Can our experience with tobacco and alcohol

teach us how to protect children

if marijuana is legalized?

Sue Rusche, President and CEONational Families in Action

But What about the Children? Campaign

Begin with a small gift

• For all who have fought the first wave of legalization– Medical marijuana

• This ad from the 1880s

Status of marijuana research

• Any addictive drug is terrible for adolescents whose developing brains make them vulnerable to addiction, other brain disorders, and damage

• New studies add to our knowledge– Persistent marijuana use before age 18 that

continues results in 8-point IQ drop by midlife– Link to development of testicular cancer,

especially if use begins in adolescence– Link to severe brain damage to fetus in first two

weeks of pregnancy

Status of marijuana legalization

• Medical marijuana legal in 17 states and D.C.– Early states via ballot initiatives beginning in

1996– Later states via legislative action

• Full legalization initiatives on 2012 ballot in– Colorado (Amendment 64)– Oregon (Cannabis Tax Act)– Washington State (Measure 502)

• HR 2306—Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act

More than 50% support legalization

• Gallup– 50 percent nationwide up from 12 percent in 1969

• Angus Reid Public Opinion Poll– 52 percent nationwide

• Colorado– 51 percent for, 40 percent opposed

• Oregon– 43 percent for, 46 percent opposed

• Washington– 50 percent for, 38 percent opposed

All 3 will regulate pot like alcohol:Younger Teens

Colorado Ages 12-17 Oregon Ages 12-17 Washington Ages 12 to 170

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

20%

14%10% 9% 8%

AlcoholMarijuana

18%

Source: National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2008-2009 State Data

All 3 will regulate pot like alcoholOlder Teens and Young Adults

Colorado Ages 18 to 25 Oregon Ages 18 to 25 Washington Ages 18 to 250

10

20

30

40

50

60

7070%

67%

61%

24% 24%

17%

AlcoholMarijuana

Source: National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2008-2009 State Data

Who will write the regulations?

• Department of Revenue (CO) • Liquor Control Board (WA)• Cannabis Commission (OR)

– Governor appoints all 7 members in Year 1

– 5 of 7 members elected annually thereafter by licensed marijuana growers and processors

All 3 prohibit

• State and local law enforcement agencies from enforcing federal law– The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

doesn’t have enough personnel to do it alone

• The President would have to federalize the National Guard to enforce federal law– With 50 percent of Americans supporting

legalization, that’s not likely to happen

Policy researchers predict

• If one state legalizes marijuana, price is likely to drop 80 percent to 90 percent– People from other 49 states will go there to

buy pot (including dealers)

• The legalization state will likely experience a flood of marijuana taxes, creating a domino effect– Other states will feel pressure to legalize

pot to gain their fair share of taxes

Source: An Analysis of How Current Marijuana Legalization Initiatives Stack Against the 12 Provisions

A commercial marijuana industry

• Will market its products to children like the tobacco and alcohol companies do

Source: What 6-year-old wouldn’t want to eat one of these chocolate chip cookies?

Here’s what tobacco execs said:

Liggett Group

• "If you are really and truly not going to sell [cigarettes] to children, you are going to be out of business in 30 years."

R. J. Reynolds

• "Realistically, if our company is to survive and prosper, over the long term we must get our share of the youth market."

Lorillard

• "The base of our business is the high school student."

Philip Morris

• “Today's teenager is tomorrow's potential regular customer, and the overwhelming majority of smokers first begin to smoke while still in their teens. ... [S]moking patterns of teenagers are particularly important to Philip Morris. ... Because of our high share of the market among the youngest smokers, Philip Morris will suffer more than the other companies from the decline in the number of teenage smokers. “

Former model for Winstons

• “Of course, children aren't the only targets of the tobacco industry. Once, when I asked an R.J. Reynolds executive why he and his colleagues didn't smoke, he responded point-blank that “We don't smoke the sh--, we just sell it... We reserve that right for the young, the poor, the black, and the stupid.”

A minimum purchase age is not enough

• It does nothing to prevent an addictive drug industry from marketing to underage children.– It took specific litigation/laws, to force

tobacco producers to stop marketing to kids

• It does nothing to prevent an addictive drug industry from selling to underage children– It took a specific law to force tobacco

retailers to stop selling to kids

Constraints brought against Big Tobacco

• 1964 and subsequent Surgeon General’s Reports– Smoking kills 443,000 people a year – Second-hand smoke causes 50,000 of these

deaths– Smoking causes cancers, heart disease, lung

disease, other illnesses in 8.6 million Americans a year

• Results – Impetus for evolution of local and state smoke-

free laws

Constraints, continued

• 1992 Synar Amendment – Requires states to conduct annual, random,

unannounced inspections of over-the-counter tobacco outlets and vending machines

– States not in compliance lose 40 percent of their substance abuse block grant funds

• Results– Violation rate dropped from 40 percent in 1997 to

8.5 percent in 2011– Adolescent over-the-counter cigarette purchases

dropped from 39 percent in 1995 to 14 percent in 2009

Constraints, continued

• 1998 Master Settlement Agreement– States sued tobacco industry which agreed to

reimburse them in perpetuity ($246 billion over the first 25 years) for their costs of treating tobacco-related diseases in Medicaid patients

– Agreed to reduce marketing to youth– Established independent prevention fund and

the Legacy Foundation to conduct a national prevention/cessation campaign

• Results– Adolescent smoking at lowest levels in history

Constraints, continued• 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and

Tobacco Control Act– Makes Food and Drug Administration

responsible for regulating tobacco– Act became effective one year later– FDA putting regulations in place now

Definition of “contingency”

• An event that is of possible but uncertain occurrence

• What is contingency planning?– Trying to plan for a contingency

• Contingency planning helps people see things that are not on their radar

In this case

• Contingency (possible but uncertain)– Full marijuana legalization

• Question 1– How can we protect children if it

happens?

• Question 2– When should we do it?

The time to contingency plan is now before commerce takes over

• In early 2010, National Families in Action assembled some of the nation’s most effective leaders who work to prevent underage drinking and smoking. We asked:– “If you could have written the law that repealed

Prohibition in the 1930s, or the Tobacco Control Law 150 years ago (instead of 2009), knowing what you know now, what kinds of provisions would you have placed in those laws to prevent these industries from targeting kids?”

Our provisions grew out of their answers

1. No advertising2. A penalty fee3. Automatic repeal4. No product placements 5. An industry-financed fund6. A state agency to regulate and tax7. Licensed growers, distributors, retail

sales8. No drugged driving

Provisions, continued

9. No drugged employees or students10. Smoke-free laws apply11. Marijuana controlled by FDA12. A Surgeon General’s Report on

marijuana

www.butwhataboutthechildren.org

Conclusion

• Federal, state, and local leaders must act now to develop a contingency plan to protect children if marijuana is legalized. – If they wait until legalization (maybe)

happens, concern for children's health and well-being will be overwhelmed by concern for profits

– A third industry will market addiction and death to generations of children before anyone can bring it under control.