Smart Approaches to Marijuana

Welcome to Family Policy Matters an engaging and informative weekly radio show and podcast produced by the North Carolina Family Policy Council.

And that you will feel better equipped to be a voice of persuasion for family values in your community, state, and nation. And now here is our host of Family Policy Matters, Tracy Devitt Griggs. Thanks for joining us this week for Family Policy Matters, an issue that's been making progress in the North Carolina General Assembly this term is the legalization of marijuana in our state. Although tailored to medical uses alone, SB 711 entitled NC Compassionate Care Act would be North Carolina's first foray into legalizing marijuana and would establish a supply chain for it.

What are the potential impacts? Well, here to help us explore this issue is Luke Niferatis, Executive Vice President at Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an alliance of organizations and individuals dedicated to a health first approach to marijuana policy. Luke, welcome to Family Policy Matters.

Tracy, thank you so much for having me on. Well, what does it mean when you say you advocate for a health first approach to marijuana policy? Yeah, thank you.

Yes. So our organization is the nation's leading national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, you know, working on the marijuana issue. And from our perspective, we see this as a public health issue, not a profit or revenue issue. It's a public health issue. And we need to listen to our scientists and doctors and medical professionals when it comes to policy on marijuana.

So what the American Medical Association will tell you and what the American Academy of Pediatrics will tell you and all the major medical associations will tell you is that marijuana is a harmful, addictive drug that needs to be treated for what it is, which is it is something harmful to be discouraged, like any other drug out there. So for a health first approach, we need to not allow an industry to form around it. And that's what happens when you legalize marijuana. Tracy is you get a whole new industry now backed by big tobacco and big alcohol, billions of dollars into that industry. That totally changes the drug, which I can talk about a little bit more later, but makes it much more addictive and really starts to inflict a lot of harm on public health. So we want to do things to protect the public health, not hurt the public health. And so that's why we see this this approach as being, look, don't legalize it. We can decriminalize maybe low level possession of it so people don't go to jail for having a joint in their pocket. But let's not allow the production and sales of this drug.

Wow. You know, you touched on a really important point that I think a lot of people don't really understand is big tobacco or big corporations that are that are behind this push. And that's not the way they they promote this, is it?

No, not at all. And you just look at the history of tobacco. Five thousand years ago, people were smoking tobacco, but they weren't developing all kinds of cancer from it.

We weren't seeing millions of people across the world dying from it. But about 100 years ago, we had the invention of the cigarette, the first ever big tobacco industry, the global supply chain, and they adulterated the tobacco plant. They added ammonia and nicotine and other things into the cigarettes and they got people addicted, hooked and all kinds of cancers and other harms happened. And next thing we know, millions of people across the world are dying from tobacco related cancer and other forms of disease. So what we are seeing with marijuana is very similar to that, where we have a plant that has been around for thousands of years, not really used by a lot of people, but it's been around. But now it's being taken by a massive multibillion dollar industry that has taken over two billion dollars from the tobacco industry alone that has taken marijuana, adulterated it, bred it to be much more potent than it's ever been. It's now 99 percent potency THC. That's the ingredient that gets you high compared to just two to three percent potency, which was natural to the plant two decades ago. So it's totally different, much more potent, much more addictive. And so now we're starting to see these harms come out, mental health issues, schizophrenia, issues with pregnant mothers and children in the womb, all kinds of problems that we never really saw with this drug before that we're now seeing because of legalization, because of this commercialized model that's happening. And it's called addiction for profit.

I mean, that's what this is. And from a company perspective, you want to deliver returns to your shareholders. So when you have the big tobacco coming in and putting in two billion dollars in this industry, they need to give a return on that investment that the marijuana industry does. And the only way that they can do that is by selling a ton more weed and making it very addictive.

And, you know, it's really interesting. You look at Colorado, just four percent of the marijuana users in Colorado make up 70 percent of the marijuana sales in our state. That's from the latest numbers. So four percent make up 70 percent of the sales for this drug. They are heavily addicted, heavily using this drug. And that is what the industry wants.

They unfortunately, because of that profit incentive, derive their money from addiction. And that's why we need to keep the industry out of North Carolina and not allow this drug to become commercialized. Let's talk a little bit about the difference. And is there a difference between medical use and recreational marijuana policy? I'm so glad you asked that question, Tracy, because there's just this misnomer out there that there's a difference between medical and recreational marijuana.

Now, listen to me. I am from Colorado, so I lived before, during and after legalization. I was here when we legalized medical. I was here when we legalized recreational.

I'm now raising two young daughters in this state with my lovely wife. So I know firsthand what happens. And I will tell you, first off, that the marijuana being sold in our, quote unquote, medical marijuana dispensaries is just weed. It's just the same weed that they're selling in the recreational dispensaries. In fact, when we legalized recreational marijuana back in 2012 and it went live in 2014, the medical marijuana shops just changed their signs to say recreational marijuana shops.

And they continued selling the exact same products. And so that's the first misnomer out there is that it's somehow different. The second misnomer and real myth that people think out there is that, you know, medical marijuana must go through some sort of clinical trials and be regulated by scientists and people are getting prescriptions for it.

None of that is the case. The FDA has not approved whole plant marijuana, smoked marijuana, edible marijuana as any kind of medication. So the medical marijuana that you would get in North Carolina if this bill were to pass would just be completely unregulated, unprescribable marijuana that you would just smoke or eat or whatever it might be. And so there's no scientists that are reviewing this drug. There's no FDA testing to ensure that it's correct. When you get the recommendation from your doctor for this medical marijuana, you're not going to get a prescription. So that means you're not going to get dosage. You're not going to get refills. You're not going to be told what the potency is that you should have.

You're not going to know anything. So it works completely unlike any medication we have in the history of this country. I don't know about all of you, but I don't remember us voting on Advil to be to be sold out of pharmacies.

I don't remember us voting on, you know, any of these other drugs we get prescriptions for. So, you know, what this really is about is giving the industry a foothold in your state. They're going to call it medical, but it really is the same thing as recreational. And they're going to try to get more normalization. They're going to try to get their pot shops and their ads and their products all across your state, build up a market and get people demanding recreational marijuana.

And then the next thing you know, you'll have recreational. So it's very important that we understand what is going on here and how this drug is not medical in and of itself. Now, the FDA has approved a few marijuana based medications that you can get prescriptions for. And that really is what we should be focusing on when it comes to a medical approach to this drug.

What are those? What are those few indications that the FDA has given? The FDA approved pure THC called Marinol. And that is something that you can get a prescription for that from your doctor. And that prescription will tell you the dosage and refills and all that stuff.

And so that has some benefit for cancer patients. For example, you know, note that it's got pure THC, so that's just one component from the plant. That's the component that gets you high. But there are actually over 500 components contained within the marijuana plant. So it's an extract of that plant, just that one component. So it's different from smoking the whole plant where you get all these other things in it, too.

This is scientifically precise. So that's one. Then we have pure CBD, which is called Epidiolex. That's also been approved by the FDA. And you can get a prescription for that as well. And that's indicated to help with a few different types of very, very rare seizures that are out there. And so that's been prescribed for that.

So those are just two examples. And I think a lot of people don't realize that the FDA has approved these drugs, that the FDA is actually considering a host of other marijuana-based medications that are currently going through clinical trials. And that is the way the scientific process should work. If we don't go through that process and we say, well, medications should just be unleashed on the public, then what you have is these horrific drugs with terrible consequences just being tested on the public at will. I don't think that's a good policy for developing sound medications in this country. I think a lot of people could be harmed from that.

So we have to be really careful with the way we treat our medications because it could hurt innocent patients. Well, you mentioned earlier national statistics and you were talking about mental health and addiction. I can just hear people that are supporters of legalized marijuana saying to themselves, oh, yeah, sure, I can just guarantee those are great credible sources.

But they are, aren't they? What are some of the sources that you use when you're talking about the problems that legalized marijuana causes? Certainly. And first of all, I would encourage everyone to go to our website, learnaboutsam.org. And what you'll find there is information that is vetted by scientists. So our science advisory board is made up of people from Harvard, Princeton and Yale who are the world's leading researchers on marijuana.

They are literally currently doing research on marijuana right now as we're speaking on the phone. So these people review our work. They do research studies. They get them published. And we also pull from other research that's been peer reviewed from peer reviewed journals.

So that's what we reference. And so I encourage you to check out our website. But I will highlight a few key studies that have come out just in the last couple of years. The Lancet Journal of Psychiatry. That's probably the foremost one of the foremost scientific journals in the world.

Just a sterling reputation, a sterling name. They published a research study two years ago that found that regular users of today's high potency marijuana, the insane product formulations, they're up to 99 percent potency. Those kinds of products, those high potency products, regular users of them are five times more likely to develop schizophrenia or psychosis, according to this study.

And this study followed over 2000 people across major metropolitan areas over a number of years. So very credible study, very concerning findings, you know, in terms of mental health outcomes. Another study that came out found that mothers, if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, the children in those in that scenario. So the child in the womb or the child breastfeeding is actually two times more likely to develop autism if the mother is using marijuana, which is a deeply concerning study.

Obviously, that's early on. We need to see a lot more research on that. But but that was a very concerning finding. We just found that research just came out last year. And then in terms of addiction, we know this just from the fact of what we're seeing in our hospitals and clinics, because, yes, marijuana is addictive. You know, there's an industry myth out there that marijuana is harmless and not addictive. But our scientists and our doctors have created a diagnosis code called cannabis use disorder. And if you have marijuana addiction, they will diagnose you with it in their medical systems. And so we've seen diagnoses for marijuana addiction triple over the last decade. So we have now over four million Americans that are classified as having a marijuana use disorder. So the addiction rates are skyrocketing as a result of what we've seen with with legalization, whether it was medical or recreational.

So those are some key areas of concern. But what I'll finish with Tracy is, you know, there are a lot of concerns around driving, you know, and I think that's one of the things that Americans across the country are very concerned about, which is, you know, marijuana impairs you while you're driving. And so Colorado and Washington State both saw our marijuana impaired driving deaths double after legalization. That's according to the latest federal and state statistics on road deaths, casualties and accidents. So we're seeing, you know, marijuana impaired drivers killed twice the number of people after legalization as before. And in Oregon, half of all of the drivers that they tested on the roads tested positive for marijuana. So we're seeing a huge increase in impairment on the roads. And so that's something that, you know, we're going to be watching for as well, because there's no roadside test. There's no standard for impairment like we have with alcohol.

There's no.08 limit. So it really is the Wild West when it comes to trying to keep our roads safer as a result of these policies. Excellent information.

But we're just about out of time. Before we go, Luke Nifaradis, where can our listeners go to learn more about your organization and what you've been talking about? So our website is learnaboutsam.org. That's learnaboutsam.org.

You'll find all kinds of materials. All of our sources are peer reviewed. They're cited properly so you can double check the research yourself and get informed on this issue. And I would just encourage you to make sure your state does not become another victim of big marijuana. They are saying this is medical in your state. But all of the qualifying conditions in the bill are not supported by science to be given marijuana for. So please contact your legislators in North Carolina and let them know the truth about the science around this drug and how bringing this industry in the door is going to be bad for North Carolina.

Luke Nifaradis, executive vice president at Smart Approaches to Marijuana. Thank you so much for being with us today on Family Policy Matters. You've been listening to Family Policy Matters. We hope you enjoyed the program and plan to tune in again next week to listen to the show online and to learn more about NC Families work to inform, encourage and inspire families across North Carolina. Go to our website at ncfamily.org. That's ncfamily.org. Thanks again for listening and may God bless you and your family.