Dear Friend,

With Thanksgiving in the rear view mirror, I cannot help but to reflect on what I am thankful for: all of you, our valuable supporters. Giving Tuesday takes the lessons of Thanksgiving and allows us to put our gratitude into action. On this day, people across the nation speak passion to power with their giving and enable organizations like SAM to achieve their goals. 

Just a few weeks ago, SAM and our allies helped defeat recreational marijuana measures at the ballot box in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Florida and helped defeat a psychedelic measure in Massachusetts. These victories sent a strong message to the addiction-for-profit industries: Americans are against the normalization and proliferation of drugs and SAM is standing with them.

Our work is not finished. In the new year, SAM will continue our efforts to argue for the defeat of proposed marijuana rescheduling. We will work to educate the incoming Congress and then the Trump Administration on the dangers of marijuana and THC drugs. We will continue to promote the voices of victims and their families so their stories can be heard by leaders and change makers.

Please watch this video of the Bacchus family, who tragically lost their son, Randy, to marijuana-induced psychosis. 

Randy’s story is why SAM works every day against the marijuana and addiction for profit industry. Where marijuana legalization was once thought of as a certainty, we have shown that there is a way to fight back and win.

Yes, 2024 has been a year full of victories, but each win was preceded by years of work to accomplish. That work cannot take place without your support. When you give to SAM, you enable us to tell these stories and equip lawmakers, parents, public servants, and the public with science-backed information to help shape policy and make informed decisions.

We have never and will never take any funding from the pharmaceutical industry, the prison industry, or from marijuana, tobacco, or alcohol companies. We are largely funded by people like you.

Please join our efforts and help us build the foundation for our next victory by making a tax-deductible gift today.

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.