BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — As Alabama lawmakers and voters debate marijuana reforms amid President Donald Trump’s push to reclassify the drug, the Alabama Policy Institute has emerged as a leading conservative voice urging the state to keep cannabis illegal. The Birmingham-based nonprofit, founded in 1989, routinely lobbies against medical expansion and recreational measures, calling them gateways to societal harm and government overreach — a stance that critics say contradicts its professed free-market principles by pushing for outright bans on a product with proven medical uses and economic potential. In May 2025, API President Stephanie Holden Smith pressed Gov. Kay Ivey to veto HB445, a THC regulation bill, labeling it recreational legalization disguised as child protection.
API’s marijuana opposition counters its broader advocacy for limited government and traditional values, including resistance to gaming bills it deemed corrupt in 2024, yet its drive to criminalize cannabis invites charges of selective libertarianism, favoring prohibition over consumer choice and market competition. The group cheered a U.S. Senate effort in December 2025 to close loopholes on intoxicating hemp products like Delta-8 THC. Critics, including cannabis advocates, argue API ignores medical benefits and economic potential while aligning with federal conservatives against Trump’s reclassification plans.
The organization’s influence carries baggage from past controversies. API founded 1819 News as a subsidiary, funneling $1.07 million to it in 2021 per tax filings, before cutting ties ahead of a 2023 scandal. That November, 1819 News published exposés on Smiths Station Mayor F.L. “Bubba” Copeland’s private cross-dressing and online persona, prompting national backlash and Copeland’s suicide two days later. API quickly distanced itself, but the episode fueled scrutiny of its media ventures and right-wing reporting ties.
Legal entanglements have also shadowed API. In 2012, API Holdings LLC — linked to the group in court records — sued auditors Frost Cummings Tidwell over allegedly fraudulent financial statements tied to a produce company purchase, sparking bankruptcy claims and third-party disputes resolved by the Alabama Supreme Court. API has decried Alabama’s “culture of corruption” in lobbying scandals, yet its own history includes such litigation.
API touts policy wins like its annual “BluePrint for Alabama” agenda on taxes and school choice, and 2023 accomplishments in leadership changes. Still, as it ramps up anti-marijuana efforts into 2026, questions linger over its credibility amid these unresolved echoes and apparent hypocrisy on free-market ideals.