Big Pharma is Taking Evasive Action to Try and Stop Legalization

In the 1994 film Clerks, directed by Kevin Smith, the
hapless manager of a convenience store finds himself at odds with a man in a
business suit who warns other customers not to buy cigarettes. After informing
them of the health hazards, the man suggests they buy a particular type of
chewing gum instead of cigarettes. 

This continues until the man is finally forced to admit that
he is not a real doctor or expert, but a paid representative of a chewing gum
company. Even though what the “expert” said about smoking may be true, his
credibility is blown, and the man in the business suit goes from being an
authority to a conniving huckster.

Across America, the cannabis legalization movement has
continued, with states like Colorado and Washington earning millions in tax
revenue while their crime rates drop. News agencies like NPR, CBS and MSNBC
respond by interviewing experts on the subject in order to presumably give
their audience the best, most objective opinion.

Usually, these experts belong to, or at least claim to
represent, health care groups, political parties, unions and the like. 

One such expert, Rhode Island Representative Patrick
Kennedy, is the founder of Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), a group
opposed to cannabis legalization. Kennedy often ends up as a guest speaker at
events such as ones put on by Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America (CADCA),
where he argues that legalizing cannabis will only create more addicts and a
nation of people with terminal illnesses.

CADCA is sponsored by many organizations that stand to lose
a lot of money if cannabis is finally legalized on a federal level. Drug
companies such as Pfizer and Purdue, both manufacturers of prescription drugs
such as OxyContin and Zohydrol, have given millions to groups like CADCA and
politicians like Kennedy, in order to keep their opposition is illegal. Since
cannabis is a great replacement for a lot of these highly addictive opioids,
paying experts to condemn it makes sense. It’s good business.

Big businesses donating millions in campaign contributions
to politicians for special treatment is old news. Do professors get paid off,
too? Sure. The opinions of Dr. Herbert Kleber of Columbia University can be
found within the media produced by agencies such as NPR, Fox News and CNBC. He
claims that cannabis is bad, and can lead to the usual dangers including
addiction, terminal health issues and mental illness.

But Dr. Kleber is a highly-paid consultant for companies
such as Purdue Pharma, Reckitt Benckiser and Alkermes, all manufacturers of
prescription pharmaceuticals such as Nurofen, giving him more than enough
motive to demonize the one substance that will put his bosses out of business.
Not only is that immoral, it’s also not objective, which means it’s bad
science.

But Kleber isn’t just an expert cited by the media. His
opinions are spread far and wide, cited by agencies such as the New York State
Association of Chiefs of Police and the American Psychiatric Association, both
800-lb gorillas when it comes to making politicians pass laws that keep
cannabis illegal and jail Americans for using it, while the painkiller industry
continues to crank out drugs like Oxycontin, and other opioids, which kill
16,000 Americans a year.

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The industries Patrick Kennedy, CADCA and Dr. Kleber get
their money from aren’t worth millions, they are worth billions. The kind of
money that is more than enough to buy elections many times over, corrupting
democracies and scientific institutions alike, but it’s just a short-term
investment for a long-term profit made at the expense of innocent Americans.