The weed industry has ramped up its lobbying spending amid a high-profile legislative feud and following the release of new studies linking cannabis use to adverse health outcomes.
Five high-profile marijuana vendors and trade associations collectively spent over $2.2 million during the first and second quarters of 2024, well over double their expenditures during the same period in 2023, federal lobbying disclosures show, as the industry feuds with hemp producers. The bump in influence spending also comes on the heels of a slate of new studies linking cannabis usage to heart disease, stroke and a variety of mental afflictions.
“It’s absolutely concerning,” Manhattan Institute fellow Charles Fain Lehman said to Daily Caller News Foundation when asked about the uptick in marijuana lobbying. “The evidence that marijuana is an addictive, harmful substance which harms kids and communities is overwhelming.” (RELATED: Lobbyists Rake In Record Revenue As Americans Grapple With Declining Wages)
Roughly 22% of marijuana users develop cannabis use disorder, meaning that they are unable to stop using the substance even if it is causing social or health problems, according to a 2020 study.
“Prior research shows links between marijuana use and cardiovascular disease like coronary artery disease, heart failure and atrial fibrillation, which is known to cause heart failure,” Dr. Yakubu Bene-Alhasan, the lead researcher on a November 2023 study that found marijuana usage was linked to heart failure, told the American Heart Association. “Marijuana use isn’t without its health concerns, and our study provides more data linking its use to cardiovascular conditions.”
Bene-Alhasan’s research used data from over 150,000 adults over four years to conclude that individuals using marijuana daily had a 34% greater chance of experiencing heart failure relative to those who didn’t report using the substance.
Despite the risks, the cannabis industry has lobbied aggressively over the years, spending millions of dollars on efforts to convince lawmakers to legalize the substance at the federal level, according to OpenSecrets.
“Big companies want to be able to sell it because an addictive product is an attractive product,” Lehman continued. “To make that market a reality, they are happy to spend millions denying basic facts about the drug they want to sell. The increase in lobbying is a reflection of the fact that Americans are starting to notice that legalization is a big mess, and are getting less persuaded by the idea of legalization”
Most recently, the weed lobby has butted heads with hemp producers in the debate over this year’s farm bill, which could ban intoxicating variants of the plant, Politico reported. The 2018 farm bill legalized hemp with less than 0.3% THC, with some Republicans who supported the legislation saying they didn’t realize they had voted to legalize an intoxicating substance.
“I supported the last farm bill and I was okay with hemp being used for industrial use and things like that,” Republican California Rep. Doug LaMalfa said, according to Politico. “I watched what happened after that, and a whole bunch of people got, I think, kind of hornswoggled.”
Hemp producers have found that they can extract enough THC from their legally-grown crop to create food or drink products with psychoactive effects, Politico reported. These hemp-based products have cut into the profits of marijuana vendors, leading to the industry’s new push to make THC in hemp illegal again and partially kicking off the current lobbying surge.
Cannabis plants being grown under artificial light at a dispensary selling marijuana. (Photo by Candida NG / AFP) (Photo by CANDIDA NG/AFP via Getty Images)
As weed legalization has become more common at the state level, usage has also become more common, with 20% of people 12 or older saying they’ve used the drug at least once within the past year, according to the most recent iteration of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Eight percent of Americans 65 or older reported using cannabis in the past year, roughly double the rate seven years ago, according to The Washington Post. Some studies suggest that weed use carries risks for seniors, with a 2023 research paper finding that older Americans with cardiovascular risk factors were at a 20% increased risk of “a major heart or brain event while hospitalized” if they reported marijuana usage.
Marijuana usage is most prevalent among young Americans, according to Gallup, and carries risks for them as well. A University of Toronto study published in May found that teens who use cannabis are 11 times more likely to be diagnosed with a psychotic disorder than those who don’t use the substance, though it did not establish a causal link.
“I think that there’s enough evidence out there for us to give recommendations that teens probably shouldn’t be using cannabis,” Andre McDonald, lead author of the study, told NBC News. “If we can somehow ask teens to delay their use until their brain has developed a little further, I think that would be good for public health.”
A large May 2023 study analyzing data from almost 7 million Danish men and women over nearly three decades, found evidence that cannabis use among young men may put them at risk of developing schizophrenia. A 2016 meta-analysis, or an examination of many studies, found that heavy cannabis use significantly increased the risk of schizophrenia and other psychosis-related outcomes.
Marijuana is currently legal in 24 states as well as Washington, D.C., according to multiple outlets.
Cresco Labs, Green Thumb Industries, Curaleaf, National Cannabis Roundtable and the American Trade Association for Cannabis and Hemp, the five cannabis organizations that recently ramped up their lobbying, did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
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