Hypocrisy All Around: Pfizer, NFL Are Hidden Sponsors Of Anti-Drug Group Fighting Against Cannabis Legalization

The Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), which is fighting against federal cannabis legalization, recently removed a page on its website disclosing its partners.

Previously, the organization named nearly 50 corporate partners, including big pharma names such as Pfizer Inc. PFE, the NFL and Krispy Kreme. While those names don’t appear on the CADCA'S anti-legalization online action alert campaign, several businesses were already being criticized for supporting the organization, which could have been the reason the page and names were removed, reported Marijuana Moment.

CADCA is calling on people to reach out to their senators and share their opposition to the recently unveiled marijuana decriminalization bill, Cannabis Administration And Opportunity Act (CAOA). The bill, which would decriminalize and deschedule cannabis on a federal level and promote social equity, was sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senators Ron Wyden and Cory Booker.

“It is quite telling that they would take down the corporate partners page in response to an informative tweet just naming who they are and what they are doing,” Peter Grinspoon, cannabis expert and primary care doctor at Mass General told Marijuana Moment.

“Why would they do that if they didn’t know that they were on the wrong side of history?” he said. “Why would they do something that they are seemingly ashamed of, to the extent that they are curating their public messaging by taking down the corporate partners?”

In a recent Tweet, Grinspoon shared the list of corporate partners that was removed.

Here is the list, in case you're wondering who is bankrolling the anti-#cannabis legalization movement... pic.twitter.com/hPNOL4yS4K

— Peter Grinspoon, M.D. (@Peter_Grinspoon) July 28, 2022

Hypocrisy All-Around 

Several days after this post, Grinspoon tweeted a more visual post, highlighting hypocrisy among the businesses.

Visual version of companies donating to lobbying groups opposing #cannabis legalization (see attached Tweets). What hypocrites, especially e.g. Purdue (killed millions), @pfizer_news & @Indivior -- developing #cannabinoids, keep plant illegal -- so we all have buy from them. https://t.co/aX2EBxR1E8

— Peter Grinspoon, M.D. (@Peter_Grinspoon) August 4, 2022

Grinspoon pointed out the hypocrisy of Purdue Pharma, saying the company killed millions as well as Pfizer PFE and Indivior INVVY noting that they are involved in cannabinoid development and suggesting that they would like to keep the plant illegal so that everyone will have to buy from them.

Last December, Pfizer announced its entry into the cannabis space via a $6.7 billion acquisition of San Diego-based Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotech company with one segment of its drug pipeline dedicated to cannabinoid-type therapeutics. The core of its cannabis biotech operations is R&D of its investigational drug candidate Olorinab (APD371). This is an oral full agonist of the cannabinoid receptor 2 being researched for the treatment of various symptoms, mainly concentrated on visceral pain connected with gastrointestinal illnesses.

While one might argue that Pfizer is not involved in the plant-touching aspect of marijuana but rather searching for drugs that target cannabinoid receptors, the argument actually supports the suggestion that the pharmaceutical giant would like to dominate this field as well, in that cannabis has many compounds that affect our cannabinoid receptors. And the plant comes from nature.

Another example of hypocrisy is the NFL, which made news recently for changing its cannabis drug testing policies and backing research into the medical benefits of marijuana.

Photo: Courtesy of Edilson Borges on Unsplash