A top federal drug science official is suggesting that a model for government-run marijuana sales could promote public health, similar to what’s been observed in states that control alcohol sales.
In a blog post published on Tuesday, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow laid our her thoughts on a cannabis research agenda, discussing recent survey data on marijuana use, trends in state markets and various regulatory policies that she says could offset health concerns.
While Volkow isn’t endorsing marijuana legalization, she recognized that the state-level reform movement continues to expand and indicated that some states’ programs are more robustly structured than others. She said that one framework in particular that is of interest—but has yet to be implemented anywhere in the U.S.—is a model of “state monopolies” for cannabis distribution.
State policies “could include different forms of taxation and even state monopolies,” Volkow said. “While state monopolies have not yet been tried with cannabis, they have proven effective at reducing the public health impacts of alcohol.”
Lawmakers in certain states such as New Hampshire and Pennsylvania have considered proposals to enact legalization through a state-run model as an alternative to the usual system of sales being conducted by licensed private businesses, but no state has implemented such an approach so far.
On a more granular level, the official pointed to several other policies that may be “likeliest to have the greatest impact protecting public health,” which includes “restrictions on retail sales, pricing, and marketing; putting limits or caps on THC content in products; and laws about cannabis-impaired driving.”
The blog post largely draws on findings from a government-commissioned report that NIDA contributed to that was released last September, finding that the “the federal government has been noticeably missing from this dialogue” as more states across the country have legalized cannabis for medical or adult use.
“The report underscores the need for more detailed information on health and safety outcomes associated with specific policy frameworks,” Volkow said. “This includes more data on outcomes associated with different regulations for how cannabis products are sold and marketed, whether they can be used in public spaces, and whether more restrictive rules about how cannabis can be sold, such as those existing in other countries like Uruguay, are associated with improved health and safety outcomes.”
The Uruguay mention is also notable, as it’s one of few countries that have enacted legalization nationwide.
“Many states have developed approaches to promote health and social equity, including programs to expunge or seal records of cannabis offenses and preferential licensing for individuals or groups most adversely impacted by the disparities in criminal penalties, but whether these programs will achieve their intended goals also requires careful evaluation,” the NIDA director said.
Volkow additionally mentioned a recent NIDA-funded survey on youth trends that “recorded reduction in teenage use of substances in general, including cannabis,” conflicting with prohibitionist claims that legalization would lead to increases in underage consumption.
“Scientific research should always drive best practices in public health. To that end, NIDA and other [National Institutes of Health] institutes will continue to support essential research on cannabis, the health effects of new products, and the effects of policy changes around this drug,” Volkow said. “It is essential to ensure that, where they are legal, product contents are accurately represented to the consumer in an environment where public health takes precedence over profits.”
Volkow has stood out among federal officials for being particularly vocal about the need to promote marijuana research, while acknowledging the challenges posed by federal prohibition. She’s also been critical of the commercial cannabis marketplace, as she discussed in another blog post last October.
The director said marijuana businesses have learned “lessons” from the alcohol and tobacco industries to market their products, and “the diversification of cannabis products have led to significant increases in the number of users and the amount of cannabis consumed by them in the U.S.”
She’s previously said that the drug war “created a structurally racist system” in which Black people are treated “worse” than others. And she’s called on the government to move “away from criminalization,” arguing that the country’s failure to offer drug treatment to incarcerated people only exacerbates the ongoing opioid overdose crisis.
A top federal drug science official is suggesting that a model for government-run marijuana sales could promote public health, similar to what’s been observed in states that control alcohol sales. In a blog post published on Tuesday, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow laid our her thoughts on a cannabis research agenda, Read More
