Michelle Minton
Senior Policy Analyst, Reason Foundation
Michelle Minton is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Reason Foundation.
With a focus on consumer policy issues including gambling, alcohol, tobacco and nicotine, drug legalization, and health, Minton has authored numerous studies, including such topics as the effectiveness and unintended consequences of sin taxes, the history of gambling regulation, and the harmful consequences of drug war-styled policies on public health outcomes. Her analyses have been published and cited by nationally respected news outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, as well as peer-reviewed journals. She regularly appears in news media to discuss the unintended effects of laws and rules designed to save adults from their own choices, an approach that not only conflicts with the principles of individual liberty and bodily autonomy but often also the stated goals of public health policy.
Minton holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Science from the University of New England.
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Social equity programs are failing to help victims of the drug war
In many cases, the parties benefiting from social equity programs are wealthy, connected political insiders and large commercial cannabis companies.
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Optimal regulatory framework for state regulation of sports betting
To maximize the benefits of sports betting legalization and minimize negative externalities, state regulatory frameworks should encourage robust and competitive markets.
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Examining why Oklahoma voters rejected legalizing recreational marijuana
Oklahoma has the nation's largest medical cannabis market but rejected recreational adult use.
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Let the legal cannabis industry work across friendly state lines
Development of an interstate cannabis system would be good for growers, business owners, and consumers.
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Testimony: Making DC’s sports gambling market more competitive, attractive and profitable
Competition would help create a legal market that might appeal to bettors in and outside of DC and finally begin to generate economic benefits.
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Testimony: Maryland Senate Bill 259 would lead to greater health disparities and criminal justice inequities
The proposal before this committee would unnecessarily strip adults in Maryland of access to these FDA-authorized and potentially life-saving alternatives.
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Fix D.C.’s sports betting market by ending the monopoly
Increasing the competitiveness of D.C.’s mobile sports betting market would produce better products and prices for consumers.
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Testimony: FDA regulation has preserved and protected the most dangerous form of nicotine use—smoking combustible cigarettes
Testimony before an expert panel convened as part of the Reagan-Udall Foundation's operational evaluation of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products.
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California Proposition 27 (2022): Legalizes online sports betting, funds homelessness and mental health programs
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the federal prohibition on sports gambling in 2018, more than 30 states have legalized the activity.
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California Proposition 26 (2022): In-person sports betting regulation and tribal gaming expansion
Prop. 27 would create a more robust and competitive sports betting market than Prop. 26 by allowing online and mobile betting, generating billions in revenue for the state, gaming tribes, and operators under agreement with those tribes.
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Colorado Initiative 122 (2022): Third-party delivery of alcohol beverages
Colorado initiative 122 would allow businesses licensed to sell alcohol to use third-party home delivery services for alcohol beverages.
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Colorado Initiative 121 (2022): Sales of wine in grocery stores
Colorado initiative 121 would allow grocery stores and other businesses that are licensed to sell beer to also sell wine.
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Colorado Initiative 96 (2022): Concerning liquor licenses
Colorado Initiative 96 would incrementally raise the number of retail liquor store licenses an individual may hold.
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The FDA’s deadly menthol miscalculation
If the FDA is truly interested in promoting smoking cessation and saving lives, there are more effective ways to do this than a prohibition.
