While to Purdue case is the poster-child for the pharma industry prioritizing profit over known public health consequences, at least here in the U.S. big tobacco is funding the push to expand cannabis use in the country. State legislators have bought into this hook-line-and-sinker, despite issues of rising traffic accidents, increased rates of cannabis use disorder etc. I had advocated for potency limits on flowers products and concentrates when Connecticut was pushing to legalize recreational cannabis. We became only 1 of 2 states to have these limits. Last year the limits were raised, and this year a bill seeks to eliminate those limits. The arguments that allowing cannabis sales to rise will eliminate justice inequities has not occurred. Given many have bought into calling cannabis a "medication" for many conditions in which there is no evidence other than anecdotal "I feel better" always comes up. Well crack cocaine makes people feel better and almost no one advocates for legalizing that. And comparing cannabis to alcohol is a case of two wrongs dont' make a right. We work hard to keep alcohol out of the hands of youth, but cannabis vendors make their product attractive to youth. Further, we don't call alcohol a "medicine," but we do cannabis. Sorry to vent but I see too many patients where cannabis use or use disorder has robbed them of their potential.
Kevin A. Sevarino, MD, PhD
Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine
Board Certified in Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine
Medical Director, American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry
HIFA profile: Dr. Sevarino earned his MD, CM at McGill Faculty of Medicine and PhD in molecular biology at the University of Connecticut Health Center. He trained in psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. He was Medical Director of the Newington Mental Health Care Firm, Connecticut VA Healthcare System from Dec. 2004 through Aug. 2017. He was consulting psychiatrist to Gaylord Hospital, Wallingford from 1999 – 2009, and again 2017-2023. He now works as per diem psychiatrist at Hartford Healthcare – Rushford. His particular expertise is in treatment of the dually-diagnosed and non-opiate pharmacological management of chronic pain. He is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine. He serves as Medical Director for the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP), is a past president of that organization, and co-directs AAAP’s Advanced Addiction Psychopharmacology course.