The Machine Behind the Message: The Definitive Story of Smart Approaches to Marijuana and Kevin Sabet

They call themselves the smart middle ground between incarceration and legalization. Their critics call them prohibition repackaged for a public health audience. For over thirteen years, Smart Approaches to Marijuana has operated as the single most organized, best-funded, and most litigious opponent of cannabis reform in the United States — fighting legalization in courtrooms, statehouses, ballot measures, and now federal agencies, while systematically obscuring where its money comes from.

This is the full story. Not the press releases. Not the talking points. The organizational architecture, the money trails, the personnel overlaps, the controversies, and the ideological lineage that connects a disgraced teen drug rehabilitation program from the 1970s to a federal lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. last month.

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I. The Architect

Kevin Abraham Sabet-Sharghi started young. By his own account, he was writing drug policy papers as a teenager, and by the time he enrolled at UC Berkeley, he was already positioning himself for a career in the narrow world of federal drug policy. He earned his doctorate in social policy from Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar — a credential he has leveraged extensively, though critics have noted that despite his affiliation with Yale Medical School, he holds no medical degree or clinical training. His expertise is political, not pharmacological.

His government career began as a researcher in the Clinton administration's drug policy office in 2000, continued as senior speechwriter on drug policy in the Bush administration from 2002 to 2003, and culminated with a two-year stint as senior advisor to President Obama's drug control director from 2009 to 2011. He is fond of noting — and his biographical materials never fail to mention — that he is the only drug policy staffer to have served as a political appointee in both a Democratic and Republican administration.

When he left the Obama White House in 2011, he didn't go far. He launched a consulting firm called Policy Solutions Lab out of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and began writing op-eds and giving speeches opposing marijuana legalization with increasing urgency. The 2012 elections — which saw Colorado and Washington become the first states to legalize recreational cannabis by popular vote — appear to have crystallized his mission.

By January 2013, Sabet had what he needed: a vehicle, a brand, and two prominent co-founders.

II. The Launch: Denver, January 2013

Smart Approaches to Marijuana was announced in Denver in January 2013 — pointedly in the state that had just legalized. The founding trio was designed to project bipartisan credibility: Sabet, the wonk; former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy, a Democrat and recovering addict from America's most famous political family; and David Frum, the conservative commentator and former speechwriter for George W. Bush.

The pitch was deliberate: SAM was not your parents' "Just Say No" campaign. It positioned itself as the reasonable center — opposed to incarceration but also opposed to commercial legalization. The preferred policy was decriminalization with mandatory treatment referrals, a position Sabet has described as neither locking people up nor letting corporations profit from addiction.

SAM was initially described as a project of the Policy Solutions Lab. It was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Alexandria, Virginia, in 2015. SAM Action, the organization's 501(c)(4) lobbying arm, followed in 2016. A third entity, the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions (FDPS), also lists Sabet as president and CEO. The multi-entity structure would prove important — it allows Sabet to move between tax-exempt educational work, political lobbying, and broader drug policy advocacy while maintaining distinct legal identities for each function.

Patrick Kennedy brought the family name and a personal narrative about addiction. Frum brought conservative media reach. Sabet brought operational control.

Frum's involvement has faded over the years; he is rarely mentioned in SAM's current materials. Kennedy remains listed as co-founder but is not involved in day-to-day operations. SAM, for all practical purposes, is Kevin Sabet's organization. He runs it. He speaks for it. He is its public face, its chief strategist, and its most prolific media presence.

III. The Money: What We Know, What We Don't, and What They Won't Say

SAM has always maintained that it is funded by small donors, family foundations, and conference speaking fees. Sabet has repeatedly denied that the organization receives money from pharmaceutical companies, the private prison industry, or law enforcement agencies.

The public record tells a more complicated story.

The HIDTA Pipeline. In 2016, investigative work by former law enforcement officer Diane Goldstein revealed that SAM had received substantial funding through Californians for Drug Free Youth (CADFY), a San Diego-based nonprofit that served as fiscal sponsor for SAM while simultaneously managing federal grants for the San Diego Imperial High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program. HIDTA programs are law enforcement operations financed by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy — the same office where Sabet previously worked.

CADFY's IRS filings show it raised $33,508 for SAM in 2013, $234,398 in 2014, $141,494 in 2015, and $533,711 in 2016 — all after SAM's founding. When confronted on social media, Sabet initially claimed the CADFY funding predated SAM's incorporation. Public tax records refuted this. The CADFY connection meant that taxpayer money, channeled through federal drug enforcement programs, was flowing to an organization actively lobbying against state legalization ballot measures.

The New York Donor Fight. In 2019, SAM's New York chapter requested an exemption from state lobbying disclosure laws, asking to keep its donor list confidential on the grounds that donors would face harassment. New York law requires social welfare organizations that lobby to disclose their funding sources. The state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics denied the request. SAM had spent $84,795 lobbying against cannabis legalization in New York in the first half of that year alone.

The 501(c)(4) Shield. SAM Action, the organization's lobbying arm, operates as a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. Federal tax law shields the identities of donors to (c)(4) entities — a structure SAM has used to its full advantage. While SAM Inc.'s (c)(3) filings provide some visibility into revenue, SAM Action's donor identities remain legally protected.

The 2024 Funding Explosion. According to IRS Form 990 filings analyzed by High Times, SAM Action reported $8,601,743 in contributions for its 2024 fiscal year — a staggering 445% increase from the $1,576,210 it reported in 2023. At the same time, SAM Inc.'s revenues fell 64% to $1.2 million while its expenses rose 59% to $2.26 million, creating a loss of over $1 million. SAM Inc. reported $656,395 in legal fees alone, nearly 30% of its total budget.

Despite the (c)(3) entity's financial distress, SAM Action reported $23.04 million in net assets. Where the $8.6 million in new contributions came from remains unknown.

The timing of that funding surge coincides with the Florida Amendment 3 fight — and with a separate scandal involving money that was supposed to go to Florida taxpayers.

IV. The Florida Money Trail

In September 2024, Florida reached a $67 million settlement with Centene Corporation, the state's largest Medicaid contractor, over overbilling allegations. Ten million dollars of that settlement was directed to the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity founded by First Lady Casey DeSantis.

Within weeks, Hope Florida made two $5 million grants. One went to Secure Florida's Future, controlled by Florida Chamber of Commerce executives. The other went to Save Our Society From Drugs, a St. Petersburg nonprofit that had reported less than $50,000 in net assets in its most recent available tax filing.

Within days of receiving the $5 million, Save Our Society transferred $4.75 million — 95% of the grant — to Keep Florida Clean, a political action committee fighting Amendment 3, the marijuana legalization ballot measure. Keep Florida Clean was chaired by James Uthmeier, Governor DeSantis's chief of staff, who is now Florida's attorney general.

Amendment 3 received 56% support from Florida voters but failed to reach the required 60% supermajority.

A Leon County grand jury investigation was opened in 2025. Republican state Representative Alex Andrade, who led the Florida House investigation, alleged the transactions could constitute money laundering and wire fraud. No charges have been filed as of publication.

The connection to SAM? Save Our Society From Drugs is the lobbying arm of the Drug Free America Foundation. Both organizations share the same address in St. Petersburg and the same executive director, Amy Ronshausen. Ronshausen has longstanding ties to SAM — appearing at SAM events, speaking alongside Sabet at SAM's 2025 Good Drug Policy Summit, and maintaining collaborative organizational relationships through the National Drug-Free Workplace Alliance, which lists SAM as a partner organization.

High Times reported in April 2026 that public records do not show a direct transfer from Save Our Society to SAM or SAM Action. But the timing of SAM Action's unprecedented $8.6 million funding surge during the same period the Florida money was moving raises questions that remain unanswered — questions that the (c)(4) donor shield ensures may never be publicly answered.

V. The Roots: Straight, Inc. and the Sembler Legacy

To understand the organizational DNA behind SAM's closest allies, you have to go back to 1976 and a place called Straight, Inc.

Straight, Inc. was a network of adolescent drug rehabilitation centers founded by Mel Sembler and his wife Betty in St. Petersburg, Florida. Sembler was a Republican real estate developer and political fundraiser who would later serve as U.S. Ambassador to Australia and Italy. Straight's treatment methods were based on an organization called The Seed, which a Congressional investigation had previously compared to North Korean brainwashing techniques used on American POWs.

Former patients described Straight's methods as torture. Investigative reporting and court records documented allegations including physical beatings by staff and fellow patients, forced restraints, denial of medical care, sleep deprivation, coercive group confrontation sessions, and indefinite confinement without due process. Multiple lawsuits were filed, and patients won judgments against the organization. Straight was forced to close in 1993 after mounting investigations and litigation across multiple states.

But the Semblers didn't disappear. They renamed the entity. In 1985, Straight, Inc. became the Straight Foundation, Inc. In 1995, it became the Drug Free America Foundation. The treatment operations were stripped out, but the anti-drug advocacy mission continued — now focused on policy rather than direct contact with children.

Betty Sembler founded Save Our Society From Drugs in 1998 as the foundation's lobbying arm. Same address. Same mission. Same organizational lineage stretching directly back to Straight, Inc.

This is the organizational family that funneled $4.75 million of Florida Medicaid settlement money into an anti-legalization PAC in 2024. And this is the organizational family that SAM shares a formal partnership with, collaborates with at conferences, and co-litigates alongside in federal court — including in the active CMS CBD lawsuit filed in March 2026, where Save Our Society From Drugs and Drug Free America Foundation appear as co-plaintiffs with SAM.

Mel Sembler died in 2022. His son Brent remains active in Republican political fundraising in Florida.

The Semblers also maintained connections to the Church of Scientology, whose international headquarters sits in Clearwater, Florida, less than ten miles from the Drug Free America Foundation offices. In 2016, Amy Ronshausen was interviewed by Freedom Magazine, a Scientology publication, about her work opposing marijuana legalization. SAM has no documented direct ties to Scientology, but the overlap within their allied network has drawn scrutiny.

VI. The Ballot Measure War

SAM's most visible work has been fighting cannabis legalization at the ballot box, state by state.

The organization's track record is decidedly mixed. Cannabis legalization measures have now passed in the majority of states where they've appeared on ballots, and SAM's most high-profile efforts have often come up short. Michigan legalized in 2018 despite SAM launching an opposition group called Healthy and Productive Michigan, which raised $277,645 — $275,000 of it from SAM directly. Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and numerous other states have legalized over SAM's objections.

The notable exception is Florida's 2024 Amendment 3, where the 60% supermajority requirement combined with the influx of money through the Hope Florida pipeline helped defeat a measure that a majority of voters actually supported.

More recently, SAM has gone on offense rather than defense. In January 2026, Cannabis Business Times reported that SAM Action contributed $1.55 million to the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts to fund a signature drive for a 2026 ballot measure that would end the state's $1.6 billion adult-use market entirely. No other entities contributed to the coalition. SAM has also announced support for a similar rollback effort in Maine.

At his organization's 2025 summit, Sabet reportedly declared that SAM would invest millions in campaigns to end marijuana sales in states that have already legalized — marking a strategic shift from playing defense against new legalization to actively attempting to reverse it.

Reports from both Massachusetts and Maine have included complaints that anti-cannabis signature gatherers used deceptive tactics to mislead voters into signing the repeal petitions. Massachusetts's State Ballot Law Commission held hearings to investigate.

VII. The DEA Collusion Allegations

In November 2024, as the DEA's administrative hearing on cannabis rescheduling was about to begin, cannabis companies Village Farms International and Hemp for Victory filed a motion alleging that the DEA had engaged in improper ex parte communications with SAM ahead of the proceedings.

The basis for the allegations: Sabet had posted a series of statements on social media suggesting he had inside information about the rescheduling process from sources within the DEA. Attorney Shane Pennington, representing Village Farms, cited these posts as evidence that SAM enjoyed a privileged relationship with the agency that was supposed to be impartially evaluating rescheduling.

DEA Administrative Law Judge John Mulrooney acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations, writing that if the ex parte communications occurred, they would violate the Administrative Procedure Act. He ordered both the DEA and SAM to respond.

Both denied wrongdoing. The DEA said the evidence failed to demonstrate unlawful communications. SAM's counsel argued the allegations were speculative. Mulrooney denied the motion to disqualify the DEA but issued a separate, sharply worded critique of the agency that pro-reform attorneys read as a signal that the judge was not fully convinced by the denials.

Additional allegations followed in January 2025, when the same group of attorneys presented evidence that DEA Deputy Assistant Administrator Matthew Strait had been working behind the scenes with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation — another anti-rescheduling hearing participant — to ensure that entity qualified for the proceedings. The rescheduling hearing was ultimately canceled, and the process remains stalled under a stay as of April 2026.

VIII. The CMS Lawsuit: SAM's Latest Front

SAM's most current legal action is the case now styled SAM et al. v. Kennedy et al. (Case 1:26-cv-01081) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' new CBD pilot program.

Filed March 30, 2026, the case names Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz as defendants. An amended complaint filed April 13 added new plaintiffs — Americans Against Legalizing Marijuana, Drug Free America Foundation, and MMJ BioPharma entities — and reset the case entirely. The hearing is now set for May 1.

The case represents something new for SAM: rather than fighting to prevent legalization, it is fighting to prevent the federal government from covering cannabis-derived products under Medicare — even as the Trump administration's own executive orders have pushed for expanded CBD access. It puts SAM in the unusual position of suing an administration that it has generally aligned with on drug policy, on the grounds that one arm of the government has gone too far.

IX. The Organizational Web

The full SAM network, when mapped, reveals a constellation of overlapping entities, shared personnel, and coordinated activity.

At the center: SAM Inc. (501(c)(3), educational) and SAM Action (501(c)(4), lobbying), both run by Sabet. Alongside them: the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions, also run by Sabet, focused on broader drug policy beyond just cannabis.

Formal allies and co-litigants: Drug Free America Foundation and its lobbying arm Save Our Society From Drugs (Sembler-founded, Ronshausen-led), the Cannabis Impact Prevention Coalition, and Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) — a national coalition prevention network that has provided funding to SAM in the past and was itself identified in DEA documents as a resource on marijuana during the rescheduling process.

State-level affiliate entities: SAM has operated state chapters and created purpose-built opposition groups for specific ballot measures, including Healthy and Productive Michigan, the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts, and SAM Action committees in North Dakota, Florida, and elsewhere.

Personnel overlaps are extensive. SAM's Director of External Programs previously served as executive director of Next Chapter LLC, a company founded by Patrick Kennedy. CADFY served as SAM's fiscal sponsor while managing federal HIDTA grants. Save Our Society's executive director speaks at SAM events and vice versa. The organizations share conferences, policy positions, litigation, and — through the (c)(4) structure — potentially donors, though this cannot be verified.

X. The Contradictions

SAM's stated position — a middle ground between incarceration and legalization — has always contained a structural tension. The organization says it favors treatment over jail, but its primary activity is fighting the legalization measures that would end criminal penalties. It says it opposes the cannabis industry's commercialization, but it partners with organizations whose founders built fortunes in real estate development and Republican political fundraising. It says it's funded by small donors and families who've lost loved ones to drug abuse, but its (c)(4) arm received $8.6 million in a single year from sources it refuses to identify.

Sabet's personal brand depends on the perception of nonpartisan expertise — the Obama staffer who also worked for Bush, the academic who advises the UN, the reasonable voice in a polarized debate. But the organization's actions — suing to block Medicare coverage of CBD products, spending $1.55 million to reverse legalization in Massachusetts, maintaining close ties to organizations descended from Straight, Inc. — paint a picture of an operation that has moved well beyond its stated mission of cautious public health advocacy.

The question that has followed SAM since its founding remains the one it has been least willing to answer: Who pays for all of this?

Until SAM voluntarily discloses its donors or federal law changes to require (c)(4) transparency, the American public is left to trace the outlines of a funding structure that was specifically designed not to be traced — and to judge the organization by what it does, rather than what it says.

XI. The Continuation

As this article goes to press, the pattern continues. On April 18, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order directing the FDA to expedite review of psychedelic drugs designated as breakthrough therapies, with HHS Secretary Kennedy and CMS Administrator Oz — both defendants in SAM's active lawsuit — standing beside him at the signing ceremony. Sabet's response was immediate: the order would "send the wrong message" and encourages hasty, potentially dangerous research, he told the Washington Post. SAM now finds itself opposing the same administration on two simultaneous fronts — suing over CBD coverage while criticizing the psychedelics order — a position that underscores how far the organization has drifted from its original claim to bipartisan pragmatism.

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A Note on Sourcing

This article draws on IRS Form 990 filings available through ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer, Florida Division of Elections campaign finance records, federal court docket filings from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, New York State lobbying disclosure records, investigative reporting by High Times, Marijuana Moment, Cannabis Business Times, Leafly, Filter Magazine, The Nation, OpenSecrets, the Associated Press, and organizational websites and public materials from SAM, Drug Free America Foundation, Save Our Society From Drugs, and related entities. Where allegations are unresolved or unproven, they are identified as such.