For the past several years, as the movement to legalize marijuana spread across the country, Mark Gorman heard a familiar refrain emerging from advocates who are supporting measures to approve medical or recreational cannabis use.

In Michigan, where voters last year approved recreational cannabis use, there was a Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. The Drug Policy Alliance, a prominent group supporting legalization measures, said it "believes marijuana should be removed from the criminal justice system and regulated like alcohol and tobacco. In Congress, there is a "Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act."

So last year, Gorman, a top lobbyist for liquor producers, began to meet with lawmakers in Congress about the growing number of bills addressing cannabis and the public discourse connecting proposed regulatory schemes for cannabis to those in place for alcohol.