2023 SAM Impact Report

Please join SAM President & CEO, Dr. Kevin Sabet and SAM Executive VP, Luke Niforatos for the June 16th webinar: The 2023 SAM Impact Report.

As the nation reels from an overdose and addiction crisis, this new report shows that commercialized marijuana products are making the situation much worse. Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), the nation’s leading organization dedicated to advancing a health-first approach to marijuana policy, recently unveiled its 2023 Impact Report detailing the negative health, public safety, social justice, and fiscal consequences of the commercial marijuana industry.

Many people have bought the marijuana industry’s line that their products weren’t addictive or dangerous and could actually help communities of color. Now, the data is in to prove it was a lie. We’ve pulled together medical, scientific, and government data from every state that has legalized to give people the clearest picture possible of this industry’s impact. What we’re seeing is shocking.

Topics to be included in this webinar include:

• Data & Policy Background
• Commercialization
• Adverse Health Effects
• Impacts on Youth, Young Adults, Communities of Color, Impaired Driving, Crime and many more…

About the presenters:

An affiliate of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies and the Medical School at Yale University, and dubbed by NBC News as the “prodigy of drug politics,” author, consultant, and advisor to three U.S. presidential administrations, Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D., has studied, researched, written about, and implemented drug policy for 25 years. He is currently the President and CEO of the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions (FDPS) and SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), two non-profit organizations he founded with Congressman Patrick Kennedy. His latest book, Smokescreen: What the Marijuana Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know, is distributed by Simon & Schuster, won the Next Generation Indie Book Award in the Social Justice Category, and has been optioned for a documentary film by a Hollywood studio. His upcoming book, One Nation Under the Influence, will be published by Polity in 2024. He is the only person appointed by Republican and Democrats to work at the White House drug office, and he is a columnist for Newsweek. He received his doctorate from Oxford University and BA from the University of California, Berkeley.

Luke Niforatos serves as the Executive Vice President of Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading drug policy experts. Leveraging more than a decade working on drug, addiction and health care issues, Luke drives the strategy behind SAM’s federal, state, and educational initiatives. Luke has testified in state capitols across America. He is a sought-after guest on major media outlets including ABC, Fox News, NBC, CNBC, CSPAN, Newsmax, and network affiliates, as well as syndicated and local radio shows in markets coast to coast. Luke has been featured in Time Magazine and as a speaker at drug policy events held by The Economist, the United Nations’ Commission on Narcotic Drugs, and hundreds of town halls. Prior to joining SAM, he was the co-founder of a successful healthcare company. Luke attended the University of Denver and has a Master of Arts from Johns Hopkins University.