USA: S.A.M Having Wins, but more needed…support today

Because of the hard work of diligent supporters such as yourself, the SAM family has been able to push back the efforts of the pot industry in states across the country this year.

So far this year, legalization and commercialization attempts have failed due to the perseverance of SAM affiliates and partners in Illinois, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island.

In Rhode Island, our partners have been extremely successful in fighting back Big Marijuana’s attempt to expand into the state. Their tireless efforts have resulted in legalization bills being defeated in the General Assembly every year for the last seven years. Last year, they defeated attempts to divert funds meant for regulation of the state’s medical marijuana program to the general fund.

Additionally, they have defeated numerous attempts to expand the number of marijuana dispensaries and have succeeded in establishing local control over pot-related zoning ordinances in towns and cities. When the state was rushing to legalize pot, our partners were able to orchestrate the creation of a bi-partisan group to study the potential impacts of legalization on the state.

But even with our successes this year and in years past, we simply must do more.

Big Marijuana is determined to do whatever it takes to shove its reckless and dangerous agenda down our throats, but as detailed above, legalization is not a forgone conclusion.

We can’t all leave our jobs to dedicate our lives to advocacy like I did and like others are so graciously doing, but we can pick up the phone and call our elected officials and let them know we will not stand quietly on the sidelines while they sell our country out to Big Marijuana.

We can all write a letter to the editor or an op-ed highlighting how legalization has led to an increase in drugged driving and in youth exposure to pot. Here is an example of an op-ed recently published in California on  drugged-driving, another in  The Hill focusing on marijuana banking, and one recently published in the Wall Street Journal highlighting the  harms of legalization.

Even if you don’t have the time to do any of those, or maybe you just don’t want to publicly be involved, you can still help bychipping in to the fight.

Will you take action today to stand with us?