Is Weed Legalization Up in Smoke? with Kevin Sabet

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I knew that the science about marijuana and how today's marijuana is not your Woodstock weed was really emerging and coming out and showing the link to psychosis and schizophrenia.
And when they legalized marijuana in Colorado, Patrick Kennedy, Ted Kennedy's son, called me and said, this is going to be really bad. This is going to be a new big tobacco type industry that relies on addiction for profit. And that's why we started SAM. And then a few years ago, we just got some, started getting so many calls from, you know, thousands of parents who have had heartbreaking stories. And we knew that this was building.

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It's The Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio.

**Drew Mariani** (0:55)
That's the voice of my next guest, Kevin Sabet, who was talking with News Nation about some of the issues of legalized weed. Good afternoon, I'm Drew Mariani. Good to be with you today. I'm grateful to be able to hang out and give you a look at life that you're probably not gonna find anywhere else. I said, it's a mixed bag here. So many of the different issues that we deal with, but I've been following this story on the legalization of cannabis in this country. You know, recreationally, it's spreading.
And today, maybe you get high, maybe it's your kids, maybe it's your sibling or a friend, maybe it's an occasional thing. Americans are getting high on marijuana at unprecedented levels. There was a Wall Street Journal article, and this is really what grabbed my attention. It reported that about a third of Americans, one third of Americans in their 20s, admitted to having used marijuana just in the previous month. I mean, it's a third.

**SPEAKER_4** (1:50)
I mean, if you did the numbers, that's a pretty big number. A third of Americans in their 20s said, yeah, I smoked within the last month.
About a fifth of those between the ages of 35 and 50 did the same thing.

**Drew Mariani** (2:03)
So more Americans are using marijuana. Nearly, you know, they're doing it probably more every day than they are drinking alcohol. It seems like alcohol is really beginning to fall out of favor with a lot of people, but you have to wonder how many are using both at the same time? Are you drinking and getting high or vice versa? So for years now, we've been told that using marijuana for medical purposes, it's an imperative, you know?
And then, of course, it morphed into, you know, it's just allowing small amounts of the drug for recreational use. But if you look at the numbers, right now, 24 states allow it recreationally. 40 states allow it for alleged medical reasons. And the FDA is looking at changing its scheduling. Right now, it's a schedule one drug, which means that it has no medical purpose and has a high potential for abuse. A lot of advocates are saying, come on, that's crazy.
It's pot, it's weed, it's natural. They want to make it a schedule three drug, which are drugs that have legitimate medical use and lower risk of abuse. And I can see the argument for it in some respects, but while some states are still trying to legalize it, other states have legalized it. They want to kind of now backtrack on it. And there's a ballot initiative, not in Massachusetts, that would reverse the legalization that the state gave it not too many years ago. Virginia's Democratic Governor, Abigail Spanberg, she vetoed a bill that would have legalized it there. And even New York has partially reversed its previous advocacy. So back in 2014, they wrote this full-throated endorsement of legalizing the drug. That's why I was shocked earlier this year when they wrote, it's time for America to admit that it has a marijuana problem. And unfortunately, they only advocated for federal regulation and higher taxes. State of Delaware legally, recently legalized recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania. A lot of states are coming around. So let's talk about it. And you are welcome to join us if you want to dial in at any time. The number is 888-914-9149.
Kevin Sabet joins me today. He is the president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. And check that group out. They're a good group. They're a non-profit. And he founded it with Congressman Patrick Kennedy and David Frum, and actually came out with a new book. It's called One Nation Under the Influence. And again, it's One Nation Under the Influence, the title of his book. And again, Kevin Sabet joins me right now and check him out at learnaboutsam.org. Kevin, good afternoon. Good to have you back. Good afternoon.