These Are The Alcohol Companies That Want To Keep Marijuana Illegal

People enjoy things that help them relax. Some people do yoga, some people drink alcohol, and some smoke weed.

The latter is increasing in popularity now that it’s legal to buy and sell recreational marijuana in four states, with five more states looking to join them in 2016. Some members of big alcohol companies, though, are doing the best they can to keep fresh herb out of people’s hands.

Why can’t we all just get along?

A Massachusetts campaign financing report dug up by The Intercept shows that the Beer Distributors PAC gave $25,000 to the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, and anti-pot lobbying organizations. The PAC represents 16 distribution companies in the state and its donation was the third largest for the anti-marijuana campaign.

The Beer Distributor PAC is scared of marijuana. Its fear rests on the idea that people would swap beer bottles for bongs, which was supported by a University of Colorado Denver study that found legal medical marijuana leads to decreased alcohol consumption, especially in the case of beer.

But in reality, market data shows people are more likely to ask “why choose?” than stick to only one inebriant. Colorado is the perfect case study that shows this (also because, let’s be honest, who hasn’t made a “mile-high” joke about Denver yet?). Colorado already had a thriving craft brewing culture before it legalized weed in 2012. Since the time weed started being sold in 2014, the media has had a frenzy over how alcohol sales in the state went up with marijuana legalization.


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