Marijuana Opponent Kevin Sabet Compares the Weed Industry to Tobacco
*By Alex Heath*
For marijuana opponent Kevin Sabet, the current state of the cannabis industry is like the early days of tobacco.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m waking up, not in 2018, but in 1918 ー but with tobacco, when we had a relatively new industry that had a product that’s been around for a long time but that they started marketing and developing into something addictive,” he recently told Cheddar during an exclusive interview at the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. "We didn’t have people dying of lung cancer 120 years ago at anywhere near the rate we do now.”
Sabet, who co-founded a nonprofit organization called Smart Approaches to Marijuana, is one of the most vocal critics of the burgeoning cannabis industry in the United States. He was invited to present his views in Sun Valley, a gathering of some of the world’s foremost tech and business leaders, including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett.
While Sabet said that he’s opposed to the criminalization of marijuana use, he is against legalizing it for non-medical purposes. He maintained that the rapidly growing economy around cannabis products is being fueled by lobbyists and other groups who don’t have the customer’s best interests at heart.
“The revolving door of special interests for alcohol, tobacco, and pharma are bad enough,” he said. “The idea that we want another, sort of, above board, legal, normalized industry — we can’t handle the ones we have now.”
While Sabet is a loud voice in opposition to the cannabis industry, recent data suggest that most Americans are in favor of legalizing weed. An October 2017 Gallup poll found that 64 percent of Americans support making recreational marijuana use lawful.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/kevin-sabet-on-similarities-between-marijuana-tobacco-industry)
After the 2021 boom, IPO activity slowed down significantly, in part due to monetary policy – but things are getting moving again with tech-friendly companies like Iboutta and Rubrik making a public debut.
With an increasing demand for mental health services, one person wanted to change the therapy game. In 2017, CEO Alex Katz founded Two Chairs, a company that uses technology to match patients with the right therapist.
Not only is April Financial Literacy Month, it’s also the kickoff of the spring homebuying season. So now is the time to make sure you have a financial plan in place – and why it might not be wise for that to include buying your first home.
While the U.S. may slowly be on the path to lowering inflation (and therefore interest rates), Europe has thoroughly trounced America, putting it on the path to lower rates by this summer.
April's release of the monthly Housing Starts and Building Permits reports by the Census Bureau provides crucial insights into the construction activity in the housing market. These reports are an economic indicator, shedding light on the current state of the housing market and its broader economic impact.
Caitlin Clark is heading to the Indiana Fever, the number one draft pick and the highest-scoring college basketball player of all time. And while she may not be getting millions from the WNBA, there's a few ways she'll net compensation for her generational talents.
Author of 'Clean Meat,' Paul Shapiro joins Cheddar to discuss how the cellular agricultural revolution helps lower rates of foodborne illness and greatly improves environmental sustainability. Plus, how his company The Better Meat Co. is bringing healthier food options to the table.
Recent headlines might make it sound like World War III is imminent, but when it comes to your finances, it's not the time to panic. The market is coming off its longest winning streak since 2011.
You may have noticed fewer new venture capital-backed startups (like Airbnb or Uber) lately. The market slowed to a crawl after 2021, but things are expected to take off again in 2025.
Corporate earnings season is underway, that time when companies share their billions in sales or double-digit profits. But the data shows even companies are struggling with high inflation and interest rates.