Editorial by Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Is marijuana marketing proof it’s the next Big Pharma? | Editorials

The conversation surrounding marijuana has shifted over the years.

It went from being demonized for decades to being suggested as helpful in relieving symptoms of some medical conditions to being touted as all but a miracle cure.

In 2016, Gov. Tom Wolf signed the law that made medical marijuana legal in Pennsylvania. The law went into effect in 2018. Since then, marijuana dispensaries have popped up across the state like weeds.

Not that kind of weed.

But whether you support the idea of medical marijuana or not, you can’t deny that it is becoming big business. The Medical Marijuana Advisory Board reported more than 384,000 active patients in November 2021, generating more than $4 billion in revenue.

That means that, despite its plucky, grassroots image, medical marijuana is a full-on industry that has to be viewed with all the critical thinking one would bring to any other moneymaker.

If you want proof, look to the Spotlight PA story that shows how some dispensaries are pushing the idea of medical marijuana as a solution to the opioid crisis. Spotlight reviewed 60 websites of marijuana companies and found a number of claims that were either selective in the research presented or outright misrepresented it.

Opioids have been an epidemic that was spread, in part, by the way Big Pharma marketed legal prescription drugs. It’s a lesson some medical marijuana businesses either learned too well or didn’t pay attention to at all.

While it is tempting to put all the blame on the companies, that would be unfair. The majority of the blame? Sure. However, it’s still important to acknowledge the state has a responsibility, as well.

Since 2018, when medical marijuana went from a campaign promise to a jingling cash register, Pennsylvania has had an obligation to treat it like a new industry that has growing pains to manage. It should have learned those opioid lessons as it was actively battling the problem — and suing opioid companies.

Instead, the state seems to have devoted more of its time to growing the industry than managing it, including a lot of conversation about marijuana legalization outside of its medical uses.

If Pennsylvania is really destined to be the next place where marijuana is completely legal, it is up to the state to figure out how to do it safely and reasonably — and how to keep Big Weed from following in Big Pharma’s footsteps.

— Pittsburgh Tribune-Review