Medical marijuana companies are using pharma’s sales tactics with little of the same scrutiny

Dec. 21, 2023

Eros Dervishi for STAT

WASHINGTON — Medical marijuana companies sell medicine, just like pharmaceutical companies. But they’re not playing by the same rules — and that’s putting patients at risk.

Several of the largest medical marijuana companies, like Trulieve, Curaleaf, and Verano, are advertising their products as treatments not just for muscle aches, but for major medical conditions like cancer and depression, without evidence to back up those claims. Some are dispatching teams of sales reps and patient advocates to talk up the health benefits of their products to doctors, and in some cases, even offering physicians personalized swag or Topgolf parties.

Taking a page out of pharma’s playbook is working. Medical marijuana is no longer an experiment reserved just for more liberal states like California and Washington — it’s big businesses in traditionally conservative “Just Say No” states, too. In Florida alone, Trulieve, Curaleaf, and Verano collectively sold over 184,000 pounds worth of the drug last year — enough to supply all 22 million Florida residents seven pre-rolled marijuana joints apiece. As a result, several major medical marijuana companies have amassed billion- or multibillion-dollar valuations.

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