Leafline Labs in St. Paul sells cannabis for medical use. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
In 2019, tobacco giant Altria, owner of Marlboro, invested $1.8 billion in Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group. The year before, Constellation Brands, the maker of Corona and Modelo beers, put $4 billion into Canopy Growth, Canada’s largest medical marijuana maker.
A likely impetus? Canada — which legalized medical marijuana in 2001 — approved recreational use of the drug effective Oct. 17, 2018.
And now, as an increasing number of states approve medical and recreational use of marijuana, big tobacco and big alcohol companies are setting their sights on the U.S. market. Early last year, Altria, Constellation, the National Association of Convenience Stores and other groups launched the Coalition for Cannabis Policy, Education, and Regulation (cpear.org) to focus lobbying on federal and state legalization of recreational and medical use of the drug.
Big-company moves and money into marijuana are not confined to the national and international stage. It’s happening in Minnesota, where medical marijuana has been legal since 2014 and there is a push to legalize recreational cannabis.
In the past two months, Minnesota’s two home-grown cannabis companies and the only licensed medical marijuana growers and dispensers in the state — Leafline Industries and Good Growth Holdings — were purchased by larger Chicago companies that operate in multiple states. Green Thumb Industries, now incorporated in British Columbia, Canada, acquired Leafline in January. Verano Holdings acquired Goodness Growth Holdings in early February.
For opponents of recreational marijuana — including the Minnesota Catholic Conference and Smart Approaches to Marijuana Minnesota — big-money maneuvering over a drug that can impair drivers and workers, lead to dependency, mental illness and learning disabilities, particularly among the young, does not bode well for the common good.
“The more commercial interests get engaged to promote legalization of recreational marijuana, the harder our fight becomes,” said John Hausladen, president and CEO of the Minnesota Trucking Association, which belongs to a group formed in January by MCC and others called Minnesotans Against Marijuana Legalization (see sidebar). “There’s a lot of pressure, resources, lobbying.”
“Follow the money; these companies do not limit their involvement to medical marijuana,” said Ryan Hamilton, MCC’s government relations associate. To the contrary, they are involved with recreational marijuana in states where that is legal, he said. “Any industry whose aim is to profit off addiction, vice, or suffering must be of grave concern to all Catholics because of the negative impacts, not only on human dignity, but because of the risk to one’s eternal soul,” Hamilton said.
The presence of large marijuana companies in Minnesota also casts doubt on promises from recreational marijuana proponents that they can create a small, craft market and promote ownership by minorities, Hamilton said.
Luke Niforatos, executive vice president of the national Smart Approaches to Marijuana, based in Virginia, said SAM has been warning for years about the impact of big tobacco and alcohol companies on the marijuana market.
“These multinational corporations see the looming marijuana market as their next big investment and have invested billions to take it over,” he said.
The art of lobbying is in play, as well, Niforatos said. “These companies have deployed armies of lobbyists at state houses across this nation to advance policies that serve only their profits. Their efforts come at the expense of our kids and public health.”
Paul Aasen, president of the Minnesota Safety Council, which also belongs to the recently formed MAML, seconded SAM’s concerns about big companies and marijuana. That mix means “you will get the marketing machine of those companies already accustomed to advertising tobacco and alcohol,” he said. “We run the risk of creating another public health problem.”
The easiest solution, Aasen said, is not to legalize recreational marijuana. “That would be simpler, safer” than creating special education, health care and enforcement efforts around the drug, he said.
The bill in the Minnesota Senate, SF 757, and its companion bill that passed last year in the House, HF 600, do not provide adequate resources and structure for a recreational marijuana industry, Aasen said. He noted that a study in Colorado found that its recreational marijuana industry costs that state $4.50 in economic and social costs for every $1 gained in tax revenue.
“There ought to be a big public debate just about the money,” he said.
House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, the sponsor of HF 600, told The Catholic Spirit he believes his bill protects against big-money investments in recreational marijuana because it would allow companies to hold a license for only one step in the process, such as a cultivator license, a retail license or a microbusiness license. That would prevent vertical integration like that already seen in the medical side of the industry in Minnesota, he said.
Judson (Kim) Bemis, chairman of Smart Approaches to Marijuana Minnesota, said further complicating the picture in Minnesota is that beginning March 1, medical marijuana expanded from pills and oils to allowing smokable cannabis. Effective Aug. 1, the offerings also will include edibles such as gummies and chews, he said.
“It’s a slippery slope,” Bemis said of maintaining strictly medical use of cannabis in the face of products that are easy to ingest, and in some cases, harder to measure. “How do you prescribe smoking? The edible situation is, I think, even more serious.”
Aasen cautioned that unlike alcohol, there are no reliable measures by which to determine marijuana impairment. In addition, people who use marijuana to the point of being impaired often mix it with alcohol or other drugs, which presents another set of challenges, he said.
“There’s no clear path at the moment to managing (marijuana use) even as well or as poorly was we’ve managed alcohol,” Aasen said. “Interweave all of these and you have somebody who shouldn’t be operating a drill press or driving a car.”
Hamilton noted studies showing marijuana users also tend to use tobacco and alcohol, boosting the profits of companies that sell those products at the risk of consumers’ health. In a direct link to tobacco products, Hamilton said, Good Growth’s third quarter earnings report noted its Sept. 1, 2021, announcement that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had issued a notice of allowance for the patent application of its subsidiary, Resurgent Biosciences, to process and deliver moist snuff from cannabis plants.
“The tobacco industry wouldn’t have any interest in creating a marijuana snuff, right?” Hamilton said.
To counter the push to legalize recreational marijuana in Minnesota, Catholics should contact their legislators, Hamilton said. “Catholics can help combat industry-driven misinformation and pop-culture narratives that have dominated the debate thus far,” he said. “We do not need more means for addiction.”
BUSINESS CONCERNS
Trucking and busing, food processing, utility and law enforcement groups have banded together in a coalition against legalizing recreational marijuana in Minnesota. It’s a force that opponents of the drug hope will move more lawmakers to their side of the argument.
“When it (HF 600 to legalize recreational marijuana) passed the House last year, there wasn’t such a strong organization that had put its stake in the ground,” said John Hausladen, president and CEO of the Minnesota Trucking Association. “Proponents were aggressive and organized in their messaging.”
Now, Minnesotans Against Marijuana Legalization, announced in January, includes groups such as the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the Minnesota Safety Council, the Insurance Federation of Minnesota, Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, and Midwest Food Products Association. It provides a solid base from which to invite others to join the debate, Hausladen said.
“This is just a tactical stake in the ground early,” he said, noting that while HF 600’s companion bill in the Senate, SF 757, has not gained much traction this session, the effort to create a market for recreational marijuana in Minnesota will not go away.
“Our coalition is in this for the long haul,” Hausladen said, “just as we think others (opponents) are in for the long haul.”
The trucking industry is concerned about legalizing recreational marijuana for several reasons, including road and worker safety, Hausladen said.
“We believe it will make roads less safe,” he said. “Anything that degrades public safety is bad public policy.”
Recreational marijuana also would erode the workforce, particularly for the trucking industry, which tests regularly for drugs or alcohol among its drivers and enforces zero tolerance, Hausladen said.
Already there are driver, parts and equipment shortages and significant supply chain delays because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. Add something like recreational marijuana testing and penalties and the challenge would become even greater, he said.
Ryan Hamilton, MCC’s government relations associate, said creating a commercial recreational marijuana industry would impact many areas of life. It is natural that a broad coalition of organizations would come together in opposition, he said.
“The opposition to commercialized marijuana is based on more than philosophical, moralistic or religious perspectives,” Hamilton said. “The founders of MAML wanted to create a rally point and platform for stakeholders who are concerned about the tangible consequences that would come from commercializing marijuana and normalizing its use.”
Those who argue marijuana is no worse than alcohol, and perhaps less dangerous than that drug, might want to consider the dangers of any drug that can cause impairment, said Ken Winters, research adviser for Smart Approaches to Marijuana Minnesota, which also belongs to MAML, and a senior scientist in the Minnesota branch of the Oregon Research Institute.
“A person is an unsafe driver when high on THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects), just as one is an unsafe driver when drunk on alcohol,” said Winters. “Alcohol is more damaging to an unborn fetus than nicotine or THC. But THC interferes with brain development more than alcohol.”
THC also “alters more profoundly the brain chemistry that increases risk for mental illness compared to alcohol or nicotine,” said Winters, a clinical psychologist and professor for 25 years in the psychiatry department of the University of Minnesota who specializes in assessment and treatment of addictions, including adolescent drug abuse and other adolescent health issues.
“It’s not a harmless drug,” Winters said of marijuana. “It’s more potent than ever before. And if it’s legalized as recreation, more people will use it.”
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