Why big pharma is battling hard against marijuana's legalization

In November this year five US states including Arizona are going to decide the fate of recreational use of marijuana. Big pharma is striving hard to convince voters to reject proposition 205, a measure that would allow people aged 21 and over to possess an ounce of pot and grow up to six plants for recreational use.

They are pouring in huge money sponsoring a media campaign that tells marijuana will unleash misery on Arizona. Since last month, a wave of television ads started appearing across the state featuring lawmakers and teachers who paint a bleak future for Arizona’s children if voters approve marijuana’s recreational use.

“Colorado schools were promised millions in new revenues” when the state approved recreational pot use,” says the voiceover in one ad.

“Instead, schoolchildren were plagued by “marijuana edibles that look like candy,” ad goes further.

With Election Day approaching, many people wonder who is backing these advertisements. Several fingers point to big pharma who have vested interests against the approval of marijuana’s recreational and medicinal use. Under the cover of child safety, the pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics with $ 500, 000 became a largest donor to Arizona’s anti legalization drive. Although child safety is a legitimate concern, but the way they made financial contributions raised a few eyebrows across the state.

The critics say Insys contributions in Arizona is playing a gambit to safeguard the erosion of their market share. Insys manufactures a painkiller called Subsys; it is derived from fentanyl and the synthetic opioid. It mirrors the concern of pharmaceutical companies that fear the growing clout of legal marijuana.

“We’ve definitely seen a more active opposition from the pharma industry,” said Amanda Reiman, manager of marijuana law and policy at the Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group that promotes drug reform. “Research conducted by myself and others shows that medical cannabis patients are substituting cannabis for pharmaceuticals at a very high rate, and for alcohol at a pretty high rate as well.”

In fact, alcohol and pharma groups have been quietly sponsoring the anti marijuana efforts across the country. How these groups are concerned and feel threatened to potential loss of their market share is evident from their huge financial contributions and efforts to bolster anti-marijuana campaign. Besides Insys,  the Arizona Wine and Spirits Wholesale Association made  one of the largest donations to the state’s anti-legalization campaign with $ 10,000 to Arizonians for Responsible Drug Policy.

Purdue Pharma and Abbot Laboratories, manufacturers of painkiller OxyContin and   Vicodin respectively, are among largest contributors to the Anti-Drug Coalition of America. And the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America has spent $19m on lobbying against marijuana in 2015.

Such hefty spending to block cannabis legalization is not a surprise; a growing amount of data explains big pharma’s fears. Journal of American Medical Association reported a drop of 25% in Opiate overdoses in states that have legalized medical marijuana. Another research published this year by the University of Georgia showed that Medicare prescriptions for drugs used to treat anxiety and chronic pain have dropped in states that have allowed medical marijuana. Medicare made $165m savings in 2013, further the study estimated if medical marijuana legalized nationally, the expenditures for Medicare D – the portion of government funded health insurance program that subsidizes prescription drug costs – would drop $470m annually.

Why big pharma is closely monitoring marijuana’s legalization and allocating resources to block its approval, becomes further evident if we combine above data with facts that cost of prescription drugs is growing – brand name drugs prices increased by 127% since 2008, according to pharmacy benefit management company Express scripts – and opioid overdoses which is leading cause of accidental deaths in US.

But the scenario is now changing and big pharma might be fighting a losing battle. In 2015, Colorado alone raked in $135m in tax revenue from marijuana related sales. Pro-legalization lobbying is getting strong with every passing day, in Denver they are battling on equal footing with their counterparts in pharmaceutical and alcohol industries. In California, legalization campaigners raised $18 million comparing opposition’s $250,000 in fund raising.