Dear John,

SAM and our affiliates have been hard at work in several key states this year including Arkansas, Delaware, Nebraska, North Carolina, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Kansas, Montana, New Mexico, and Hawaii.  

In Arkansas, coming off our huge win against legalization in November, we are working hard to keep legalization out of the state build off this victory, including a recent effort to ban Delta-8 THC. SAM EVP, Luke Niforatos, traveled to Arkansas in March to testify before the legislature in favor of a bill we helped write to ban Delta-8. Our Arkansas affiliates have hosted legislator briefings, launched advertising campaigns including print and digital billboard ads, and defeated numerous new bills to legalize marijuana and legalize Delta-8. 

SAM EVP Luke Niforatos testifying before the Arkansas legislature; a digital billboard in favor of a delta-8 ban drives in front of the Arkansas Capitol Building

We have been working overtime in Delaware, President Biden’s home state. The legislature there voted to legalize marijuana and establish commercialization, despite threats of another veto from Governor Carney, a Democrat. Carney has said through a spokesperson that he “continues to have strong concerns about the unintended consequences of legalizing marijuana for recreational use in our state, especially about the impacts on our young people and highway safety.” SAM and our affiliate SAM-DE have been organizing briefings and blanketing Delaware in newspaper advertisements, digital ads, and social media. SAM President Kevin Sabet appeared on the state’s NBC affiliate to discuss the matter here. A decision by Carney will happen any day now. 

In both Nebraska and North Carolina, we are running a grassroots-grasstops campaign to stop marijuana for purported medical purposes. Our affiliate in Nebraska will be launching mailers and ads in the coming days and our North Carolina affiliate has already launched a series of digital ads focused on the consequences of medical marijuana, including more drugged driving incidents.  

North Carolina digital ad

North Carolina digital ad

To help us manage all of the work we are doing in states, and to help us focus on proactive measures in legal states, such as implementing warning labels on pot products, we recently brought on John Daviau, MACP, CPS to be our Director of State and Local Affairs. John started SAM Connecticut in 2013 and continues to act as SAM CT co-chair. John focuses on improving marijuana health warning labels in seven states: Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New York, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania.

He drafted SAM’s “Best Practices for Marijuana Health Warning Labels.” John also works with various other state SAM affiliates and other groups to promote health warning labels and prevent medical and commercial marijuana legalization.

Kevin Sabet and John Daviau joined SAM Minnesota for a Facebook Live conversation on marijuana's harms and the state of marijuana in Minnesota. SAM also recently hired a lobbyist in Minnesota to fix the back-door legalization bill passed by the legislature last year.

Other Notable State News

SAM President & CEO, Kevin Sabet, testified before a committee in Montana to essentially roll back full legalization there. The bill we helped write would eliminate advertising, lower potency levels, and  

In early March, the citizens of Oklahoma defeated State Question 820, the ballot measure that would have legalized recreational marijuana. Not only was legalization rejected by more than 23 points statewide, but all 77 counties in the state also rejected it. This was a major victory for public health and a resounding loss for supporters of legalization.  

Kansas Senate Bill 135, the bill that would have legalized medical marijuana, was defeated earlier in March. The Kansas Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs voted 6-3 in favor of a non-debatable substitute motion to table the bill. This procedural move effectively killed SB 135 for the remainder of the biennial legislative session. 

For at least the tenth consecutive year, the effort to legalize marijuana has failed in Democratic-controlled Hawaii yet again. A coalition of public health and safety, and faith leaders led the effort, including SAM Hawaii partners. Hawaii was one of the first states SAM worked in to stop legalization 10 years ago, and we are honored to have remained by their side in this fight ever since.