Can Big Pot and Big Alcohol Get Along Rachael Cohen Aug 15 2014

8/9/2019 Can Big Pot and Big Alcohol Get Along Rachael Cohen Aug 15 2014

1/10

Page 6ttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/longform/can-big-pot-and-big-alcohol-get-along

Can Big Pot and Big Alcohol Get Along?


2/10

8/15/14 1:an Big Pot and Big Alcohol Get Along?


(AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

AP Photo / Ed AndrieskiByRachel CohenPublishedAugust 15, 2014, 12:51 PM EDT

On a chilly Sunday evening in early February, as tens of thousands of fans converged on the MetLife Stadium in East RutherfoNew Jersey, Americas first Bong Bowl began. The Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncosteams representing the only twostates in the nation to have legalized recreational marijuanawere facing off to determine who would take home the covetednational football title. As they played, a static spectacle at the edge of the field raised eyebrows: massive advertisements slylychampioning the merits of cannabis. Two billboards, one in the blue and green color scheme of the Seahawks, the other cloakedBroncos orange and blue, read, Marijuana is less harmful to our bodies than alcohol. Why does the league punish us for makithe safer choice?

Five months later the New York Times editorial board is asking the same question: why do we still prohibit marijuana? And thgrey ladys decision to pit weed against alcohol fits right up with some of the most vociferous advocates of repealingmarijuana prohibition in America.

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), the countrys largest national advocacy organizationsolely committed to ending marijuana prohibition, purchased five billboard advertisements tosurround the stadium for Americas most-watched football game. The organizations goalwas to challenge the NFLs anti-pot policy and provoke a national conversation about thehealth benefits of marijuanalong-stigmatized and barely legalcompared to that of legaland relatively celebrated alcohol. One advert argued that marijuana is safer than both alcohol

and football. Yet another demonstrated that the number of attendees to the last ten SuperBowls was roughly equal to the number of marijuana related arrests in 2012.

Celebrating smoking might have ruffled a few feathers, but the choice that caused the mostconsternation was to denigrate alcohol in favor of weed. Marijuana is less toxic, lessaddictive, and less harmful to the body than alcohol, said MPP Director of CommunicationsMason Tvert in a press release just days before the Super Bowl. Why would the NFL wantto steer its players toward drinking and away from making the safer choice to use marijuanainstead?

Once the pipe dream of Deadheads and aging hippies, marijuana is having a moment in StateHouses and editorial boardrooms - across the country. As marijuana goes mainstream, thealcohol industry is guardedly watching to see whether Team Pot can play nice. While not all

cannabis advocates push for weed over beer, the voices who do claim weed is, indeed betterfor you are loud, provocative and well-funded. And should it get ugly? The alcohol industryis preparing to fight back and challenge pots increasingly anodyne image.

A Growing Movement


3/10



Marijuanas reputation especially in comparison to alcohol has undergone a radical change in a very short amount of time.

Nothing better exemplifies the publics perception of pot during the early and mid-twentieth century than the now infamous 19propaganda film, Reefer Madness, where marijuana smokers actually lose their minds. Basically illegal beginning in 1937whthe federal government began taxing cannabis salesby 1970, the federal government had passed the Controlled Substances Awhich officially designated marijuana as illegal, and classified it as a Schedule I drug.

Beer, wine, and liquor reps, on the other hand, benefitted from the sheer American-ness of a good drink at the end of a hard daya beer at the game, a cocktail at the bar, a glass of wine on a date. What could be more normal? Alcohol was everything, and w

was the margin.

ricans think that the drug should be legalized, up 2% from last year, and up 13 percentage points since 2010."happen in forty-five years.

After so long in the shadows, the speed at which legalization is suddenly capturing the support of the American public isimpressive; a recent Pew research poll found that 54% of Americans think that the drug should be legalized, up 2% from last yeand up 13 percentage points since 2010. When Gallup first began polling the public on this question in 1969, an era whenmarijuana had come to represent counter-culture, just 12% of Americans backed legalization.

Its not just polling data. In July, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation which made New York the 23rd U.S. state tolegalize medical marijuana, following Missouri, which passed its own version in May. Over the last eighteen months, 36 statesand Washington, D.C. have considered bills that would create new medical marijuana laws, lessen the penalty for possessingmarijuana, or regulate marijuana more comparably to alcohol. Come this November, Alaskan voters will decide whether or notjoin Washington and Colorado in legalizing recreational adult-use marijuana, with Oregon likely to follow suit.

And then, of course, theres the New York Times editorial board, which just called for federal legalization, a move that delightsmarijuana advocates, and lobbyists.

But while for many of us the idea of legalized marijuana falls somewhere between inevitable and fairly distant as a politicalrealitythe alcohol industry is way, way past that. Beer, wine and liquor do not care that legalization isnt technically on thebooks. For them, its already a foregone conclusion. And that means that weed is already a real competitor.

PASS THE DUTCHIE ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE

If alcohol ignored marijuana as a real player in the world of party politics small p its no surprise. The world of pot smokershas been, for decades, a rag tag assemblage of Americans who smoke on the sly. But all of them shared one thing in common they were toking up illegally and very few of them were lobbying to change their habit into something that could run as an adveon TV.

Even now, political momentum towards legalization aside, there is no such thing, really, as a marijuana movement. Instead,

there are movements, and factions. And those divisions to the degree they are really fissures will not only determine the futuavailability of weed, but also how marijuana positions itself vis--vis the alcohol industry both in terms of advertising, but alsas a means of what helps this country loosen up.

There are really two different sets of players on the cannabis side, said Mark Kleiman, a professor at UCLA and leadingmarijuana policy expert. Theres the weed movement and theres the weed lobby. Camps that are, themselves, internallydivided.

For a long time, the pro-marijuana scene was part of the US counter-culture movement. The first campus legalization group begin 1967 at SUNY-Buffalo college: LEMAR, short for LEgalize MARijuana, was comprised of, as The Washington Posts Marc


4/10



Fisher puts it, 15 longhaired hippies who thought they could change the world.

The movement to legalize really got its start though with the founding of the National Organization for the Reform ofMarijuana Laws (NORML) in 1970. But at that time, no one would touch their cause, monetarily or otherwise. Indeed, theorganizations financial hurdles were almost its undoing. It was Hugh Hefner, a former alcohol-drinker-turned-pot-smoker, whodecided to take a risk and offer NORML a small $5000 investment through the Playboy Foundation. Today NORML functionsa grassroots network with over 150 chapters across the country, promoting marijuana legalization with an emphasis on consumneeds.

In 1995, after months of infighting over strategy and tactics at NORML, some employees left the organization to found theMarijuana Policy Project. The new millennium brought still more players. Americans for Safe Access (ASA) founded in 2002,specifically advocates for medical marijuana on K Street. In 2010, came the baby the National Cannabis Industry Association(NCIA) which promotes the trade interests of the burgeoning cannabusiness sector- the likes of which would blow yourWoodstock-era parents minds. NCIA represents more than 400 companieslike vaporizer sellers and automated rolling machmakersin 20 states, a number that is projected to rise quickly.

This past June, 1,200 entrepreneurs, consultants, investors, accountants, attorneys and more came out to Denver, Colorado forNCIAs first ever marijuana business summit.

Jazmin Hupp, a business and marketing specialist from New York City who grew up with a father who used medical marijuanafor pain relief and artistic mind expansion, was there. Determined to challenge misconceptions around marijuana and those wuse it, Hupp gives talks and workshops about marijuana myths; shes also writing a book about effective branding strategies forcannabis companies. One of the greatest parts of the conference for me was just the show of professionalism, said Hupp whoweary of seeing marijuana users portrayed as dudes in dreadlocks smoking weed in dark basements. I felt really inspired. Thisa real industry.

Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)


5/10



Cooperation and Conflict

A real industry, maybe, but one that hadnt, until very, very recently had any perch on Capitol Hill, or anywhere near mainstreaAmerica.

Thats changing. In May, all the cannabis organizations lobbied to help pass an appropriations amendment in the House, offereby Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). The amendment, which barred the DEA from spending funds to arrest state-licensedmedical marijuana patients, was tacked on to the Commerce, Science and Justice Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2015. Itpassed 219-189. ASA issued a statement calling the House amendment arguably the biggest victory yet in the contemporary fi

for medical cannabis rights.

Rohrabacher was a real landmark, nobody had expected that quite yet, said Dale Gieringer, state coordinator of CaliforniaNORML. Weve been working on that bill for years. Indeed: the first version of the Rohrabacher amendment was introduced2003, defeated in a vote 273-152. Five years before that a House Joint Resolution passed explicitly opposing statewide efforts tlegalize medical marijuana under a doctors supervision. That 1998 resolution marked the first time in recent history thatCongress formally took on medical marijuana as an issue.

But looking at the recent Rohrabacher win as proof that the marijuana organizations speak as a united front would be a mistakesome significant differences have emerged between the groups, and more seem likely to materialize in the future.

Marijuana organizations also anticipate fights with the other party drug alcohol. In part thats because even as marijuana begito make positive inroads in public opinion, it cant touch the role of alcohol in Western society, or Judeo-Christian culture writlarge. MPPs decision to bash alcohol was a gamble; poking the bear.

The Super Bowl was not the first time MPP attacked alcohol in such a high-profile way, and it likely wont be the last. As anorganization whose stated mission is to end marijuana prohibition and replace it with a system that is regulated like alcohol, MPsees the comparison between the two substances as necessary and strategic.

Last summer, outside the NASCAR Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis, MPP purchased airtime to show an advertisement on theracetracks Jumbotron, touting marijuanas safety compared to alcohol. It was no secret that two major sponsors of the race weCrown Royal Whiskey and Miller Lite. "Our goal is to make this weekend's event as educational as it will be enjoyable, saidTvert, of MPP, in a press release. We simply want those adults who will be enjoying a beer or two at the race this weekend tothink about the fact that marijuana is an objectively less harmful product. The video ad presented marijuana as the New Beera substance without all the calories or serious health problems, that doesnt contribute to hangovers, and is not linked to


6/10



violence or reckless behavior. While the ad had the potential to reach hundreds of thousands of fans throughout the weekend, tDrug Free America Foundation, a group opposed to marijuana legalization, convinced the owners of the Jumbotron to pull itshortly after it first went up. No matter, its work was done: MPPs advert racked up more than a million views on YouTube.

MPP has also been leading major state-level efforts to push for marijuana reform. In 2012, they funded the Campaign to RegulaMarijuana Like Alcohol, which was the historic Colorado grassroots effort to legalize recreational marijuana through a ballotinitiative. Provocative billboards cropped up throughout the state, like one across from the Sports Authority Field at Mile Highfeaturing a happy woman stating, "For many reasons, I prefer marijuana over alcohol. Does that make me a bad person?" The awas positioned above a liquor store.

The Colorado campaign was not run by us at all, said Gieringer, who stressed that NORML prefers to maintain neutral relatiowith the alcohol industry. They took swipes at the alcohol industry and tried to antagonize governors who took money from bemanufacturers. The campaign took shots at Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper who opposed the amendment to legalizemarijuana, arguing that as a former microbrewery owner, he was a hypocrite.

(Shutterstock)

I ONLY SMOKE WHEN I DRINK.

Unlike the squabbling factions of the marijuana world, the alcohol industry long ago learned to speak with a unified voice inWashington D.C. A lot of the policy vision and positions of all the groups are pretty much the same, said Mike Kaiser, of WiAmerica, the trade association representing American wineries. On most regulatory issues, the alcohol industry tends to worktogether, bringing together brewers and oenologists to file joint comments to the Food and Drug Administration and to theAlcohol and Tobacco Trade Bureau.

Big alcohol, officially, is neutral on cannabis legalization. This hasnt always been true: back in 2010, the California Beer andBeverage Distributors donated $10,000 towards an effort to defeat a marijuana legalization proposition on the ballot.

Yet, sanguinity on legalization doesnt mean they will remain neutral on MPPs rhetoric, or even with the idea of being groupedin the same category as marijuana.

Each industry has a slightly different way of framing the reputational risk to their product. Here the friendly kumbaya bits of thalcohol lobby starts to fall apart. The wine industry for example, feels that cannabis advocates are more focused on marketingweed as an alternative to other forms of alcohol, but not necessarily wine. I think its more of an issue for beer, said Kaiser ofWine America. Were monitoring the situation, but wine is generally considered to be more like a food than a beverage.

Craft brewers, too, claim marijuana doesnt scare them. Craft brewers themselves are generally


7/10



trying to change the paradigm of what beer looks like in this country, so the marijuana movement isnot seen as a competitive thing for us, as it might be with larger brewers, said Paul Gatza, Directorof the Brewers Association, the trade group representing small independent American brewers. (Hepointed out that there is often overlap between the populations who drink craft beer and those whoblaze.)

Big beer, too, wants to draw a bright line between marijuana and beer. Beer, the implication, iswholesome it reminds us of picnics, and parades, and baseball. Its a socially acceptable way tounwind. Indeed the Beer Institute of Americas spokesman, Chris Thorne goes so far as to say it ismisleading to compare marijuana to beer, because beer is distinctly different as a product andindustry. Thorne doesnt much like to see the two words beer and marijuana in the samesentence.

Robert Dupont, a long-time drug policy researcher and founding president of the Institute forBehavior and Health, says he regularly finds the alcohol industry to be quite unhappy when lumpedtogether with marijuana. They are very upset, said Dupont, of those comparisons which equatealcohol and marijuana. Its really a problem for them, its tarring their product with the bad image.I see it all the time in my work with drunk driving, [alcohol folks] dont like it when I say alcoholand other drugs they wish Id just say alcohol and drugs.

And yet, of course, phrasing isnt really the issue.

According to Pew research released this past April, about seven in ten Americans already believealcohol is more harmful to a persons health than marijuana. Moreover, 63% believe alcohol wouldstill be more harmful to society, even if marijuana were as widely available.

DIME BAG BLUES

The billion-dollar question for the alcohol industry is literally that: cash. Will legal weed cut a deep hole into their bottom line?And if weed pushes the point and wins it that its a cleaner, safer high, what will that do to alcohol sales?

In 2012, the U.S. alcohol industry brought in $197.8 billion in retail sales dollars. If even a small percentage of Americanschanged their substance-intake habits, the result would mean billions of dollars lost for the alcohol industry.

Problem is: no one knows what will happen if weed is legal. There is no historical data even the Netherlands doesnt have fullegalization so there is no way to judge, exactly how or really, if - drinking habits will change with marijuana legalization. Amarijuana and alcohol substitutes rather than complementary substances as some studies suggest? Or will as some researchermaintain drinking actually increase as marijuana becomes more available? Its impossible to know what the impact on alcohouse will be, if weed is sold similarly available, controlled, but accessible, at every bodega.

The only thing researchers do know for sure is that marijuana, if legal, will be cheap. Given the low production costs associatedwith marijuana(its basically just growing a plant)experts like Beau Kilmer, Co-Director of the RAND Drug Policy ResearCenter, estimate that marijuana intoxication could, in a legalized world, cost pocket change. While were years away from this


8/10



reality, you can just picture your high school brother making those economic tradeoffs in his head; weighing which controlledsubstance he and his friends should try and get next time your parents go out of town.

Budweiser official beer during the 2014 MLB All-Star baseball game between the American League and the NationalLeague Tuesday July 15, 2014 at Target Field Minneapolis Minnesota.(Ap Photo/ Bill Nichols)

BREWSKIES AT THE GAME

Beer and wine may be as American as a baseball game, but Big Alcohol doesnt feel at all relaxed about this debate. At alcoholtrade association meetings, pot is already spoken of as a key competitor. A vigorous internal discussion has been taking placewithin the industry to figure out how they can establish working relationships with the marijuana world, and what to do if theycant.

I dont think theres necessarily any working together, but theres certainly been some communication, said Tvert, of MPP, whas spoken at several alcohol events, like the annual Wine and Spirits Daily Summit, which draws top executives in the wine anspirits industry. But its generally been a matter of curiosity.

Curiosity is a bit of a euphemism.

At the National Alcohol Beverage Control Associations annual legal symposium, which draws state regulatory agency officialcorporate counsel, industry policymakers and private attorneys a representative from the Marijuana Policy Project spoke.Attendees said that during the Q&A, a couple people stood up and kind of attacked her about MPPs alcohol-bashing tactics

[T]he marijuana advocates are very unapologetic, said William Earle, president of the National Association of BeverageImporters, (NABI), the trade association representing U.S. alcoholic beverage importers. They are basically saying were gointo continue to demonize alcohol because we think thats a way to advance our message.

Indeed, cannabis advocates feel very little pressure. Im not really too concerned about the alcohol industry, said Tvert in aninterview. We are ending marijuana prohibition and it really has nothing to do with them.

ly too concerned about the alcohol industry. We are ending marijuana prohibition and it really has nothing to do with them.

Since alcohol has been such a highly regulated industry ever since the end of prohibition in 1933, alcohol executives wonder, aworry, whether legal marijuana would be subjected to similar oversight. In the mean time, some are quietly reviewing andcollecting all the available scientific literature, many of which challenge what they feel to be the publics one-sided impression marijuanas health and safety effects.

For example, in July, Kanes Beverage News Daily, an influential trade publication, published a piece entitled, Why Does


9/10



Marijuana Get a Pass on Pitching to Youth? It argued that despite research suggesting young people are especially susceptiblesocial media influence, public health authorities go mum on things like Weed Tweets, (@stillblazingtho), an unabashed pro-marijuana twitter account with over a million followers, 73% of whom are under 19. A team of researchers at WashingtonUniversity School of Medicine in St. Louis, led by principal investigator Patricia A. Cavazos-Rehg, has been leading the socialmedia research.

I think theres a concern that weve gotten our regulatory act together but would we be competing against an entity that doesnot, said Earle of NABI. While groups like NORML welcome tight regulations for safe and consumer-friendly marijuana, othgroups are interested more by the prospect of self-regulating their industry.

Were looking for regulation thats fair, said Taylor West, deputy director of NCIA, the marijuana trade association. Westinsists her organization understands the fragile nature of public opinion, the high level of scrutiny theyre all under, and the neeto build a mature industry. We are encouraging our members to adopt responsible practices from the outset, I think its moresustainable.

With concerns over potential regulatory double standards, hesitant alcohol folks note that its much more difficult to monitor anpunish drivers who are high than drivers who are drunk, which could hinder law enforcements ability to regulate it. It mayalready be happening: a National Institute on Drug Abuse study released in July showed high school seniors were more likely tdrive high than drunk but what that meant in terms of affect on drivers, let alone penalty for the crime - was uncertain.

While Big Alcohol has expressed that they would prefer to co-exist amicably in the marketplace, in their minds, the marijuanaindustry has to make a choice: pot can choose to be their friend, or to be their enemy. And if Big Pot decides they want tocontinue to launch regular attacks on alcohol, then alcohol will ultimately fight back.

Earle says he finds marijuanas attitude towards alcohol neither wise nor strategic. Its like you have the new kid on the blockwho thinks they can gain traction by just besmirching everyone elses reputation.

And perhaps they can. Or, another likely scenario is that MPPs strategy could backfire. While there is no known fatal dose formarijuana, the drug is substantially more potent than it used to be. The University of Mississippi Potency Monitoring programfound that the average THC level of all seized cannabis increased from 3.4% in 1993 to 8.8% in 2010. Researchers expect it wibe only get easier to create and market highly potent marijuana, especially to teenagers, as legalization advances.

Everyone in the party biz knows one dirty little secret: A legal for-profit marijuana industry would, likely, be built around cater


10/10

Documents

Can Big Pot and Big Alcohol Get Along Rachael Cohen Aug 15 2014