Tassoni: Cannabis Profits Should Aid Overdose Prevention, Education & Treatment 

The place does the cash from Rhode Island’s hashish gross sales go? 

As President and CEO at The Leadership Council for Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being of Rhode Island, I want to know. 

So, members of the Normal Meeting, and Governor McKee, what’s the reply? 

Earlier than the invoice to legalize marijuana gross sales handed, I inquired about having funds from the income earmarked for substance use therapy, schooling, and prevention applications, so they’d be used for larger good and assist to thwart addiction and overdose in Rhode Island. 

This suggestion was met with a optimistic response from legislators, however I used to be informed to desk the thought till the invoice handed. The invoice handed virtually three years in the past, in Might 2022. To play off of a line from the film Jerry Maquire, “Present me the cash?”  

Hashish, as gross sales point out, has been fairly a profitable trade within the nation and within the state. The U.S. hashish trade is predicted to earn near $45 billion from authorized, adult-use hashish by the tip of 2025.  

In Rhode Island, hashish retailers have recorded nearly $20 million in sales so far this year, with more than 500,000 transactions processed.

You learn that accurately, $20 million, and it’s only March. 

Overdose deaths within the Ocean State

In 2023, Rhode Island reported 404 overdose deaths; 105,000 had been reported nationally. To this point, state records show 314 overdose deaths in 2024. (Editor’s be aware: It takes months within the following yr earlier than the complete report for a previous yr is issued.)

With rising charges of anxiety-related sicknesses, psychological and social problems, and emotions of concern and panic which might be ever- prevalent lately, are rising addictions and overdoses quickly to comply with? 

It’s clear that we’re not doing sufficient to handle this drawback, particularly with younger individuals.  

Our youth are a era that had been raised all through the years of the COVID pandemic, the place anxiousness was all too commonplace. It has gotten worse. Quick ahead a number of years, the place conventional and social media channels – actual or pretend – exacerbated political polarization that has considerably led to a rustic divided.  

Add to all of this the breakdown of the nuclear household. The normal, two-parent family has been changed with different mixtures of cohabitation. Gone are the times of the household gathering across the desk for Sunday dinner, watching tv collectively, or simply speaking. This rising complexity of household dynamics has additionally led to emotions of abandonment, loneliness, peer strain, bullying and hopelessness. 

All of those components are the proper storm for self-medicating and substance abuse that might pave the way in which for habit and overdose. 

We want advocates and coverage makers on the bottom operating, supported by the funds and sources to assist them to know how substance use develops, the means for early intervention, and techniques to scale back the affect of substance abuse and psychological well being problems. 

We want the income from hashish gross sales to assist this critical trigger – now, not tomorrow. 

If we don’t do one thing now, we shall be spending extra on Medicaid and Medicare to deal with extra extreme problems as these younger individuals develop and age. 

Once more, I ask the members of the Normal Meeting and  Govener McKee what’s your reply? I NEED YOUR HELP! 

 John J. Tassoni, Jr. 

 President/CEO  

Substance Use and Psychological Well being Management Council of Rhode Island