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Smokescreen: What the Marijuana Industry Doesn't Want You to Know
From the leading authority on marijuana—a man who has served as White House advisor on drugs to three different administrations and who NBC News once called “the prodigy of drug politics"—comes the remarkable and shocking exposé about how 21st century pot, today’s new and highly potent form of the drug, is on the rise, spreading rapidly across America by an industry intent on putting rising profits over public health.
What the Marijuana Industry Doesn't Want You to Know examines the inside story behind the headlines, containing accounts from Sabet’s time in the Obama administration to stunning revelations from whistleblowers speaking out for the first time. What it finds is how the marijuana industry is running rampant without proper oversight, leaving Americans’ health seriously at risk.
Included are interviews with industry insiders who reveal the hidden dangers of a product they had once worshipped.
Also contained in these pages are insights from a major underground-market dealer who admits that legalization is hastening the growth of the illicit drug trade.
And more to the heart of the issue are the tragic stories of those who have suffered and died as a result of marijuana use, and in many cases, as a result of its mischaracterization. Readers will learn how power brokers worked behind the scenes to market marijuana as a miracle plant in order to help it gain widespread acceptance and to set the stage for the lucrative expansion of recreational pot.
The author of this compelling first-person narrative leading the national fight against the legalization of cannabis through his nonprofit, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (aka SAM) is Kevin Sabet. As a policy advisor to everyone from county health commissioners to Pope Francis, and a frequent public speaker on television, radio and through other media outlets, his analysis is consistently relied upon by those who recognize what’s at stake as marijuana lobbyists downplay the risks of massive commercialization.
A book several years in the making, filled with vivid characters and informed by hundreds of interviews and scores of confidential documents, Sabet's Smokescreen lays bare the unvarnished truth about marijuana in America.
- GenresNonfictionPoliticsDrugs
286 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 20, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
April 14, 2021
As someone who’s experienced a marijuana induced psychosis, and as a result has suffered the after-effects of unrelenting mental illness for decades, I have a special interest in Kevin Sabet’s book, “Smokescreen - What the Marijuana industry Doesn’t Want You To Know.”
Around 2014, as the recreational legalization movement was gaining momentum, I begin my own investigation into what many were saying was a “harmless” substance that cured all kinds of conditions - vs. what research and stories in the media were indicating.
I found out for example, that major health organizations were already issuing warnings about marijuana’s dangers as far back as 2000, and that as far back as the 1970s, pediatricians observed that pregnant woman who used marijuana were giving birth to babies with anomalies to areas of the brain concerned with logic, reasoning, and critical thinking.
In far greater detail, Smokescreen, in its nineteen chapters, covers all this and much more.
Most sad for me was discovering all the grieving mom’s and parents, in fact whole groups of them, who’d lost loved ones, as a direct result of marijuana.
Most disturbing was my direct contact with the marijuana lobby, who summarily denigrate grieving parents - and in fact anyone who points out the very real dangers of marijuana, as being “obstructive, lying prohibitionists.” (Marijuana Policy Project)
The marijuana lobby justifies this with the accusation: “Your Government is Lying To You (Again) About Marijuana” (NORML)
That would include U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health (which includes the National Library of Medicine), all which have data and who have issued warnings about marijuana’s risks, especially to pregnant women and adolescents.
Then to fill the gap, they provide their own “Medical Research Library” (NORML), a collection of assumptions, misinformation, distorted facts, denigrations, and half-truths, whose nefarious intent is clearly transparent to the educated, unbiased person.
Upon investigating the document, “Recent Medical Marijuana Research” (NORML), I’ve so far discovered that five of the “Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids” were either refuted, denied or listed risks by health organizations representing those ailments.
What frightens me most, is the realization of just how much politicians and businessmen are compromising the mental and physical health of this nation’s youth, for the sake of huge profits - profits that make those of the tobacco industry in its heyday seem small by comparison.
This is a cruel recklessness that’s completely devoid of any sense of human decency, an effort at encouraging a slavery to addiction in order to guarantee future profits - It is something that unless stood up to and halted now, will effect our nation for decades to come in the future.
If you take away anything from Smokescreen, let it be a sense of urgency for Americans to not only become fully aware of this horrid deception by the marijuana industry, but in order to protect our nation’s youth from this virulent, deliberate campaign of misinformation, the necessity of informing ever legislator, politician, and media person, with what you’ve learned.
Smokescreen is a must-read book that every parent, health professional, legislator, politician, media person, or anyone concerned about the future of our nation needs to read.
“I have a 15, a 13, and a 9-year old, and I absolutely as a physician, as a dad, as the Surgeon General of the United States, wouldn’t want them exposed to these products (marijuana), and wouldn’t want them to falsely believe they’re safe.” - Dr. Jerome Adams, U.S. Surgeon General
Around 2014, as the recreational legalization movement was gaining momentum, I begin my own investigation into what many were saying was a “harmless” substance that cured all kinds of conditions - vs. what research and stories in the media were indicating.
I found out for example, that major health organizations were already issuing warnings about marijuana’s dangers as far back as 2000, and that as far back as the 1970s, pediatricians observed that pregnant woman who used marijuana were giving birth to babies with anomalies to areas of the brain concerned with logic, reasoning, and critical thinking.
In far greater detail, Smokescreen, in its nineteen chapters, covers all this and much more.
Most sad for me was discovering all the grieving mom’s and parents, in fact whole groups of them, who’d lost loved ones, as a direct result of marijuana.
Most disturbing was my direct contact with the marijuana lobby, who summarily denigrate grieving parents - and in fact anyone who points out the very real dangers of marijuana, as being “obstructive, lying prohibitionists.” (Marijuana Policy Project)
The marijuana lobby justifies this with the accusation: “Your Government is Lying To You (Again) About Marijuana” (NORML)
That would include U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health (which includes the National Library of Medicine), all which have data and who have issued warnings about marijuana’s risks, especially to pregnant women and adolescents.
Then to fill the gap, they provide their own “Medical Research Library” (NORML), a collection of assumptions, misinformation, distorted facts, denigrations, and half-truths, whose nefarious intent is clearly transparent to the educated, unbiased person.
Upon investigating the document, “Recent Medical Marijuana Research” (NORML), I’ve so far discovered that five of the “Emerging Clinical Applications For Cannabis & Cannabinoids” were either refuted, denied or listed risks by health organizations representing those ailments.
What frightens me most, is the realization of just how much politicians and businessmen are compromising the mental and physical health of this nation’s youth, for the sake of huge profits - profits that make those of the tobacco industry in its heyday seem small by comparison.
This is a cruel recklessness that’s completely devoid of any sense of human decency, an effort at encouraging a slavery to addiction in order to guarantee future profits - It is something that unless stood up to and halted now, will effect our nation for decades to come in the future.
If you take away anything from Smokescreen, let it be a sense of urgency for Americans to not only become fully aware of this horrid deception by the marijuana industry, but in order to protect our nation’s youth from this virulent, deliberate campaign of misinformation, the necessity of informing ever legislator, politician, and media person, with what you’ve learned.
Smokescreen is a must-read book that every parent, health professional, legislator, politician, media person, or anyone concerned about the future of our nation needs to read.
“I have a 15, a 13, and a 9-year old, and I absolutely as a physician, as a dad, as the Surgeon General of the United States, wouldn’t want them exposed to these products (marijuana), and wouldn’t want them to falsely believe they’re safe.” - Dr. Jerome Adams, U.S. Surgeon General
March 24, 2021
I've had the opportunity to preview this very important book.
I thought I knew a lot about the many topics covered but learned much I had not known or truly understood before. It answered questions for me, mainly How We Got Where We Are Today (in a drug use epidemic with 85,000+ American overdose deaths last year) now normalizing and commercializing and promoting use of the mind altering drug marijuana.
Character development is not something I expected to find here but did. Coverage of the many issues involved through all the encounters with folks engaged in so many ways make reading this book highly engaging.
Factual it is for sure with an index of sources that numbers greater than the number of pages in the book. I appreciated that organization, saving me reading science over my head, allowing me to relate to and come to know all the characters involved in so many ways - those promoting the marijuana industry, those opposing, those trying to regulate it, those working to educate about it and those adversely affected by this drug.
Highly readable. I will be buying copies to share with my legislators who need this clear picture of the Smokescreen carefully erected by this latest addiction-for-profit industry.
This will be released April 20, 2021.
An appropriate date for this topic.
You can pre-order.
I thought I knew a lot about the many topics covered but learned much I had not known or truly understood before. It answered questions for me, mainly How We Got Where We Are Today (in a drug use epidemic with 85,000+ American overdose deaths last year) now normalizing and commercializing and promoting use of the mind altering drug marijuana.
Character development is not something I expected to find here but did. Coverage of the many issues involved through all the encounters with folks engaged in so many ways make reading this book highly engaging.
Factual it is for sure with an index of sources that numbers greater than the number of pages in the book. I appreciated that organization, saving me reading science over my head, allowing me to relate to and come to know all the characters involved in so many ways - those promoting the marijuana industry, those opposing, those trying to regulate it, those working to educate about it and those adversely affected by this drug.
Highly readable. I will be buying copies to share with my legislators who need this clear picture of the Smokescreen carefully erected by this latest addiction-for-profit industry.
This will be released April 20, 2021.
An appropriate date for this topic.
You can pre-order.
April 8, 2021
Smokescreen exposes the misnomers and outright lies about today's marijuana and it's industry. The stories told are compelling and tell the truth about how marijuana can destroy lives in many ways. This book is a must-read for everyone, but especially those who are raising a family in today's drug culture which has spread across our entire country. We should all be thanking him for writing this book and removing the Smokescreen that covers up the sad truth.
April 19, 2021
The brilliant Kevin Sabet, PhD, founder of SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana) and former White House Office of National Drug Control Policy advisor to three different Presidential administrations, has written a brilliant book. Smokescreen: What the Marijuana Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know is not only a revelatory tale about how the legal marijuana industry is behaving exactly like its predecessor, Big Tobacco, but also an exploration of how marijuana use damages so many people. In addition to his skill as an academic writer, he also is a born storyteller. His descriptions of mothers who have lost children to marijuana psychoses are heart rending. His interview with a former budtender who worked in a Massachusetts dispensary and got an insider’s view of how far apart reality is from hype is horrendous. And his story of how a couple in California organized their community to reject the pot business is inspiring. Sabet makes it clear that legalization is all about money. Forget public health. Forget kids’ health. Forget road safety. Forget the goal of reaching one’s potential. Every American should read this book. If they do, legalization won’t last long as people learn what the marijuana industry is really up to and why it is critical to end the commercialization of yet another addictive drug.
May 11, 2021
I know marijuana well, but not like Kevin Sabet, the author of Smokescreen, a hugely important book, and an entertaining and enlightening read too. Sabet, who heads Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), and I came to our levels of expertise on marijuana on different paths. I experimented, used and abused pot. Marijuana was part of my life for 20 years and I was convinced pot should not only be legal, but legalization would help society’s ills. I sounded like today’s Pied Pipers of pot, who are dead wrong about marijuana. Sabet’s expertise comes from learning about marijuana and dedicating himself to spreading the truth about all aspects of it, including what’s driving today’s marijuana legalization movement.
I started smoking pot before the first big pot boom of the late 1960s. I also used nicotine and alcohol, which are two of the most addictive substances known. I got hooked on booze, tobacco and marijuana, and I had the hardest time quitting pot. It was easier for me to kick two of the most addictive substances known to science than it was to quit pot. I know firsthand how powerfully addictive pot can be. But the cognitive damage pot does I consider by far its most dangerous quality. A friend put it simply and correctly, “It makes you stupid.”
Throughout Smokescreen, Sabet delivers the facts about marijuana, and destroys the marijuana myths touted by legalization advocates. He includes facts and stats from states that have legalized marijuana, and they’re damning. He reveals Big Tobacco’s acute interest in pot, going way back in time. He explains how today’s pot advocates, including Big Tobacco, use the same playbook Big Tobacco used to promote and popularize smoking in America throughout the 20th century, and into the 21st. There is no more evil, despicable business than Big Tobacco, and its paw prints are all over the legal pot movement.
I’ve been addiction-free over 35 years. When marijuana’s popularity really took off in America in the 1990’s, I started my one-man crusade warning of the dangers of pot, what I’d learned from my experience. Sabet wages an infinitely bigger, bolder, organized fight. In Smokescreen Sabet tells this story, and shows how we’ve come to the point that the U.S. Senate is close to legalizing marijuana. This is a colossal error, without question.
I recommend everyone read Smokescreen, absorb it, get educated. Then get involved in your community, and state, and country, to keep pot out. Join SAM or donate to it. Smokescreen has inspired me to do these things and I hope all readers take similar actions. There is no more important work.
I started smoking pot before the first big pot boom of the late 1960s. I also used nicotine and alcohol, which are two of the most addictive substances known. I got hooked on booze, tobacco and marijuana, and I had the hardest time quitting pot. It was easier for me to kick two of the most addictive substances known to science than it was to quit pot. I know firsthand how powerfully addictive pot can be. But the cognitive damage pot does I consider by far its most dangerous quality. A friend put it simply and correctly, “It makes you stupid.”
Throughout Smokescreen, Sabet delivers the facts about marijuana, and destroys the marijuana myths touted by legalization advocates. He includes facts and stats from states that have legalized marijuana, and they’re damning. He reveals Big Tobacco’s acute interest in pot, going way back in time. He explains how today’s pot advocates, including Big Tobacco, use the same playbook Big Tobacco used to promote and popularize smoking in America throughout the 20th century, and into the 21st. There is no more evil, despicable business than Big Tobacco, and its paw prints are all over the legal pot movement.
I’ve been addiction-free over 35 years. When marijuana’s popularity really took off in America in the 1990’s, I started my one-man crusade warning of the dangers of pot, what I’d learned from my experience. Sabet wages an infinitely bigger, bolder, organized fight. In Smokescreen Sabet tells this story, and shows how we’ve come to the point that the U.S. Senate is close to legalizing marijuana. This is a colossal error, without question.
I recommend everyone read Smokescreen, absorb it, get educated. Then get involved in your community, and state, and country, to keep pot out. Join SAM or donate to it. Smokescreen has inspired me to do these things and I hope all readers take similar actions. There is no more important work.
April 27, 2021
Whether you are for marijuana legalization or against it, it is important to understand the truths about the industry and how laws are being made. Additionally, marijuana is a drug, and like every other drug, it has side effects.
Many people assume it’s the same weed it was in the 1970’s. That’s what I assumed when I voted to legalize it in California. Like me, many have not heard that the THC content today is 4- 20 times stronger than it was 40 years ago.
THC is psychoactive. What are the effects on the brain with this new high potency product? What are the effects of these child-attractive products on a brain which is still developing? Why has THC become the #1 substance found in Colorado teenagers who took their own lives?
Full disclosure: I know a few of the people profiled in this book. It was heart wrenching for me to read their stories because they were about the loss they suffered due to high THC products. Some were about their children who took their own lives. There were details I had not heard until I read Smokescreen. These were suicides which were results of severe psychosis from use of high potency THC products.
Another friend of mine, who is middle-aged, shared the struggles she had with her own physical and mental health due to the new highly concentrated THC products. From a legal pot shop, the products she used tested positive for heavy metals, pesticides and mold.
The author of Smokescreen, Dr. Kevin Sabet, was a Drug Advisor to both Bush and Obama. This is not a Red vs Blue book. It is, rather, a book which shows that Green has obfuscated decisions which should be based on public health. Dr. Sabet shows how Big Marijuana is being funded by Big Tobacco, Big Alcohol and Big Pharma. The industry is following the hugely successful playbook of Big Tobacco.
Addiction-For-Profit industries are nothing new to our country. However, it is deeply alarming and disheartening to read about the alliances Big Marijuana has made with our politicians.
Politicians keep talking about how much tax money legalized states are making. But they don’t talk about the rise in ER visits due to THC, the losses the hospitals must take when these patients don’t have insurance (which is then covered by Medicaid), the increase in THC-impaired driving fatalities, that youth use has risen in legalized states and, in Colorado, opioid deaths have gone up since legalization.
We were told the legal products would be regulated. Are they? What has happened to the illicit market? We were promised it would go away. Did it? What about crime associated with marijuana? Wasn’t that supposed to go down? Most Americans do not know the true answers to these questions.
Smokescreen describes the harms caused to humans and the environment. I live in a drought state which is also a hotbed of legal and illegal marijuana grows. A marijuana plant takes 6 gallons of water per day. The proliferation of illegal grows are stealing water and using pesticides and rodenticides which are devastating our forests and wildlife. Indoor grows emit more greenhouse gases than coal mines. This is not an exhaustive list.
Dr. Sabet writes in a way which is very easy to read and I enjoyed it. Much of the information is familiar to me but, at regular intervals, he surprised me with new stories, new statistics. This is a must-read and necessary book with information which is crucial for everyone to understand today. It’s happening right under our noses and most of us don’t know what’s going on. That’s what Smokescreen is about.
Many people assume it’s the same weed it was in the 1970’s. That’s what I assumed when I voted to legalize it in California. Like me, many have not heard that the THC content today is 4- 20 times stronger than it was 40 years ago.
THC is psychoactive. What are the effects on the brain with this new high potency product? What are the effects of these child-attractive products on a brain which is still developing? Why has THC become the #1 substance found in Colorado teenagers who took their own lives?
Full disclosure: I know a few of the people profiled in this book. It was heart wrenching for me to read their stories because they were about the loss they suffered due to high THC products. Some were about their children who took their own lives. There were details I had not heard until I read Smokescreen. These were suicides which were results of severe psychosis from use of high potency THC products.
Another friend of mine, who is middle-aged, shared the struggles she had with her own physical and mental health due to the new highly concentrated THC products. From a legal pot shop, the products she used tested positive for heavy metals, pesticides and mold.
The author of Smokescreen, Dr. Kevin Sabet, was a Drug Advisor to both Bush and Obama. This is not a Red vs Blue book. It is, rather, a book which shows that Green has obfuscated decisions which should be based on public health. Dr. Sabet shows how Big Marijuana is being funded by Big Tobacco, Big Alcohol and Big Pharma. The industry is following the hugely successful playbook of Big Tobacco.
Addiction-For-Profit industries are nothing new to our country. However, it is deeply alarming and disheartening to read about the alliances Big Marijuana has made with our politicians.
Politicians keep talking about how much tax money legalized states are making. But they don’t talk about the rise in ER visits due to THC, the losses the hospitals must take when these patients don’t have insurance (which is then covered by Medicaid), the increase in THC-impaired driving fatalities, that youth use has risen in legalized states and, in Colorado, opioid deaths have gone up since legalization.
We were told the legal products would be regulated. Are they? What has happened to the illicit market? We were promised it would go away. Did it? What about crime associated with marijuana? Wasn’t that supposed to go down? Most Americans do not know the true answers to these questions.
Smokescreen describes the harms caused to humans and the environment. I live in a drought state which is also a hotbed of legal and illegal marijuana grows. A marijuana plant takes 6 gallons of water per day. The proliferation of illegal grows are stealing water and using pesticides and rodenticides which are devastating our forests and wildlife. Indoor grows emit more greenhouse gases than coal mines. This is not an exhaustive list.
Dr. Sabet writes in a way which is very easy to read and I enjoyed it. Much of the information is familiar to me but, at regular intervals, he surprised me with new stories, new statistics. This is a must-read and necessary book with information which is crucial for everyone to understand today. It’s happening right under our noses and most of us don’t know what’s going on. That’s what Smokescreen is about.
May 14, 2021
You’ve been lied to.
For the last 20 or 30 years, you’ve been told that
marijuana is safe, that it’s harmless, that it’s “an herb”. It simply isn’t true.
Smokescreen is an impassioned, intelligent plea to look beyond the smokescreen that the vested interests have thrown up. The book details how billionaires such as George Soros and those of his ilk have spent and continue to spend enormous sums of money to entice younger and younger people to try marijuana, in all its various forms.
Sabet leads us through the serpentine campaign to convince Americans of the wonders of pot consumption. He shows how marijuana lobbyists with almost endless amounts of money have been able to bribe and sway politicians and others into ignoring the irrefutable facts about marijuana and declare that pot is a panacea, that it will “benefit all”.
What motivation do these vested interests have in this burgeoning cannabis industry? Join Keven Sabet as he “follows the money”.
Kevin Sabet is the ‘go-to’ guy for those fighting the legalization of marijuana during the last couple of US administrations. The book is loaded with verifiable information, facts and references. He debunks any idea that marijuana today in any way compares to that of the drug from the 60s and 70s.
Sabet also relates numerous anecdotes that reveal how passionately he is devoted to protecting the health of children in the world today. He really cares.
This book is a must-read for anyone nibbling at the edges of the falsehood-strewn bait that the power-elite vested interests have cast.
For the last 20 or 30 years, you’ve been told that
marijuana is safe, that it’s harmless, that it’s “an herb”. It simply isn’t true.
Smokescreen is an impassioned, intelligent plea to look beyond the smokescreen that the vested interests have thrown up. The book details how billionaires such as George Soros and those of his ilk have spent and continue to spend enormous sums of money to entice younger and younger people to try marijuana, in all its various forms.
Sabet leads us through the serpentine campaign to convince Americans of the wonders of pot consumption. He shows how marijuana lobbyists with almost endless amounts of money have been able to bribe and sway politicians and others into ignoring the irrefutable facts about marijuana and declare that pot is a panacea, that it will “benefit all”.
What motivation do these vested interests have in this burgeoning cannabis industry? Join Keven Sabet as he “follows the money”.
Kevin Sabet is the ‘go-to’ guy for those fighting the legalization of marijuana during the last couple of US administrations. The book is loaded with verifiable information, facts and references. He debunks any idea that marijuana today in any way compares to that of the drug from the 60s and 70s.
Sabet also relates numerous anecdotes that reveal how passionately he is devoted to protecting the health of children in the world today. He really cares.
This book is a must-read for anyone nibbling at the edges of the falsehood-strewn bait that the power-elite vested interests have cast.
April 7, 2021
Sabet provides a well-rounded perspective of the harms of marijuana use, especially to adolescents, from all aspects of the business. As a mother who lost her 19-year-old son to suicide resulting from paranoid delusion from using high-potency marijuana concentrates, I'm grateful for Sabet's strong voice and stories from the experts and victims, as well as the research he provides (with 350+ citations). This book is a must-read for parents, teachers, coalitions, law enforcement, counselors, and ALL adults with young people in their lives who need to understand the latest scientific data on the harms of marijuana, especially for our young people. You will be alarmed. After the loss of our son, we formed a nonprofit, Johnny's Ambassadors, to educate parents and teens about the dangers of today's high-THC marijuana on adolescent brain development, mental illness, and suicide. Sabet's book will be on our must-read list!
April 20, 2021
From the horrifying opening story in Smokescreen involving young children, it is clear that this is a must read for anyone who wants to know just how pro pot policies are destroying real life people who are just collateral damage in an industry's quest for bigger profits.
Sabet has an easy-to-read style that is a harsh juxtaposition with the material, which is the absolutely overwhelming narrative that the American people have been had. Pro pot policies have nothing to do with allowing people who want to use their "freedom" or their "rights"; it has nothing to do with racial justice; it hasn't ever and won't ever save a state budget...the list of false promises goes on and on. All of those promises are code for one thing in this industry--making money. That's all this industry is about, and it will sacrifice who it has to (Andy Zorn, Peyton Knowlton, Elizabeth Kemble, Johnny Stack...the list goes on and on and on) on its way to those monster profits fed by addiction and loss.
It is easy for the pot industry to want to dismiss Sabet, but it is almost impossible for them to do so--he knows of what he speaks. A former drug policy advisor in the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, he is well versed in this subject and has the credibility. If you read a book to understand why so many are waking up to the toll this industry is taking on our communities, make it this one.
Sabet has an easy-to-read style that is a harsh juxtaposition with the material, which is the absolutely overwhelming narrative that the American people have been had. Pro pot policies have nothing to do with allowing people who want to use their "freedom" or their "rights"; it has nothing to do with racial justice; it hasn't ever and won't ever save a state budget...the list of false promises goes on and on. All of those promises are code for one thing in this industry--making money. That's all this industry is about, and it will sacrifice who it has to (Andy Zorn, Peyton Knowlton, Elizabeth Kemble, Johnny Stack...the list goes on and on and on) on its way to those monster profits fed by addiction and loss.
It is easy for the pot industry to want to dismiss Sabet, but it is almost impossible for them to do so--he knows of what he speaks. A former drug policy advisor in the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, he is well versed in this subject and has the credibility. If you read a book to understand why so many are waking up to the toll this industry is taking on our communities, make it this one.
April 25, 2021
Thank you to Dr. Sabet for this highly readable, important volume. His narrative includes history and facts punctuated with personal stories by users, victims, and even former employees of the marijuana industry. Frightening to read of the incremental approach being used by Big Marijuana to eventually reach legalization of ALL drugs. Something also touched on which I was not really aware of is the environmental impact of growing pot.
The more I read, the more disgusting the allure of the almighty dollar became. At what cost to our children and grandchildren?
*Thanks to Sally for helping Andy help others.*
The more I read, the more disgusting the allure of the almighty dollar became. At what cost to our children and grandchildren?
*Thanks to Sally for helping Andy help others.*
Read
April 19, 2021To be honest, I have not had the time to read the book yet but I will read it. One, I believe in SAM's Vision and Mission. Two, if you understand the Tobacco Industry, then you understand the Marijuana Industry. It is all about the money, nothing more. Do they care about our safety or health? No, they are selling a product. When people sell a product they do not care about you or I - they care about the bottom line. There is little difference between the Marijuana Industry and a drug dealer. Both are doing the same thing - selling a product. Some may think the the Marijuana product is safer the the drugs on the street but is it? Do we know what we are buying?
Kevin Sabet does his research and interviewed numerous people in the industry. If you want to find out what is really going on, read Smokescreen!
Kevin Sabet does his research and interviewed numerous people in the industry. If you want to find out what is really going on, read Smokescreen!
April 15, 2021
Kevin Sabet has put together an outstanding book that is a must-read for anyone concerned about the issues surrounding marijuana. While it's important to show the latest studies and data on the impact of today's highly potent marijuana - which this book does include - it's also important to share specific stories of how individuals are being harmed by this drug, which this book includes as well. That's what truly drives home the book's overall narrative and value in a way that's unparalleled. Each chapter helps keep the reader interested in reading more. This is the best book I've read on the reality of today's marijuana and truly illuminates the truths behind what is all too often covered up. I recommend Smokescreen wholeheartedly - it could not have come out at a better time.
April 18, 2021
I've had the opportunity to receive an early copy of Kevin Sabet's new book Smokescreen. It is a book very dear to my heart as I lost my son to marijuana induced psychosis, and I will do whatever I can to let people know about the possible dangers it can cause. This book is very informative, and I highly recommend it. It will be available on April 20, but you can pre-order it now.
April 6, 2021
As as with all of Kevin's work, the research here is detailed, trustworthy, specific and applicable to the practical challenges that we are facing. Eye opening, revelatory and highly motivating, one cannot read such comprehensive documentation of the unfolding cannabis culture without some true shock and awe. Empowered with this knowledge, some clinical and some personal, we are armed with the tools that we need to help inform those at risk. Whether you are a parent, clinician, recovering person or other concerned citizen, you deserve the facts and the truth as set forth in this groundbreaking book. Hiding our heads in the sand will not help this growing problem to vanish or even diminish. While our culture and society nurture and protect big profit at the expense of the most vulnerable, it is incumbent upon us to educate and inform, prevent and support, and this book shows us exactly what is at risk -and how we might work to help intervene. Accessible, powerful, motivating, informative and guided by a selfless desire to help our exploited youth, and to guide and protect our families, this book will blow your mind and remove any illusions you have that today's marijuana is in any way safe or therapeutic as advertised. You will learn who is making the money and at whose expense. This book dispels myths and corrects misperceptions. Kevin offers us an accurate view into the world of addiction and many of the drivers, helping us to prepare ourselves and our loved ones to stand up for the health, safety and well-being of our youth and society at large. Don't miss this one!
March 26, 2021
This book is a wake-up call to all who think marijuana is not addictive or harmful. It can and has ruined the lives of many of our youth. It causes damage to the developing brain up to the age of 25 years old. I was alarmed to see the big money behind the pot industry and who is really profiting from this business. Big Tobacco has been replaced with Big Pot and they are relentless when it comes to raking in the money. I don't understand how many lives we will have to lose before this becomes a problem and starts to get on the radar of dangerous drugs. I found this book to be very informative and confirmed the ugly truths that I have heard about and witnessed first hand. This is a must read for anyone with children who may "experiment" with pot. No one will tell you that your child may end up suffering from a psychotic break or schizophrenia from smoking pot or that they may commit suicide. It is an eye-opener and shows that this is not the pot from the 60's. This is a drug to be taken seriously and to take hold of the reins before this wild horse gets away. We owe it to our children and we owe it to our communities that have to come up with all the extra funding that is needed to take care of all the extra mental health facilities that are needed to come close to addressing the problem that marijuana is causing. I encourage anyone to read this book if you want to see the truth and not believe what the lobbyists and Big Pot money wants you to believe. Wake up or get ready to pay the price of not taking action. I think we should not be as concerned about illegal aliens crossing the US/Mexican border as we should be about the big Mexican drug cartels that we are now letting in for business.
April 16, 2021
Smokescreen is beautifully written and impeccably researched, which is exactly what we’ve come to expect from Kevin Sabet. Kevin’s is the sanest voice in the national debate on marijuana, cutting through the irrational white noise from industry zealots. Like Quinones’s Dreamland, Smokescreen is a perfect storm of history, culture, politics, science, and heartbreak. It should be required reading for all state legislators.
April 15, 2021
Kevin does a great job articulating how the marijuana industry is deceiving the general public into believing marijuana is a harmless plant. They follow the same playbook that the tobacco industry utilized to recruit new users at a young age so they have a lifetime revenue source. If you want the truth about marijuana instead of the political soundbites, then read Kevin's book. It's an eye opener for sure
April 17, 2021
Would it surprise you to learn that no one in the states where pot is now legal has a clear idea of what precisely people are smoking, ingesting, vaping, and otherwise consuming? That today’s “regulated” marijuana often contains mold, pesticides, bacteria, and other additives?
A few passages at page 35, initial Chapter of the Smoke Screen that mark the many amazing disclosures about marijuana in this book
I am honored to have the opportunity to first read Smoke Screen, the second book by author Kevin A. Sabet due out on April 20.
Reading this book is highly recommended as this will enlighten your view about marijuana and thus augment your reason to opt to live smart, healthy and accountable. Kevin’s thorough investigative and research works are reflected in this book, passionately to save human lives today and beyond
I was very impressed when I first listened to Kevin’s presentation at the World Forum Against Drugs in Vienna five years ago. I followed his works since then and was more excited when we both were invited to speak at the Asia Pacific Forum Against Drugs in Singapore the following year.
Kevin’s record in fighting the disinformation campaign regarding this drug is unparalleled, not only in his role as co-founder at SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), but also in his drug advisory capacity to White House administrations namely, George Bush and Barrack Obama
Hurry get the Smoke Screen at your favorite on-line marketplace and take part in our cause to fight against duping
A few passages at page 35, initial Chapter of the Smoke Screen that mark the many amazing disclosures about marijuana in this book
I am honored to have the opportunity to first read Smoke Screen, the second book by author Kevin A. Sabet due out on April 20.
Reading this book is highly recommended as this will enlighten your view about marijuana and thus augment your reason to opt to live smart, healthy and accountable. Kevin’s thorough investigative and research works are reflected in this book, passionately to save human lives today and beyond
I was very impressed when I first listened to Kevin’s presentation at the World Forum Against Drugs in Vienna five years ago. I followed his works since then and was more excited when we both were invited to speak at the Asia Pacific Forum Against Drugs in Singapore the following year.
Kevin’s record in fighting the disinformation campaign regarding this drug is unparalleled, not only in his role as co-founder at SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), but also in his drug advisory capacity to White House administrations namely, George Bush and Barrack Obama
Hurry get the Smoke Screen at your favorite on-line marketplace and take part in our cause to fight against duping
April 14, 2021
This book is eye-opening and a MUST read for parents, teachers, law enforcement, community leaders and anyone who believes that marijuana is no big deal. The personal stories are raw and moving, and the data is alarming. I learned a lot - this book should be required reading for every teen!
April 6, 2021
Excellent outline of how the marijuana industry has manipulated public perceptions by using misleading science, Trojan Horse politics, compliant media, and preying on sometimes desperate people who are suffering.
Money and corruption are at the heart of this addiction-for-profit industry supported by lawmakers who are seduced by anecdotal sob stories and promised tax windfalls. Sabet methodically traces this effort to normalize a substance that is demonstrably harmful to public health and safety. He effectively uses a number of first-person stories to emphasize his factual narration.
This is an excellent and updated companion piece to Ben Cort's "Weed, Inc." A must-read for those wanting facts to blow through the "smokescreen."
Money and corruption are at the heart of this addiction-for-profit industry supported by lawmakers who are seduced by anecdotal sob stories and promised tax windfalls. Sabet methodically traces this effort to normalize a substance that is demonstrably harmful to public health and safety. He effectively uses a number of first-person stories to emphasize his factual narration.
This is an excellent and updated companion piece to Ben Cort's "Weed, Inc." A must-read for those wanting facts to blow through the "smokescreen."
April 16, 2021
This well-written, organized account of what the marijuana industry has done needs to be read and considered by every single policy maker and ballot voter, before casting their vote for another Big Tobacco.
April 5, 2021
This is to the weed industry what “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair was to the food industry. Massive, groundbreaking, jaw-dropping account of what’s going on inside this federally illegal industry and how they’re wreaking havoc on people’s lives. Incredible whistleblower accounts and inside stories. MUST READ!
April 15, 2021
In this very important book, Kevin Sabat shares his expertise as to what is REALLY going on in the "marijuana movement". As more and more states make the decision to legalize pot, it is important that true and accurate information be made available to the general public. "Smokescreen: does just that.
Get this book. Keep our kids safe. You'll be glad you did.
Get this book. Keep our kids safe. You'll be glad you did.
April 12, 2021
Must read for parents and caretakers of youth. Gives good information.
April 20, 2021
As a mother whose son died due to marijuana, I would highly recommend that all parents, teachers, medical professionals read this excellent book on the harms of this industry!
May 2, 2021
Cash grab. This is nonsense.
November 3, 2025
Interesting tale documenting the new battle regarding the rapid legalization of marijuana in the US. This was yet another work-related book this year, as I met Kevin at a panel discussing the legalization debate in New Hampshire.
While I did rate the book three stars, I do find Kevin is a very persuasive speaker that is dedicated to the work he’s doing to address marijuana use using a public health lens. If you would’ve asked me before that panel if I was supportive of legalization, I would’ve said absolutely “yes”, but his arguments and data are too damning to just toss away.
This is one of maybe a handful of drug policy novels I’ve read (which I am currently wondering why that’s the case, given my interests and work… so I’m sure there’s more to come on that front). As a criminal justice graduate, I know all about the War on Drugs and its fallout. But I’ve not considered the further, hidden agenda that continues to this day within the legal and illegal drug market and its business plans - “addiction-for-profit”, as Sabet puts it.
I just didn’t love a lot of the anecdotes that were pulled from the victims of the marijuana debate that were sprinkled throughout. I’m not sure why I feel the way I do about the anecdotes, but it’s probably my apprehension about using it when discussing a matter such as drug policy and arguing against what is gaining increasingly massive popular acceptance - I will always prefer data points when we talk public health. That being said, Sabet delivered on that, and the appendix was some of the finest of that work put on display.
The best part was the book didn’t read like a textbook, which this genre can tend to do (mostly in part due to the huge amounts of relevant history and data, as mentioned above). I completed this book in two sittings, and was an easy page-turner. I’ll have to keep my eye out for his newest expose in the coming months.
While I did rate the book three stars, I do find Kevin is a very persuasive speaker that is dedicated to the work he’s doing to address marijuana use using a public health lens. If you would’ve asked me before that panel if I was supportive of legalization, I would’ve said absolutely “yes”, but his arguments and data are too damning to just toss away.
This is one of maybe a handful of drug policy novels I’ve read (which I am currently wondering why that’s the case, given my interests and work… so I’m sure there’s more to come on that front). As a criminal justice graduate, I know all about the War on Drugs and its fallout. But I’ve not considered the further, hidden agenda that continues to this day within the legal and illegal drug market and its business plans - “addiction-for-profit”, as Sabet puts it.
I just didn’t love a lot of the anecdotes that were pulled from the victims of the marijuana debate that were sprinkled throughout. I’m not sure why I feel the way I do about the anecdotes, but it’s probably my apprehension about using it when discussing a matter such as drug policy and arguing against what is gaining increasingly massive popular acceptance - I will always prefer data points when we talk public health. That being said, Sabet delivered on that, and the appendix was some of the finest of that work put on display.
The best part was the book didn’t read like a textbook, which this genre can tend to do (mostly in part due to the huge amounts of relevant history and data, as mentioned above). I completed this book in two sittings, and was an easy page-turner. I’ll have to keep my eye out for his newest expose in the coming months.
April 20, 2021
This book is well written and difficult to put down. Anyone living in a State that has legalized the use of marijuana and production of substances derived from marijuana for medical and/or recreational use should read this book. Kevin Sabet describes the deplorable conditions in marijuana cultivation centers, forcing worker exposure to pesticides, toxic chemicals and poisons to the calculated advertising of marijuana as beneficial to health. The book contains interviews with a drug kingpin describing how both the legal and illegal sale of marijuana coexist, raking in thousands of dollars a day. The book includes the heart breaking stories of lives lost due to marijuana use and explains why there should be concern over the extremely high THC level products being sold.
. If you have children, if you are concerned about public health and safety, if you are concerned about the future, Smokescreen is a must read.
. If you have children, if you are concerned about public health and safety, if you are concerned about the future, Smokescreen is a must read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 5, 2021
“If you had the chance to stop the tobacco industry before they got everyone unknowingly addicted to their products, you would, wouldn’t you? If you could have raised the alarm on the over-prescription of opioids before they destroyed the lives of other brothers and sisters, you would have, right?” (Smokescreen, by Kevin Sabet)
I am all for harm reduction around drug use, I am not against using marijuana, but education around this drug is so important, both about the research of cannabis use, and about the industry that, as the author Kevin Sabet says, sees your brain as a dollar sign. I have been educating myself on today's marijuana since my kids entered the experimental teenage years, and thought I was pretty well-versed on the drug. But I learned so much more by reading Smokescreen about the false narrative of the industry, and the industry's smokescreen needs to be cleared up for all to know.
I thought I knew a lot about the harms of cannabis to our youth, living and learning through its nightmares first-hand through my teenage son's addiction. But on every page I learned more about this wild wild west that has been unleashed, unregulated, and causing more harm than the industry wants you to know. I highly recommend that everyone learns more about cannabis before it is too late to cause more addiction - and deaths. This book is so needed to educate people about TODAY's cannabis - and the companies and organizations including Big Alcohol, Tobacco, the Mafia, even Scott's fertilizer - bankrolling its future, because these corporations only care about the money in their future, and the future addicts, who will line their pockets. They don't care about those like Trevor who lose everything because of their cannabis addiction.
I'm fortunate to have been part of the Smokescreen Launch Team for this new book which was released on 4/20/21 (of course), and although I pre-ordered the book, I volunteered to read an electronic advance copy so I could review before its publishing date. This will be a book I will give away to many families, to hope they understand the dangers lurking, especially around youth, by this unregulated new industry. And yes this is not hippie pot, where your Maui Wowie was MAYBE 6% THC - this new industry regularly offers marijuana containing 25% THC and higher in their stores, up to 99% THC in its shatter, budder, and other options. This is a NEW industry and if you didn't know that, you need to learn, before it's too late. Big Marijuana is taking over public health right under your nose, as you might smell when walking around Las Vegas or Denver. The "cannabis" industry is using the same playbook as the other Addiction for Profit industries, Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco, have done through lies, deep pocketed propaganda, and smokescreens. This book needs to be read by everyone on BOTH sides of the state and federal legalization debate, to fully understand that we are not talking about Woodstock Pot grown in your closet or passed around a circle. (ICYMI - THC in the pot of the 60s and 70s was generally 1-6% THC, and today's "flower"-the euphemism used today - contains 20-35% THC, with edibles around 55% THC, and Dab/ budder/ shatter up to 99%.)
I pre-ordered this book when I heard of its release, and when I heard that I could read an electronic version before today's 4/20/21 release date, I jumped on that opportunity to learn more. Since reading this important book, I've already bought another copy for a relative, and am planning on giving more copies away to legislators because the facts contained in Smokescreen are indisputable, and the stories shared put faces on the lives harmed by the industry in this "wild west" without strong structure around today's high-potency THC products.
There are FDA-approved medical properties in cannabis, both CBD and THC, but many of the "medicinal" benefits being pushed by the industry do not have research backing. Medical Marijuana was used as a political term, not medical, in the plan to legalize marijuana, to make you think marijuana was not bad. But research proves otherwise - and much more research still needs to be done before we continue to make access to today's high-potency pot more accessible.
So many important facts (with footnotes) from the book. When you read the 1-star reviews here, look for their arguments, which can't dispute these irrefutable facts. Those who don't like what this book says are here because Smokescreen truly shares what the Marijuana Industry doesn't want you to know, and lives are at stake when we don't see through the industry's smokescreen.
I am all for harm reduction around drug use, I am not against using marijuana, but education around this drug is so important, both about the research of cannabis use, and about the industry that, as the author Kevin Sabet says, sees your brain as a dollar sign. I have been educating myself on today's marijuana since my kids entered the experimental teenage years, and thought I was pretty well-versed on the drug. But I learned so much more by reading Smokescreen about the false narrative of the industry, and the industry's smokescreen needs to be cleared up for all to know.
I thought I knew a lot about the harms of cannabis to our youth, living and learning through its nightmares first-hand through my teenage son's addiction. But on every page I learned more about this wild wild west that has been unleashed, unregulated, and causing more harm than the industry wants you to know. I highly recommend that everyone learns more about cannabis before it is too late to cause more addiction - and deaths. This book is so needed to educate people about TODAY's cannabis - and the companies and organizations including Big Alcohol, Tobacco, the Mafia, even Scott's fertilizer - bankrolling its future, because these corporations only care about the money in their future, and the future addicts, who will line their pockets. They don't care about those like Trevor who lose everything because of their cannabis addiction.
I'm fortunate to have been part of the Smokescreen Launch Team for this new book which was released on 4/20/21 (of course), and although I pre-ordered the book, I volunteered to read an electronic advance copy so I could review before its publishing date. This will be a book I will give away to many families, to hope they understand the dangers lurking, especially around youth, by this unregulated new industry. And yes this is not hippie pot, where your Maui Wowie was MAYBE 6% THC - this new industry regularly offers marijuana containing 25% THC and higher in their stores, up to 99% THC in its shatter, budder, and other options. This is a NEW industry and if you didn't know that, you need to learn, before it's too late. Big Marijuana is taking over public health right under your nose, as you might smell when walking around Las Vegas or Denver. The "cannabis" industry is using the same playbook as the other Addiction for Profit industries, Big Alcohol and Big Tobacco, have done through lies, deep pocketed propaganda, and smokescreens. This book needs to be read by everyone on BOTH sides of the state and federal legalization debate, to fully understand that we are not talking about Woodstock Pot grown in your closet or passed around a circle. (ICYMI - THC in the pot of the 60s and 70s was generally 1-6% THC, and today's "flower"-the euphemism used today - contains 20-35% THC, with edibles around 55% THC, and Dab/ budder/ shatter up to 99%.)
I pre-ordered this book when I heard of its release, and when I heard that I could read an electronic version before today's 4/20/21 release date, I jumped on that opportunity to learn more. Since reading this important book, I've already bought another copy for a relative, and am planning on giving more copies away to legislators because the facts contained in Smokescreen are indisputable, and the stories shared put faces on the lives harmed by the industry in this "wild west" without strong structure around today's high-potency THC products.
There are FDA-approved medical properties in cannabis, both CBD and THC, but many of the "medicinal" benefits being pushed by the industry do not have research backing. Medical Marijuana was used as a political term, not medical, in the plan to legalize marijuana, to make you think marijuana was not bad. But research proves otherwise - and much more research still needs to be done before we continue to make access to today's high-potency pot more accessible.
So many important facts (with footnotes) from the book. When you read the 1-star reviews here, look for their arguments, which can't dispute these irrefutable facts. Those who don't like what this book says are here because Smokescreen truly shares what the Marijuana Industry doesn't want you to know, and lives are at stake when we don't see through the industry's smokescreen.
April 12, 2021
THIS BOOK IS SO IMPORTANT- as the author shares, "why as a nation should we rush headlong into legalizing highly potent THC products without understanding the consequences?
"...it is not just the direct health dangers we need to be worried about.
"It’s the calamity of mismanagement in pot shops where customers are given the wrong dosage" Among TOO MANY other reasons that are spelled out with hundreds of supporting footnotes. So grateful for Kevin Sabet and SAM's important work.
I have been advocating around the harms to youth brains about today's cannabis for five years, and I thought I knew a lot. I only knew about the tip of the iceberg - hoping MANY read and learn more through this vital expose of the smokescreen erected by Big Cannabis.
"...it is not just the direct health dangers we need to be worried about.
"It’s the calamity of mismanagement in pot shops where customers are given the wrong dosage" Among TOO MANY other reasons that are spelled out with hundreds of supporting footnotes. So grateful for Kevin Sabet and SAM's important work.
I have been advocating around the harms to youth brains about today's cannabis for five years, and I thought I knew a lot. I only knew about the tip of the iceberg - hoping MANY read and learn more through this vital expose of the smokescreen erected by Big Cannabis.
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