Issue #27  September 2023

There is a long-gone era (late 1970s-early 1980s) when I worked for the Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario (ARF). It was not uncommon for generous amounts of free alcohol beverages to be available after educational events. Such a practice, at such an organization, seems bizarre by 2023 standards. But it was the …

Issue #26 August 2023

A classic stereotype of drug users is that they use drugs as an escape from the stresses and hardships of life. Entertainers Robin Williams, Lily Tomlin and Tom Waits have all satirized this notion. Williams is probably the most often cited with his quip…

“Reality is just a crutch for people who can’t handle drugs.”

Issue #25 July 2023

Statistics on the prevalence of drug use are just that – reflecting only use and not necessarily harm. At an individual level, most people who use drugs do not experience serious harm. However, at the population level, the prevalence of drug use is often directly correlated with the prevalence of drug problems.

Issue #24 June 2023

So, here’s the thing – people want to use drugs, and they take their drugs seriously. Some people’s quality of life, and even their lives, depend upon specific drug products from pharmaceutical companies. The recreational use of legal drugs, such as…

Issue #23 May 2023

In the previous issue of this newsletter, I talked about how drug companies don’t usually call their products “drugs” or even refer to the type of drug they produce or sell. Alcohol and tobacco companies emphasize…

Issue #22  April 2023

[This is a modified excerpt from “Buzz Kill: The Corporatization of Cannabis”.
https://blackrosebooks.com/products/buzz-kill-michael-r-devillaer ]

“I am, by calling, a dealer in words; and words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”

 – Rudyard Kipling

Issue # 21 March 2023

Black Rose Books has announced that my book Buzz Kill: The Corporatization of Cannabis will be part of its spring release. I appreciate that those of you who pre-ordered it have been waiting patiently. As an expression of gratitude, I am using this issue of Drug Policy Alternatives to leak a sample of the book’s content.

Issue #20    February 2023

Perhaps hoping for some lingering love from Valentine’s Day, the beleaguered cannabis industry once again took its case to a public forum. In a February 15th presser, its latest appeal focuses on the inability of industry to make a profit under the yoke of taxation and its frustration in competing with the illegal market.

Includes excerpts from
Buzz Kill: The Corporatization of Cannabis
Issue #19 January 2023
This issue of Drug Policy Alternatives addresses the currently heightened attention to the risks of alcohol consumption. The attention has arisen from the release of revised low risk drinking guidelines from the Canadian Centre for Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA).

Sample from
Buzz Kill: The Corporatization of Cannabis
Issue #18 December 2022
Legal industries for alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical products are older than any of us. We have known them only as mature, adult industries and must read about their birth and early development. The legalization of cannabis—the creation of a new legal drug industry—is an unprecedented experience for Canadians, and increasingly, for the people of other nations.

Book Announcement!
Issue #17 October 2022
At long last, my book is on the home stretch and available for pre-order from Black Rose Books (Montreal) and University of Chicago Press.
Buzz Kill: The Corporatization of Cannabis is the story of one of Canada’s least understood drug policy failures that quietly unfolded beneath the cover of two loud and calamitous pandemics of drug overdoses and COVID-19.

Issue #16 September 2022
I will start by reframing the title of this issue: What does more harm – cannabis or corporations? This is a critical question in the current world-wide interest in cannabis law reform. To address this question, we must look further than just the cannabis industry.