WHAT IS SMART APPROACHES TO MARIJUANA CANADA ?
Smart Approaches to Marijuana Canada is a bipartisan alliance of organizations and individuals dedicated to a health-first approach to marijuana policy that neither legalizes, nor demonizes, marijuana. SAM’s commonsense, third-way approach to marijuana policy is based on reputable science and sound principles of public health and safety. At SAM we reject dichotomies — such as “incarceration versus legalization” — that offer only simplistic solutions to the highly complex problems stemming from marijuana use and the policies surrounding it. Our aim is to champion smart policies that decrease marijuana use and do not harm marijuana users and low-level dealers with arrest records that stigmatize them for life and in ways that make it even harder for them to break free from cycles of substance dependence.
SAM Canada VISION: To inform the public on the sciences of today’s marijuana
- To have an honest conversation about reducing the unintended consequences of current marijuana policies, such as lifelong stigma due to arrest
- To prevent the establishment of a marijuana industry that would market marijuana to children and minorities and to prevent Big Tobacco from taking over Big Marijuana –a very likely result of legalization,
- To promote scientific research on marijuana in order to obtain TPD-approved, pharmacy-dispensed, cannabis-based medications.