Zappiste: Same old prohibitionist story ! Just missing the oil companies...

https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2016/09/alcohol-industry-bankrolls-fig...

Alcohol industry bankrolls fight against legal cannabis
15th September, 2016 by Steven Green

The alcohol industry has joined the pharmaceutical trade in the fight against legal cannabis in the U.S. amid fears of losing significant market share.

Last week it came to light that a synthetic cannabis company helped finance the opposition to legal cannabis in the state of Arizona, and now, according to The Intercept, a beer industry group made one of the largest donations to an organisation set up to take on legalisation in Massachusetts.

The Beer Distributors PAC is an affiliate that represents 16 beer-distribution companies in the northeast and the report claims that they gave $25,000 to the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, making them the joint third largest financial contributors to the anti-pot organisation.

Arizona is currently one of the five states with marijuana legalisation ballot measures in November, but have already seen the Arizona Wine and Spirits Wholesale Association donate $10,000 to a group opposing legalisation. Furthermore, in 2010 when California considered legalising cannabis, another alcoholic beverage company gave their financial backing to a law enforcement centred campaign to combat legalisation.

The alcohol industry is a long way from unification on policy over cannabis legalisation with a number of craft breweries welcoming relaxed laws over the drug

Alcohol companies are most concerned that pot could pose a threat to their bottom line and force them to change their sales approach drastically.

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According to a study that looked at 17 states with medical cannabis laws in place, researchers “found that the use of prescription drugs for which marijuana could serve as a clinical alternative fell significantly, once a medical marijuana law was implemented.”

Prescriptions fell dramatically for opioid painkillers, with 1,826 fewer doses being prescribed per year by the typical physician in a medical cannabis state. Amazingly, the trend also applied to prescriptions for depression, seizure, nausea and anxiety.

Nearly 2 million Americans today are addicted to prescription opioid painkillers; more than 14,000 died from prescription opioid overdoses in 2014.

Meanwhile one US company has just donated $500,000 to a campaign opposing marijuana legalization in the US state of Arizona (The vote is in November).
They have stated in a disclosure statement regarding their application to the securities commission on their artificial THC product.
"If marijuana or non-synthetic cannabinoids were legalized in the United States, the market for dronabinol product sales would likely be significantly reduced and our ability to generate revenue and our business prospects would be materially adversely affected."