(from Law360)
"Kevin Sabet, the president and CEO of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, or SAM, occupies a lonely role in the landscape of cannabis policy advocacy, standing athwart the whirlwind legalization movement and imploring stakeholders, politely but gravely, to pause.
"A former drug policy adviser to three presidential administrations, both Republican and Democratic, and author, most recently of Smokescreen: What the Marijuana Industry Doesn't Want You to Know, Sabet has been urging policymakers and the public to consider the risks of legalizing cannabis in the U.S., which he says is a breakneck public health crisis in the making.
"The legalization movement, he argues, has been pushed into the mainstream by big business interests from the tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceutical sectors looking for the next hot, lucrative product that can hook the American public.
"Law360 spoke to Sabet recently, just minutes after he had wrapped a talk with the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative legislation workshop.
"'I threw a little bit of cold water on the [cannabis] industry representatives who are saying that this is the best thing since sliced bread and [federal legalization] is going to happen tomorrow,' he said. 'We really don't see this as inevitable...'"
