This week, the Cannabis Regulators Association (CANNRA) is hosting its annual External Stakeholder Meeting in Minnesota, where they will bring together state-level regulators, industry groups, and advocates. It’s an extraordinary opportunity to advance sensible safeguards in advance of Minnesota’s legal marijuana rollout. But, as has happened in other states, the cards are stacked against the interests of public health.
Most people probably don’t realize that Minnesota is not alone in allowing unlimited THC potency in its products. THC is the ingredient that gets the user high – and for the industry, the more THC, the more addiction and money they will gain. THC use has been tied to a fivefold increase in psychosis risk, along with heighted schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety risk.
One might think this would force the industry to place warning labels on their products, but here again, lobbyists have outsmarted legislators and the public. As they have when it comes to
advertising that appeals to youth, which essentially will be allowed anywhere in Minnesota.
But Minnesota isn’t alone in struggling to put health over profits. After more than a decade since Colorado became the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, all states are still struggling to get it right. No state that has legalized marijuana has adopted an arrangement of policies that is strictly in the interest of public health. This has occurred in part because the marijuana industry is often given seats on the state-level boards that are responsible for crafting policies regarding legalization and the industry. The industry has, more or less, been given free rein to produce and promote any products that it wants.
For example, Representative Lauren Davis, a Democratic state legislator in Washington state, has introduced multiple versions of policies that seek to limit the strength of marijuana products. The marijuana industry has heavily lobbied against her proposed policies and has so far been successful in defeating their passage.
In turn, consumers are regularly being exposed to a range of ever-stronger products. Marijuana shops sell vapes with THC levels that exceed 90%, meaning it is near-pure THC. Just this year, the marijuana company Binoid introduced the so-called “BFG,” containing “3000mg of extremely potent Delta 9, over 15000mg Delta 8 THC, and over 20,000mg of total cannabinoids.” They proudly tout this as “the largest legal THC gummy in history,” adding that it “can be shipped to every state.” These issues will continue to worsen, as regulators essentially allow the industry to do as it pleases.
What’s bad for consumers is good the industry. Their most profitable customers are those who use marijuana heavily. Following the playbook of Big Tobacco, the marijuana industry is seeking to convert non-users into first-time users, and to convert occasional users into daily users. As a result, 3-in-10 marijuana users now have cannabis use disorder, also known as addiction to marijuana, and a recent study in Addiction found that there are now more daily past-month users of marijuana than alcohol.
Who does the public entrust to rein in the profit-driven marijuana industry and prevent outcomes like this? The state-level departments that regulate marijuana and the industry. Unfortunately, these are the same departments that are working alongside the marijuana industry at the CANNRA conference. One can only hope they will be forced to answer some tough questions.
But the cozy relationship between regulators and industry is not new. For years, tobacco regulators worked alongside Marlboro, Camel, Newport, and their trade associations. So it’s no wonder that trade groups like the National Craft Cannabis Coalition, the Alliance for Sensible Markets, the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, the National Cannabis Roundtable, and the National Cannabis Industry Association, among others, are influencing the regulators at this conference, in addition to pro-legalization activist lobbying groups.
The marijuana industry has proven it has no interest in promoting public health, given that its products are so clearly at odds with it. Instead, they are single-mindedly focused on maximizing their profits, just like Big Tobacco did.
To be fair, some public health experts are also on the agenda, though they are woefully outnumbered. It’s time their voices are elevated and prioritized here in Minnesota and other states. Too many lives depend on it.