On Tuesday, July 23, cannabis took center stage twice on Capitol Hill. First, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) introduced a comprehensive bill to federally deschedule cannabis and enact a host of initiatives to address the racist impacts of the War on Drugs. Second, the Senate held a committee meeting on the challenges of cannabis and banking.<\/p>\n
In a phone call at the end of the day, leaders of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus said that the day had been a \u201cwatershed moment\u201d for the cannabis legalization movement. <\/p>\n
The
\nlegislation that Harris and Nadler introduced on July 23\u00a0\u2014 the Marijuana
\nOpportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement (MORE) Act \u2014 is one of the most
\ncomprehensive federal cannabis bills ever. <\/p>\n
It gets even better though, because it\u2019s possible that the MORE Act could actually pass in the Democratically-controlled House of Representatives. Nadler chairs the House Judiciary Committee, which makes him one of the most powerful Democrats in the House and a key holder for a committee that any cannabis legislation would need to pass through. Harris is a presidential debate stand-out and former prosecutor, who once laughed at the idea of legal marijuana in the not-too-distant past<\/a> but has since changed her tune. It will be fascinating to see how this bill weighs against her wider criminal justice record in the eyes of the electorate. <\/p>\n The \u201cAs In February, Lee also introduced her own bill<\/a>, the Marijuana Justice Act, to address cannabis legalization and social equity, but she said that she was happy to see multiple bills confront the problems of race and cannabis policy. <\/p>\n \u201cI The National Cannabis Industry Association<\/a> weighed in on the magnitude of the effort behind the MORE Act.<\/p>\n \u201cThe \u201cWe The MORE Act was also co-sponsored by Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.<\/p>\n It\u2019s There has been a solid week of buildup to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs\u2019 hearing, titled, \u201cChallenges for Cannabis and Banking: Outside Perspectives.\u201d So, you had to figure we would be diving into one of the most pressing issues facing pot entrepreneurs and corporate entities. You can watch the whole hearing here.<\/a><\/p>\n The day \u201cOver Lord \u201cWhile A primary point of concern for everyone who came out in support of reform today is the Secure And Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act of 2019. One of the people who has been carrying its torch on Capitol Hill rallying lawmakers is NORML<\/a> Political Director Justin Strekal. <\/p>\n \u201cWe \u201cNo TELL US,<\/strong> when do you think the federal government The post Congress Introduces Law to Deschedule Cannabis, Considers Banking Reform<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, July 23, cannabis took center stage twice on Capitol Hill. First, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) introduced a comprehensive bill to federally deschedule cannabis and enact a host of initiatives to address the racist impacts of the WarContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,216,1348,8751,11614,4211,11615,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36992"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36993,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36992\/revisions\/36993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMORE Act would remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances List and raise
\nfunds to help the communities who hit hardest by cannabis prohibition get their
\nshot in the industry. Another part of the plan is a 5% federal cannabis tax
\nthat would be used to create an Office of Cannabis Justice and fund an effort
\nfrom the Small Business Administration to assist people participating in the
\ncannabis industry. The SBA would also encourage state and local equity
\nprograms.<\/p>\n
\na person of color, as a woman, as a person whose community has been
\ntremendously negatively impacted by these [drug] laws, this is a good day,\u201d
\nsaid Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), who co-sponsored the bill, in a press call on
\nTuesday. <\/p>\n
\ndon\u2019t think [the Marijuana Justice Act] been usurped, I think it\u2019s been
\nincluded,\u201d Lee said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to get this done any way we can, by any means
\nnecessary. Now we have a broader base and a broader coalition. I\u2019m going to
\ncontinue to work on the Marijuana Justice Act, but to see our provisions
\nincluded in what is almost this omnibus bill I think is a positive step.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nfact that key congressional leaders are introducing such forward-thinking and
\njustice-focused cannabis legislation is truly a sign of how far we\u2019ve come on
\nthis issue,\u201d said NCIA Executive Director Aaron Smith said in an email
\nfollowing the MORE Act\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n
\nstill have a long way to go before we see sensible cannabis policies enacted at
\nthe federal level, but this shows that the conversation has shifted from if to
\nhow,\u201d said Smith. \u201cWe are very happy to see an increased emphasis on how to address
\nthe racially and economically disparate impact of our failed federal drug laws
\nso that everyone has the chance to benefit from the opportunities created by
\nthe legal cannabis industry.\u201d<\/p>\nSenate Banking Committee Hears
\nTestimony on Cannabis Problems<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nwidely acknowledged that, in the push for cannabis legalization at the state
\nlevel, cannabis companies desperately need federal help in order to access the
\nbanking industry.<\/p>\n
\nincluded reform-supporting statements from Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Sen.
\nJeff Merkley (D-OR), and representing the cannabis industry was John Lord of
\nLivWell Enlightened Health. Lord also chairs the board of the Cannabis Trade
\nFederation. <\/p>\n
\nour 10 years of operations, we have had accounts closed at over a dozen
\nfinancial institutions,\u201d Lord told lawmakers. \u201cAs you can imagine, this is
\nincredibly disruptive. Imagine running a manufacturing, wholesale, and retail
\noperation with hundreds of employees and having to make all payments, including
\npayroll, in cash. It is difficult and, frankly, it is dangerous. This is
\nsomething hundreds, if not thousands, of state-legal cannabis companies have
\nhad to struggle with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nwent on to tell the committee the current situation makes it even harder for
\nsmall businesses trying to plant their flag. <\/p>\n
\nwe, due to our size, are able to absorb the additional costs associated with
\ncash management and exorbitant bank fees, many small businesses are not,\u201d Lord
\nsaid. \u201cFurthermore, resolving the banking issue could significantly aid
\ncannabis businesses in securing business loans. This is critical to small
\nbusiness owners who may not have access to other sources of capital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nduly recognize that better access to banking is necessary in order for the
\nlegal marijuana market to become more transparent and more convenient for
\ncustomers,\u201d Strekal said in a statement following the hearing.<\/p>\n
\nindustry can operate safely, transparently, or effectively without access to
\nbanks or other financial institutions and it is self-evident that this
\nindustry, and the consumers that are served by it, will remain severely
\nhindered without better access to credit, financing, banking, and payment
\nprocessing,\u201d Strekal continued. \u201cUltimately, Congress must amend federal policy
\nso that the growing number of state-compliant businesses, and the millions of
\nAmericans who patronize them, are no longer subject to policies that needlessly
\nplace them in harm\u2019s way. Cannabis businesses ought to be held to the same
\nstandards as any other commercial enterprises.\u201d <\/p>\n
\nshould legalize cannabis?<\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: Congress Introduces Law to Deschedule Cannabis, Considers Banking Reform<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"