Amazon, the second largest private employer in the U.S., is backing a Republican-led bill to federally legalize, tax and regulate marijuana.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s public policy division said on Tuesday that it is \u201cpleased to endorse\u201d the legislation from Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who filed the States Reform Act in November<\/a> as a middle-ground alternative to more scaled back GOP proposals and wide-ranging legalization bills that are being championed by Democrats.<\/p>\n We\u2019re pleased to endorse @RepNancyMace<\/a>‘s States Reform Act. Like so many in this country, we believe it\u2019s time to reform the nation\u2019s cannabis policy and Amazon is committed to helping lead the effort. https:\/\/t.co\/g04Dn5KZq5<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Amazon Public Policy (@amazon_policy) January 25, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n \u201cLike so many in this country, we believe it\u2019s time to reform the nation\u2019s cannabis policy and Amazon is committed to helping lead the effort,\u201d the company, which previously expressed support for a separate, Democratic-led legalization bill<\/a>, said.<\/p>\n Amazon has worked to adapt to changing marijuana policies internally as it\u2019s backed congressional reform, enacting an employment policy change last year to end drug testing for cannabis for most workers<\/a>, for example.<\/p>\n Months after making that change\u2014and following the introduction of the States Reform Act\u2014Mace met with Amazon and received the company\u2019s endorsement, Forbes reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t want to sell it,\u201d the freshman congresswoman said, adding that Amazon is primarily interested in backing the reform for hiring purposes instead of as a way to eventually sell cannabis. \u201cIt opens up the hiring pool by about 10 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n @amazon<\/a> has endorsed my States Reform Act, a bill that would end the federal government\u2019s 85-year prohibition on marijuana. https:\/\/t.co\/XJdY2URQtC<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/MDRM8EVjnG<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Rep. Nancy Mace (@RepNancyMace) January 25, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Brian Huseman, Amazon\u2019s vice president of public policy, said the bill \u201coffers comprehensive reform that speaks to the emergence of a bipartisan consensus to end the federal prohibition of cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n Amazon\u2019s drug testing decision was widely celebrated by reform advocates and industry stakeholders. Initially, the company only talked about ending the policy going forward. But it later disclosed that the policy change would also be retroactive, meaning former workers and applicants who were punished for testing positive for THC will have their employment eligibility restored<\/a>.<\/p>\n The reason for the move away from marijuana testing was multifaceted, Amazon said at the time. The growing state-level legalization movement has made it \u201cdifficult to implement an equitable, consistent, and national pre-employment marijuana testing program,\u201d data shows that drug testing \u201cdisproportionately impacts people of color and acts as a barrier to employment\u201d and ending the requirement will widen the company\u2019s applicant pool.<\/p>\n The GOP congresswoman\u2019s bill already has the support of the influential, Koch-backed conservative group Americans for Prosperity.<\/p>\n The measure would end federal cannabis prohibition while taking specific steps to ensure that businesses in existing state markets can continue to operate unencumbered by changing federal rules.<\/p>\n Mace\u2019s legislation has been characterized as an attempt to bridge a partisan divide on federal cannabis policy. It does that by incorporating certain equity provisions such as expungements for people with non-violent cannabis convictions and imposing an excise tax, revenue from which would support community reinvestment, law enforcement and Small Business Administration (SBA) activities.<\/p>\n Marijuana Moment\u00a0first reported on an earlier draft version of the bill<\/a> in November, and it quickly became apparent that industry stakeholders see an opportunity in the Republican-led effort.<\/p>\n The reason for that response largely comes down to the fact that there\u2019s skepticism that Democratic-led legalization bills\u2014including the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act that Amazon has also endorsed\u2014will be able to pass without GOP buy-in. While Democrats hold majorities in both chambers, in addition to controlling the White House, the margins for passage are slim.<\/p>\n The MORE Act did\u00a0clear the House Judiciary Committee in September<\/a>, and a previous version passed the full House during the last Congress. Senate leadership is preparing to file a separate legalization proposal<\/a>\u00a0after unveiling a draft version in July.<\/p>\n Virginia House Committee Pushes Back Psychedelics Decriminalization Bill Until 2023, But Senate Proposal Still Pending<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Max Pixel<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Amazon Endorses GOP-Led Bill To Federally Legalize Marijuana<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Amazon, the second largest private employer in the U.S., is backing a Republican-led bill to federally legalize, tax and regulate marijuana. The company\u2019s public policy division said on Tuesday that it is \u201cpleased to endorse\u201d the legislation from Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who filed the States Reform Act in NovemberContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1335,18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52503"}],"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\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52504,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52503\/revisions\/52504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Amazon Endorses GOP-Led Bill To Federally Legalize Marijuana<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"