion
I estimate that at least 75% of the anti-cannabis rhetoric from organizations has to do with money.
If cannabis were federally legal, it would cut into the bottom line of many companies and organizations. Most of the rest of the anti-cannabis rhetoric is just political fodder.
Does any of this surprise you?
Probably not. But I hope I was able to answer the question, "Who opposes cannabis and why?"
Agree? Disagree?
Send me a tweet and tell me what you think: @lukemburgess.
Until next time,
Luke Burgess
Who Still Opposes Cannabis Legalization?
Published on 10/29/21
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Cannabis is now legal for recreational use in 18 states and the District of Columbia, and available for medical use in 37 states, yet it remains illegal at the federal level. Although most adults in the U.S. think that it should be legal to all for medical and adult use, federal legalization continues to face insurmountable hurdles. Legislation introduced in Congress repeatedly hits walls or simply peters out. The legacy of the federally funded War on Drugs, the tortoise-like pace of any real reform on Capitol Hill, and the exorbitant amount of lobbying spending by entities with vested interests in keeping weed illegal.
Lobbying for Cannabis
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The Center for Responsive Politics reported that $5,760,500 was spent on pro-marijuana lobbying concerns in 2019 with 92 marijuana lobbyists working on Capitol Hill. Some legislators heard the lobbyists' concerns, and as recently as July 14, 2021, Senators Cory Booker, Chuck Schumer and Ron Wyden presented a discussion draft of a bill that would legalize cannabis and allow adults to possess marijuana and purchase it from dispensaries. The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act would completely remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and allow states to enact their own cannabis laws. Money from federal taxes on cannabis would be used to support restorative justice and public health and safety research. Chances of the bill becoming law are slim, however, due to resistance from Republicans in the Senate.
Another bill that was recently reintroduced (it failed in the Senate previously) to Congress by House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler is the MORE Act (Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act). If it makes it past the Senate, it would legalize and remove cannabis from the CSA, expunge cannabis convictions, and establish a federal tax on marijuana to be used for community reinvestment programs.
Lobbying Against Cannabis
Capitol Hill cannabis opinions may trend toward legalization for the most part, but for every marijuana lobbyist working for reform of the restrictive federal laws, there is another, usually better funded, whose sole purpose is to keep the Capitol Hill marijuana legalization votes in the "NO" category. Those lobbyists are constantly attempting to influence members of congress via meetings, persuasive letters and phone calls. The most powerful lobbyists tend to work for corporations or associations that represent entrenched industries that do not want to see any changes that might put a dent in their bottom line or make it more difficult to do business. Lobbyists are very well paid for their work and often have established relationships with lawmakers that provide them with the access and influence that can decide whether a bill fails or becomes law.
Groups Against Cannabis Legalization
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The industries and associations that oppose cannabis legalization are extremely powerful and very wealthy. As such, their influence on cannabis Capitol Hill policy is profound. Here are some of the largest.
The Pharmaceutical Industry
"Big Pharma" companies and trade groups have long worked to keep cannabis illegal at the federal level. They fear that they will lose customers who use their products for pain relief, seizure mitigation, weight loss, anxiety, nausea and the dozens of other issues that cannabis can also address (without the dangerous side effects or high addiction rates) were it to be legal across the country. Fewer pills means fewer profits.
The most glaring instance of pharmaceutical influence was in 2016 when the DEA-approved maker of synthetic THC and drugs with opiates and the pain killer fentanyl, Insys Therapeutics, gave $500,000 to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, the key group opposing a legalization bill in that state. The measure on the ballot was subsequently defeated. Other prominent corporations who actively lobby against legalization include the highly controversial Purdue Pharmaceuticals. That company makes OxyContin.
Police
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"Probable Cause" is the main reason for the anti-legalization efforts of police unions and law enforcement groups like state associations of chiefs of police. Sure, money is a factor. More arrests for weed create the need for more cops which means for money (again, from taxpayers) for police.
But the real issue for law enforcement is the ability to use the smell (or perceived smell) of marijuana to search or simply harass people on the street, raid homes and businesses, and look for other things that might be deemed illegal in the eyes of the State.
It makes the life of an officer easier if the idea of cannabis can be used as a crutch to facilitate their work. If nothing else is found, they can still arrest the individual involved. Police arrested 545,602 people for cannabis-related crimes in 2019. Arrests for possession accounted for 92% of the arrests.
Prisons
It is a sad indication of the state of our society, but the for-profit prison industry in the U.S. is growing, and it needs prisoners to keep the cash rolling in. Private prison companies like CoreCivic that operate under government contracts (yes, using your tax dollars) lobby to keep marijuana illegal so they can maintain their "customer" base. This is capitalism at its worst. Private prisons rake in over $7 billion per year and there are approximately 40,000 Americans still in jail because of cannabis.
Other prominent groups and industries that fear and work against federal cannabis legalization include casinos, addiction groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, religious organizations like Focus on the Family, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, and conservative think tanks like The Heritage Foundation. Within the Federal Government, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy are the most influential.
Even President Joe Biden still opposes marijuana legalization. Unlike his Democratic partners on Capitol Hill, he does not agree with legislation to end the federal prohibition on pot. His prominent role in the War on Drugs in the 1980s and 90s and his current opinion place him sadly at odds with the current climate.
I beat the dyke up, just 4 punches
I was put in holding for it because I couldn't afford Bond. It was thrown out because they couldn't find the chick. The charge was aggravated menacing
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