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Friends and Supporters,

Yet another respected public health official has come out in opposition to Amendment 3, the industry-funded ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana. Donna Shalala, former Health and Human Services Secretary and Democratic Member of Congress from Miami, made her position clear in a recent op-ed published in the Miami Herald: Amendment 3 is a disaster for Florida.

Secretary Shalala has spent years fighting against the addiction-for-profit industries: “As President Bill Clinton’s Health and Human Services Secretary, I watched tobacco company executives lie under oath in the infamous 1994 Congressional hearings, claiming ‘nicotine is not addictive.’” She acted to ban flavored vapes while in Congress and, in her current role as President of Miami University in Florida, has seen the damage that substance misuse has on a young person’s life.

That’s why she sees Big Marijuana as the new threat. Click here to read her full op-ed on why Amendment 3 is bad policy for Florida.

Fmr. Secretary Shalala and SAM President and CEO Kevin A. Sabet in New York

Donna notes that we can protect people from unfair criminalization without inviting Big Marijuana into Florida. Trulieve, the largest medical marijuana company in Florida, has spent more than $83 million in favor of the ballot measure.

We are working hard to educate the public about the harms of marijuana, and we need your help.

We’ve already seen the disastrous effects of Big Marijuana in other states and we can’t allow Florida to follow.

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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.