Conference hosted by group funding Massachusetts cannabis repeal effort also probably lacked “good drugs,” as promised in name
Last month, the Massachusetts media and members of the public finally verified what many had already suspected—that the effort to repeal adult-use cannabis in the commonwealth is shamelessly, exclusively powered by out-of-state prohibitionist forces.
It’s actually worse than some stakeholders predicted. Office of Campaign and Political Finance records show that the entire $1.55 million raised by the so-called Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts last reporting period came from SAM Action Inc., a national dark-money group “dedicated to promoting healthy marijuana policies that do not legalize drugs.”
While SAM Action cloaks its own funding, it’s no secret that the 501(c)(4) and its 501(c)(3) cousin, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, are projects of the same cadre of grifters. Notably, SAM is co-founded by ex-Congressman Patrick Kennedy, a former addict who blasts marijuana while married to Big Pharma, and the only Kennedy clan member thicker than RFK Jr. But SAM is also the business of neocon icon David Frum and Kevin Sabet, the latter a world famous pubic stylist and merkin magnate who moonlights for jollies as a “Reefer Madness” reenactor.
For their latest payday, SAM and its collaborators from Sabet’s Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions hosted their Good Drug Policy Summit in DC last week. But it wasn’t really a summit on policy—or science—at all, but rather a staged contemporary drama in an ancient war on drugs. The following is from an account of interacting with the organizers via Students for Sensible Drug Policy:
Though supposedly open to the public, conference organizers systematically denied registration to multiple scientists, mental health professionals, and policy experts who purchased a ticket to attend, according to Students for Sensible Drug Policy, one of the largest and most well-established drug policy organizations in the world. Those denied registration include neuroscience researchers, mental health professionals, psychedelic therapy leaders, and nationally recognized drug policy advocates.
And here is Brooke Shockey Sanders, SSDP’s Director of Network Relations, with some additional critical background: “Scientists have an ethical obligation to conduct unbiased and factual research; Smart Approaches to Marijuana seems to be unburdened by those anchors. … I am a Neuroscience PhD student who has been researching cannabis for the last 6 years, and SAM directly blocked my attendance from their conference.”
Sanders continued: “SAM supplies their audience with biased, and sometimes false, scientific data on cannabis. … Not once have my laboratory results supported any claims about cannabis made by SAM. It is clear that this organization’s mission is to present a distorted view of cannabis research, and does not allow for discussion otherwise.”
Any time you see or hear one of the liars behind the Mass ballot question to shutter dispensaries, think about the following warning from SSDP: SAM “continues to push drug policy agendas in state legislatures that contradict a growing body of scientific consensus. [The organization] has repeatedly opposed cannabis regulation models supported by public health research, resisted reforms proven to reduce criminal justice harms, and promoted fear-based narratives that misrepresent evidence on cannabis and drug use.”
It’s the same sort of prevarication that SAM used in 2024, when it successfully opposed a Bay State referendum to open up access to some psychedelics, and that the profoundly unethical movement is using in its push to close dispensaries in Massachusetts.
