The Fund supports networks of state health policy decision makers to help identify, inspire, and inform policy leaders.
The Milbank Memorial Fund supports two state leadership programs for legislative and executive branch state government officials committed to improving population health.
The Fund identifies and shares policy ideas and analysis to advance state health leadership, strong primary care, and sustainable health care costs.
Keep up with news and updates from the Milbank Memorial Fund. And read the latest blogs from our thought leaders, including Fund President Christopher F. Koller.
The Fund publishes The Milbank Quarterly, as well as reports, issues briefs, and case studies on topics important to health policy leaders.
The Milbank Memorial Fund is is a foundation that works to improve population health and health equity.
June 2014 (Volume 92)
Quarterly Article
Rachel Ann Barry
Heikki Hiilamo
Stanton A. Glantz
Oct 4, 2024
September 2024
Sep 18, 2024
Back to The Milbank Quarterly
Context: In 2012, Washington State and Colorado legalized the recreational use of marijuana, and Uruguay, beginning in 2014, will become the first country to legalize the sale and distribution of marijuana. The challenge facing policymakers and public health advocates is reducing the harms of an ineffective, costly, and discriminatory “war on drugs” while preventing another public health catastrophe similar to tobacco use, which kills 6 million people worldwide each year.
Methods: Between May and December 2013, using the standard snowball research technique, we searched the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library of previously secret tobacco industry documents (http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu).
Findings: Since at least the 1970s, tobacco companies have been interested in marijuana and marijuana legalization as both a potential and a rival product. As public opinion shifted and governments began relaxing laws pertaining to marijuana criminalization, the tobacco companies modified their corporate planning strategies to prepare for future consumer demand.
Conclusions: Policymakers and public health advocates must be aware that the tobacco industry or comparable multinational organizations (eg, food and beverage industries) are prepared to enter the marijuana market with the intention of increasing its already widespread use. In order to prevent domination of the market by companies seeking to maximize market size and profits, policymakers should learn from their successes and failures in regulating tobacco.
Author(s): Rachel Ann Barry, Heikki Hiilamo, Stanton A. Glantz
Keywords: marijuana, public policy, cigarettes, tobacco industry
Read on Wiley Online Library
Volume 92, Issue 2 (pages 207–242) DOI: 10.1111/1468-0009.12055 Published in 2014