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In 2023, SAM won every fight in Washington. Marijuana wasn’t rescheduled. Neither SAFE Banking nor any legalization bill came up for a floor vote in either chamber despite being a top priority of the Senate Majority Leader, and a longstanding provision prohibiting marijuana sales in DC remains law. Meanwhile, we made unprecedented progress on several proactive measures. We built a bipartisan, bicameral coalition to ban Delta-8 THC in next year’s Farm Bill, drafted legislation like the Stop Pot Act, and held four bipartisan staff and member briefings. Next year, our focus will continue to be on the potential rescheduling of marijuana and fixing the Farm Bill loophole.

The influence of our grassroots has exploded in the last year thanks to our state affiliates and parent advocates. Our activists sent over 22,000 letters to their legislators and other community stakeholders in 2023. Activism is a core priority of SAM’s Parent Action Network (PAN), which seeks to amplify the voices and stories of parents with children who have experienced the harms of marijuana. This year, PAN parents shared their stories in state and national media outlets, including PAN parent Heather Bacchus, a mother who lost her son to suicide as the result of marijuana-induced psychosis, who was able to share her story

The influence of our grassroots has exploded in the last year thanks to our state affiliates and parent advocates. Our activists sent over 22,000 letters to their legislators and other community stakeholders in 2023. Activism is a core priority of SAM’s Parent Action Network (PAN), which seeks to amplify the voices and stories of parents with children who have experienced the harms of marijuana. This year, PAN parents shared their stories in state and national media outlets, including PAN parent Heather Bacchus, a mother who lost her son to suicide as the result of marijuana-induced psychosis, who shared her story on Fox News. 

Parents like Heather are a crucial part of our work because this issue affects real people and real families. Thanks to your support of SAM, we can not only educate on the scientific harms of marijuana, but we can put a face and a name on the harms of marijuana legalization.

Our team traveled around the globe to speak; this year we spoke in over 30 states and 5 countries. Our work was amplified in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, the Washington Times, Politico, Axios, Law360, Fox News, Bloomberg, and more. We had over $11.5 million in earned media coverage and our message reached hundreds of millions of people.  

We can continue our work thanks to your generosity. We don’t accept funding from large corporate interests, including addiction industries or the private prison industry. We are funded by people like you—people who are also concerned about the future of our communities who want our children to grow up without the influence of addiction-for-profit companies.

During this season of giving, we humbly ask that you think of us and contribute toward our mission. We are excited to take on 2024 with you.  

Thank you for your support.

Happy Holidays,

Dr. Kevin Sabet and the SAM staff

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) is an alliance of organizations and individuals dedicated to a health-first approach to marijuana policy. We are professionals working in mental health and public health. We are bipartisan. We are medical doctors, lawmakers, treatment providers, preventionists, teachers, law enforcement officers and others who seek a middle road between incarceration and legalization. Our commonsense, third-way approach to marijuana policy is based on reputable science and sound principles of public health and safety.