The Drug Report
The Drug Report
Global Insights on Drug Policy: Highlights from the Lisbon Addictions Conference
Discover the complexities of today's drug policy landscape with insights from around the globe. We promise an enlightening journey as Kevin Sabat and I unpack the highlights from the recent Lisbon Addictions Conference. We bring you the latest updates and debates on harm reduction versus legalization, spotlighting data-driven discussions from regions like Oregon and British Columbia. As we shift focus to the United States, uncover the stories behind various drug policy ballot measures, including marijuana legalization efforts in Florida and the Dakotas. The challenges New York faces in its legalization journey serve as a cautionary tale, and we even touch on an intriguing psychedelics measure in Massachusetts, hinting at the evolving dynamics in drug policy.
In a special segment, Kevin joins me to highlight the importance of staying informed through resources like newsletters from learnaboutsamorg and thedrugreportorg. We emphasize the value of evidence-based policies and encourage robust discussions among our listeners. Make sure to engage with us by subscribing to these newsletters for the latest updates and leave a review to help amplify the conversation. Tune in for a comprehensive understanding of the forces shaping the future of drug policy around the world.
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Yes or no? Do you believe nicotine is not addictive?
Speaker 2:I believe nicotine is not addictive. Yes, Congressman, cigarettes and nicotine clearly do not meet the classic definitions of addiction.
Speaker 1:I don't believe that nicotine for our products are addictive.
Speaker 1:I believe nicotine is not addictive. I believe that nicotine. Hi everybody, this is Luke Niferatos. I'm your host of the Drug Report podcast. Thank you for joining us for another wonderful week. Hope you're doing well. Thanks to our co-sponsoring organizations, SAM and FDPS, for making this happen. Check them out in the links there in our info about the podcast. Well, today we're just going to do a roundup of some of the things that have been going on and I've actually got Kevin Sabat joining us. Once again, Kevin, thank you for jumping on. Thanks for having me. Kevin, thank you for jumping on. Thanks for having me. And so, yeah, you know, Kevin and I just got back from the Lisbon Addictions Conference in Portugal and you know we learned a lot, had a lot of interesting meetings and discussions. So, Kevin, you know, maybe you can give folks a rundown of kind of what we learned while we were in Portugal this week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, this was the Lisbon Addictions Conference, which used to be held by a group called EMCBDA. They've changed their name to the European Drug Agency. They're the quasi-EU-connected agency that deals with drugs research policy advice to EU countries, and it always has very high-caliber speakers. We saw our friends Keith Humphries and friends from RAND, rosalie Kukula, bud Gilmer, vanda Felbad-Brown. It was a really enriching conference. A lot about you know what's happening internationally a lot of discussion about the blowback to extreme harm reduction that's going on, but there's also a lot of supporters of legalization there as well. So you know there was a. It was a kind of you know a lot of different folks from all across the really world on it, and we were able to also speak with some EU officials about drug policy in the US. They're very curious about Oregon and also marijuana.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think it's interesting because everyone wants the data, you know, and there's just a lot of. I think you know a lot of people in drug policy, a lot of policymakers including those who were there have been getting a lot of promises from extreme harm reduction advocates that if they take these extreme approaches it will solve overdose issues, it will solve addiction issues, and so they're wanting to see the data in Oregon and British Columbia, you know, on this subject, because these are two places where this has been tested and it's frankly failed the extreme versions at least. And so, you know, we've been able to kind of jump in as Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions to meet some of these needs and answer these questions as well as provide, you know, more materials and more data for these folks as they make their decisions. So it was an interesting time. Yeah, definitely, yep. So now kind of panning over to America, our side of the globe, you know there are obviously several ballot measures going on that are drug policy related, that are going to be up for a vote here next week. So obviously we have marijuana.
Speaker 1:Yeah, go ahead, kevin.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, absolutely. And actually, interestingly, just before you hop into that, you know the issue in New York. They're having a whole discussion about regulations in New York State, about advertising and labeling and other kinds of regulations, and the New York legalization experiment has been a complete disaster in terms of regulatory oversight, in terms of safety, in terms of the underground market, which is thriving. So that's kind of a you know. We've been able to talk about the warning, how these are warnings for future states that are looking to do this and you were just going to talk about the states that are looking to do this, for example, Florida and the Dakotas, and so it's going to be interesting.
Speaker 2:I really don't know what's going to happen either way in any of those states. I think it's a very close call on all of them. We're totally outspent. Obviously, as usual, florida has been one company that's given over $100 million, so it's been pretty crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, anytime you see a company continuing to throw in $5 million, $10 million, $12 million into a ballot measure with two weeks to go until the election now one week you know that the polling is probably not looking great in Florida. So that's what's happening, you know. We just saw the news today. Trulieve just gave another 12 million. We're one week out from the election, essentially eight days. So that tells us that you know, I think there might be blood in the water on that ballot measure in Florida. So we've obviously been working very hard there.
Speaker 1:Our honorary chair and co-founder, patrick Kennedy, cut several advertisements that are being circulated across the state of Florida. We've done also. We've worked with Donna Shalala and a number of others, and if you haven't seen those advertisements in that collateral that we've been pushing out everywhere in Florida, make sure you sign up for our emails at learnaboutsamorg and you'll see. You know kind of all of everything we've been doing on that subject in Florida. So, like Kevin said, I think it's really 50-50 everywhere.
Speaker 1:So we have two other marijuana ballot measures recreational, both of them North Dakota and South Dakota, and both of those are in the margin of error. We've been pushing, obviously, these advertisements in those states as well, thanks to a lot of donors like those of you who listen. And then there's also a non-marijuana measure a lot of donors like those of you who listen. And then there's also a non-marijuana measure. There's a psychedelics ballot measure. That is in Massachusetts, which that hasn't really gotten a lot of coverage, but it's starting to get some notice now as they're coming close to the vote. That measure is very similar to what passed in Colorado. So, kevin, I don't know if you want to touch a little bit on psychedelics, kind of what we're seeing in that space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, look, the psychedelics kind of what we're seeing in that space. Yeah, I mean, look, the psychedelics groups are following the marijuana playbook by trying to medicalize it and then legalize it. Uh, you know, there might be medicinal components, some psychedelics in a very, this very, very specific trained context where you have, you know, trained physicians and a whole apparatus. But what they're trying to do in Massachusetts has nothing to do with that. They want to use it way outside that context and they've, you know, thrown a lot of money towards that and there is a note committee that we've been working with. I actually think it may be closer than people think there, because I'm not sure if it's ready for full prime time yet.
Speaker 2:But you know, massachusetts is the home of Harvard, with Timothy Leary that kind of began this whole, you know this whole journey 50, 60 years ago, as well as Rick Doblin who you know has basically been pushed out of the kind of some of these discussions, even though he's sort of the modern godfather of psychedelics. But, um, you know there have been a lot of ethical issues. Uh, folks should really read up on that. There's been a lot of ethical issues with these studies, a lot of people that have been taken advantage of. Also, a lot of issues with placebo. People who think they're on psychedelics often perform the same way or get the same outcomes as those who do actually are on psychedelics. So that's been an issue. So placebo is very strong and I just think we're so far away from prime time. But the industry is moving so quickly because they want to make money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that's what we're seeing. So this measure looks a lot like Colorado's in terms of it's called kind of basically medical psychedelics. There's qualifying conditions and things like that, but it essentially is wide open and people can grow it and all of that, which really is not how medicine typically works, and these are obviously really powerful drugs, and so I think there's a conversation that needs to be had and is starting to be had. You know and we've talked about this before on the podcast Lycos formerly known as MAPS you know they were their product for psychedelic medicine was rejected by the FDA because of what you just alluded to, kevin the fact that the data was doctored, there was allegations of assault, I mean every kind of problem you can imagine.
Speaker 1:You name it. It was there, and I think this is something we're seeing in other circumstances related to psychedelic studies as well. So that obviously is great that they discovered that. You know, with the FDA, with science, it's not great, though, for investors and people who are trying to make money, companies who just want to rush forward, and I think that's what I'm seeing.
Speaker 2:Well, we should note that the journal Psychopharmacology, which is the foremost journal in this's, retracted three papers about this kind of psychotherapy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's I think again, that's critical. We need to look at how is influence from the media, from investors, influence from other people with an interest pressuring the results that are being found.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and the authors of those studies were all affiliated with this group, maps and Lycos with Rick Doppler. So there's a lot of problematic things going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what we've seen in the polling in Massachusetts is that there's a hefty number of undecideds, very similar to Colorado. It was about 32 percent undecided in Colorado. It's right around that, I think. It's like 35 percent undecided in Massachusetts on this psychedelics measure. So we will definitely be watching this. It's definitely around that, I think. It's like 35% undecided in Massachusetts on this psychedelics measure. So we will definitely be watching this. It's definitely a coin toss. It'll be very interesting to see. But Sam Action our C4, was happy to support that effort, and so we'll be keeping a close eye on that come election day, obviously in addition to everything else, all the other races and everything else, and so I'm certain that after the election, we will have some analysis. We'll have some discussion of the implications for drug policy and all those kinds of things after the election. So definitely stay tuned for the podcast and for our upcoming newsletters, which will get into all of that. So, that being said, kevin, I don't know if you have any other thoughts you want to share before we wrap the podcast.
Speaker 2:Okay, oh, that's good, thank you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you for joining us, kevin, and thank you to all of our listeners. Please subscribe. Go to learnaboutsamorg, thedrugreportorg and, obviously, gooddrugpolicyorg for FDPS. Subscribe for our newsletters. You'll get two of them each week with all of the latest stuff and, as always, we appreciate your support. If you have time, please leave us a review and a rating. We would love that. That goes a long way for the podcast. So please do that and have a wonderful rest of your week.