Sabet acknowledges that most marijuana users don't have serious drug problems. But very few, he says, are actually arrested. And if someone is caught with marijuana — probably in connection with another crime, like driving under the influence — there's a reasonable chance he's got a problem worthy of assessment and treatment.
Marijuana use, Sabet says, should be treated like a public health problem. And public health problems call for intelligent, early intervention. If you've got Stage 1 cancer, he says, you don't wait until you reach Stage 4 to act.
The danger, of course, is that SAM plays a significant role in blocking legalization, but is unable to do the far harder work of shifting the American justice system away from a punitive approach to marijuana and closer to a public-health approach — becoming complicit, in the end, in the war on drugs it criticizes.
SAM's leaders, though, say they are confident they can effectuate change. And in the meantime, they'll play a useful role in challenging liberal assumptions. "If I can get people to think twice about this," Kennedy told the Post, "that would be a win for me."
