An anti-drug organization has removed a page from its website that listed corporate sponsors after pushback from cannabis advocates regarding a recently filed Senate bill that would federally legalize adult-use cannabis and promote social equity.
The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) removed a page from its website that listed nearly 50 corporate sponsors, including big pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, the National Football League and Krispy Kreme. While the names don’t appear on the organizations anti-legalization online action alert campaign, several businesses had received criticism for supporting the organization.
“It is quite telling that they would take down the corporate partners page in response to an informative tweet just naming who they are and what they are doing,” said Peter Grinspoon, a primary care doctor and cannabis expert at Massachusetts General Hospital whose social media posts called attention to CADCA’s partners. “Why would they do that if they didn’t know that they were on the wrong side of history? Why would they do something that they are seemingly ashamed of, to the extent that they are curating their public messaging by taking down the corporate partners?”
CADCA is calling on its supporters to reach out to their U.S. Senators to oppose the Cannabis Administration And Opportunity Act (CAOA), a recently introduced piece of legislation that was introduced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Ron Wyden and Cory Booker which would decriminalize and deschedule cannabis at the federal level.
“We applaud the authors of the CAO Act for their leadership and vision. We are reviewing the updated legislative text and look forward to having substantive discussions on how to best transition away from the illicit market to a fully regulated, national market with opportunities for all,” said former U.S. Cannabis Council CEO Steven Hawkins. “The detailed policy conversations happening around the CAO Act should not distract us from its historic nature. At the same time, the ambitious and sweeping nature of the bill should not distract Congress from advancing limited yet critical reforms, such as expungement and the SAFE Banking Act, that are immediately within reach.”
The NFL stood out on the list as the league has made progress in recent years regarding its approach to cannabis, reforming its drug testing policies and allowing players to consume cannabis during the offseason.
The league also announced it would award $1 million to two teams of medical researchers from the University of California, San Diego and University of Regina to study the effects of cannabinoids on pain management and neuroprotection from concussions sustained by football players. The awards concluded the first request for research proposals by the NFL and NFL Players Association Joint Pain Management Committee to facilitate better research to better understand and improve pain management for its players.
“The NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee is thrilled with the results of this process. We received over 100 proposals from top clinicians and researchers from around the world,” said Dr. Kevin Hill, Co-Chair, NFL-NFLPA Joint Pain Management Committee, Director of Addiction Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “The NFL is eager to advance the science of pain management and performance in an effort to improve the health and safety of the players.”
Pfizer also made news near the end of 2021 by entering the medical cannabis space through its acquisition of clinical-stage company Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. for a total equity of $6.7 billion. Arena Pharmaceuticals is a biotech company with one pipeline dedicated to cannabinoid therapeutics through its investigational drug Olorinab, an oral full agonist of the cannabinoid type 2 receptor that aims to treat patients with diseases affecting the stomach and intestines.
